SEMO Red Cross and St. Francis Medical Center receive MFH grants

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - St. Francis Medical Center and the Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross received grants from the Missouri Foundation for Health on Wednesday.

A two-year, $100,000 grant was given to the Red Cross to provide basic support for services and assistance to victims of disasters based on their needs, educating the public on prevention and survival, and training volunteers, according to Cheryl Klueppel, the executive director for the American Red Cross - Southeast Missouri chapter.

"We are so pleased and grateful to the Missouri Foundation for Heath for recognizing the need and recognizing the support that the American Red Cross can provide in the Southeast Misssouri area to help address and support some of the health needs in the Bootheel area. So we are very grateful," Klueppel said.

This is the second time the Red Cross chapter received the grant. The Red Cross chapter serves 11 counties from Perry County to the Bootheel.

St. Francis Medical Center's grant totalled $149,959.

Part of the grant money will be used to continue their youth programming at local schools, where they train high school students to go to elementary, middle, and high schools and talk to students about tobacco use, according to Terry Baker, the Tobacco Prevention Manager at St. Francis Medical Center, said.

“Advocating for healthier communities and to really show the students and the community that tobacco use is not a norm in our communities. Most people don’t smoke. And kind of establish that and help reduce the initiation of tobacco use among our youth,” Baker said.

It will also be used to implement Project Smokebusters in several area schools.

The local grants are part of a $7 million round of funding approved by MFH’s board.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Missouri lauded for reduction of recidivism rate

The state of Missouri is receiving praise for improving its rate of criminals who return to prison three years or less after their initial release.

A recently released Pew study applauds Missouri for its decrease in prison recidivism, one of three states to do so.

Adam Gelb is ​ the director of the Public Safety Performance Project at the Pew Center on the States.

"The overall message is that while the national number is fairly flat, some states like Missouri are making significant progress in putting research about what works into action and cutting their return to prison rate. So I think what other states can take from Missouri is that this is not an intractable, unsolvable problem," Gelb said.

Missouri decided to follow the research and began laying out a plan in order to decrease their recidivism rates by using more effective and inexpensive ways to monitor offenders and using new strategies and technologies, instead of throwing them back in a prison cell, Gelb said.

"Our hope is that policymakers in Missouri and elsewhere will start to see that it’s time for a triumph of sound science over sound bite," Gelb continued. "It’s going to move beyond the tired old debate between treatment and punishment. The research shows you get the best impact when you combine the carrot and the stick."

Missouri has succeeded by bringing down their rate by 10 percent in three years.​

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Five Jackson teachers receive Educator of the Year awards

JACKSON, MO (KRCU) - Five Jackson teachers got a silver apple Thursday night from the Jackson Chamber of Commerce in the Knights of Columbus Hall as their reward for earning the 2011 Educator of the Year award.

The educators received stress balls in addition to resolutions from area politicians and a cash reward.

The teachers were Becky Loenneke, Andy Helle, Kay Vangilder, Scott Vangilder, who will be retiring this year, and Tina Sides.

Tina Sides has been teaching for 13 years. She was teaching her middle school language arts class when the committee members came in to tell her she had won Educator of the Year.

“I actually thought when they came in that they were parents that were touring our school. I was very surprised. It was overwhelming and humbling,” Sides said.

To select Educator of the Year, the Education Committee reviewed applications submitted by the instructors’ peers and selected ​the best of them.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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MAC look at $8 million renovation project

PARK HILLS, MO (KRCU) - Mineral Area College hopes to generate $8 million for improvements that will allow them to renovate their Park Hills and Fredricktown campuses.

The funds will renovate student service facilities, improve the library of the Park Hills campus, and upgrade science labs at both campuses, according to Dr. Steven Kurtz, Mineral Area College president.

“We identified seven or eight different items, and once we realized that there was an opportunity for a no-tax increase, our trustees did a workshop. We identified these four as top priority,” Kurtz said.

To do so, on April 5, Mineral Area College will have a no-tax bond issue on the ballot for its voting district, the surrounding counties of Jefferson, St. Francis County, Washington County, Ste. Genevieve, Iron, Madison, and Perry.

If the bond is passed, the entire project will take two to two and a half years to complete, Kurtz said.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Japanese students raise money for homeland

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Several Southeast students have undertaken a relief effort for those affected in the Japanese earthquake that involved a tsunami and radiation leaks.

Yuhei Hikasa is a senior majoring in Sports Management. He is the student organizer of the "Pray for Japan: We Need Your Help" campaign.

He said that he and the other students​ wanted to help after surfing the Internet and seeing the devestation on television.

"Actually, we don't have a certain goal for it. We wanted everybody to know about the earthquake. Around this area there is a New Madrid plate, one of the most dangerous ones. We just wanted everyone to be aware of it," he said.

He said it's important that people learn from tragedies.

Southeast Missouri’s International Education Program says that there are 56 Japanese students enrolled at the university, but only one student is from the affected area in northeast Japan.

The students are currently collecting funds until March 30 in the University Center lobby. They will then send the money to the Red Cross.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Twenty-two high school compete in speech tournament

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Heated debates and dramatic flair overran the University Center this weekend.

Southeast’s Department of Communication Studies hosted the regional high school Speech, Debate, and Theatre Tournament. Twenty-two teams participated.

Shalyn Fleague, a senior from Ste. Genevieve High School, does a dramatic prose about a girl who gets a heart transplant and thinks she can feel what the original owner felt. She says the audience gets to experience, through her performance, different emotions like torment and happiness.

“Watching people’s faces when I perform. They’re like wow. They have the face of amazement like ‘this quiet person sitting over there gets up’ and they’re like WHAT,” Fleague said.

While many of the students were worried about how they would do, most had a positive outlook. Most said that they had developed better public speaking skills as a result and more confidence. 

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Anthem to close office in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri will close down their Cape Girardeau branch by May 2011.

150 of their 175 employees will keep their jobs and work from home. Technology has advanced enough that workers can do everything from home via instant messaging, email, and phone conferences, according to Deborah Wietrop, the spokesperson for Anthem.

"Our surveys have shown that our work at home associates are more productive, they have greater quality of life, they don't have the commute costs. They're generally just more satisfied and productive so we believe that the majority of them are going to enjoy this arrangement," Wietrop said.

Most employee will retain their jobs. The company will have reduced expenses in administrative areas, and members will not have to pay extra costs related to real estate and other expenses, Wietrop said.

Anthem has not yet released out how much this process will save them in terms of dollars.

Anthem is considering opening a smaller office somewhere else in Cape Girardeau.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Jackson begins initial DREAM planning

JACKSON, MO (KRCU) - The City of Jackson has decided to move forward with its Uptown improvements by taking advantage of its D.R.E.A.M. status.

Jackson is in the first three stages of its D.R.E.A.M. process, which consists of examining buildings and consumer surveys. The plan will cost between $150 thousand and $180 thousand, with a $36 thousand match. It’s payable over three years.

Mayor Barbara Lohr says that she was surprised and pleased when Jackson was selected as a member of the D.R.E.A.M. team but decided to let the planning be left to the professionals, PGAV, Inc., a planning firm. The Missouri Development Finance Board contracted PGAV in order to provide planning to the D.R.E.A.M. cities.

“They get a nice vision. When I look at visions I see dollar signs. Oh, how much is that going to cost? I will probably do better just to leave my mind wide open to that,” Lohr said.

D.R.E.A.M. stands for the Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistant for Missouri.

The D.R.E.A.M. initiative is available for small and mid-sized Missouri communities to access state programs that revitalize downtown areas and create jobs. It helps communities to renovate the areas and draw new businesses in.​

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Missouri tops meth list

Missouri ranks first again for the number of methamphetamine laboratory seizures, according to a release from the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Missouri has the highest number of meth labs, despite efforts by law enforcement agents. Missouri had 1,960 lab seizures in 2010, a 10 percent increase from 2009 and a 53 percent increase from 2007.

Captain Tim Hull says Missouri is enticing to meth creators because of its many rural areas, which are located right outside of major cities like Kansas City and St. Louis.

New regulations by municipalities that require a prescription to buy pseudoephedrine will curb the ability of people to produce meth, Hull said. Pseudoephedrine is the key ingredient in meth.

"All those are just tools in our toolbox to fight that particular problem of meth. It's a continual battle and it's just going to have to continually change," Hull said.

Jefferson County had the highest number of meth lab seizures, followed by Franklin County.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Menards coming to Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A new retail store is building a future in Cape Girardeau.

Menards expects to invest about $8 million to open its newest home improvement retail store on Cape's west side.

The Wisconsin-based retailer brings numerous benefits, according to Ken Eftink, the assistant city manager and director of development services.

"Menard's is like any other store. The more opportunities you give to people, the more people will stay here and shop locally. It's another opportunity to shop here in Cape Girardeau."

Menards will bring jobs for about 150 people. About 60 of the available jobs will be full-time and the rest will be part-time. The site will include 16 acres and 162,000 square feet.

They are still in the initial process of examining the site and the possibility for parking. Menards is considering the southwest corner of Siemer Drive and Bloomfield Road.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Operation Jump Start receives $154K DRA grant; Governor visits Jackson High School

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon paid a visit to Southeast Missouri on Friday … and brought with him some good news for entrepreneurs and students.

The governor visited Southeast Missouri State University in the morning to announce a new Delta Regional Authority grant for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Operation Jump Start program. The grant totals $154,000.

Operation Jump Start is a training program for aspiring entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2006, the program has provided training for 550 individuals and created 200 small businesses and 350 jobs, according to Southeast Missouri State University.

At the press conference, Governor Nixon lauded the program’s results and encouraged entrepreneurs to seek Operation Jump Start training.

“Operation Jump Start has provided an irreplaceable bridge to entrepreneurship and successful businesses and we’re going to continue to do what we can to continue to use this as a model not only here but in our entire region, and in the entire Delta area and in the state of Missouri,” Nixon said.

The Delta Regional Authority grant will be used to start new training programs in Marble Hill, Ironton, Sikeston, and one still-to-be-decided Bootheel region.

Dr. James Stapleton, the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, says that Operation Jump Start was created as a way to help disadvantaged, low income, and unemployed individuals develop their own businesses.

All participants prepare a business model, and through a competitive process, the best plans win up to $5000 in start-up grants.

Since its beginning, graduates have gone on to start a wide range of small business ventures.

“We recently talked to a graduate from four years ago that started a car war company that actually manufactures or builds the car washes that we see oftentimes in our neighborhoods. Now they are going statewide,” Stapleton said.” And then there are lots of very small businesses as well. Day cares, salons, and just about every retail business you could think about.”

Stacey Gallaher graduated from Operation Jump Start in 2006. She now owns MB Medical Reimbursement, providing medical billing services for physicians’ office. Gallaher’s business is housed in the small business incubator. She now has three employees now working for her.

“I knew how to do the billing, but I wasn’t aware of what all went in to payroll taxes or a business plan or what banks look at whenever you’re getting a loan for starting up a business. It gave me a lot of confidence and knowledge in that,” Gallaher said.

Asked if she could ever work for a boss again, Gallaher firmly responded, “No.”

“I don’t think I would. I don’t think I could do it. Me and the girls joke about that a lot,” Gallaher said. “I don’t think I could do it.”

The governor later went to Jackson to applaud the school for becoming an A+ school and to lay out his plan for an overhaul of A+ scholarship program.

The governor’s proposal would make A+ scholarships available to student who meet certain requirement yet do not attend A+ schools. At the onset, Nixon wants to target students from families who earn less than $55,000 per year.

“While we continue to push all the schools to get A+, we want to start especially with the students who are in very challenged environments, who have very challenged economic status, and take that sliver. If those students are able to perform at the A+ level in those schools while they are attempting to get that certification, it’s my view that they should be eligible to get that A+ program during that time frame,” Nixon said.

Nixon has already set aside $1 million in his budget for the proposal, so he claims that funding should not be an issue if it successfully navigates the General Assembly.

“That investment, our statistics show, will allow us to expand access to more than 700 high achieving students next year. And that will be a tremendous return on investment for students that couldn’t afford to move forward but for that help,” the governor said.

School requirements for the A+ program include satisfactory grades, attendance of 95 percent, excellent citizenship, and at least 50 hours of tutoring or mentoring.

Jackson was certified as an A+ school at the end of the last school year.

Jacob McCleland, Katie Long, and Rachel Weatherford - KRCU

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Hospitals continue to work towards electronic records

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Both of Southeast Missouri's largest hospitals are working to complete their conversions to electronic medical record.

St. Francis Medical Center's $11.8 million conversion is expected to enter the final phase by 2012. Despite government incentives, the center expects to lose approximately $4.6 million.

Diane Smith, director of Information Systems, says St. Francis is initiating a program called Healthy Connect to safeguard privacy. It provides an information exchange between healthcare providers. It also allows for private communication. Healthy Connect is powered by a central server, unlike public email.

"It adds another layer of protection and security that patients will receive some comfort in so far as thinking that their records will be public and out on the Internet," Smith said.

Patients won’t have to list off their medical history each visit. Instead it will be available to other healthcare providers through the system.

Southeast HEALTH has been making the switch for several years as well.

The estimated cost for the entire project is around $15 million. While several physician’s offices have already gone electronic, the hospital expects to be completely electronic by mid-2013.

Southeast Health is addressing concerns by providing safety measures for patients, according to Jay McGuire, director of Information Systems at Southeast HEALTH.

“We’ve instituted a very robust auditing system so we can find out who accessed a record, date and time they did, so we can backtrack and find out should there be a breech," McGuire said.

The process will allow staff quicker access to medical records, and eventually provide a patient portal. McGuire says the system is more efficient and will help ease the storage crunch caused by paper records.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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St. Francis finishes ER renovation

St. Francis Medical Center welcomed a new addition yesterday -- the second and final phase of its ER renovation expansion that tripled the size of their emergency and trauma center.

Marilyn Curtis, Vice-President of Professional Services, said the hospital needed to build this because they serve around 650,000 people in five states. St. Francis Medical Center is the only designated trauma center between St. Louis and Memphis.

"To be able to provide emergency trauma care to such a large region is very important to St. Francis because we want to meet the needs of the people that we serve," said Curtis.

The number of people the ER can accomadate fluctuates depending on how many people arrive for care, but with the completion of Phase Two they now have 32 treatment rooms for patient care and 30,000 square feet of space.

Work began on the $12 million project in August 2008.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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Southeast HEALTH's Cancer Center opens its door today

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Cape Girardeau's health care industry will welcome its newest addition today...the Southeast HEALTH Cancer Center.


The $33 million facility, Southeast HEALTH's most expensive project to date, took two years to build.


Executive director Judy Aslin says that it isn't necessarily that cancer patients need a separate facility, but that Southeast HEALTH needed to expand. 


"Its become outpatient driven, and we could have done this on the hospital campus. We looked at facilties there and didn't have the space to do it. Many of the cancer patients either are debilitated or have become debilitated sometime with their disease and so the access is much easier at our free standing facility," Aslin says. 


Each year the center can tend to 800 oncology patients. In addition, the center will be capable of handling non-cancer patients, like people who need blood transfusions, hydration, and treatment for arthitis. The center will have medical oncologists who are also hematologists to treat amenia and blood disorders.


The center tends to cancer patients who need radiation oncology and medical oncology, among others.


The center will typically be used for outpatient care.


Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

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