by:  DeAngela McDougald

Regionalism at its finest.

That’s the best way to describe the Children’s Mercy and Geary Community Hospital partnership to include specialty clinics for children ages birth to 21.

Construction on the nearly 7000 square foot clinic will service over 800 children from the Junction City that were seen in Kansas City in the past year, in addition to hundreds of other families from across the region.

“Certainly it will impact Junction City and Geary County, but it will be much broader than that – it will be a regional service for many different children and families,” said Joseph Stratton, Geary Community Hospital (GCH) CEO.

The Children’s Mercy Clinic inside GCH will be located in the lower level of the hospital and include twelve exam rooms, three dictation pods, two treatment rooms, height/weight rooms, restrooms, a nurses station and a reception area.

There will also be a drive up entrance with a Children’s Mercy canopy for direct access to the clinic. “The space is going to be a kid-friendly space, a lot of bright colors, a lot of bright design,” said Stratton.

Each Children’s Mercy Clinic has a different theme – for example an aviation design in Wichita. Early ideas for themes in GCH include cars, trucks, jeeps, and possibly tanks to tie in with the military in the region. Final design plans are still months away.

“Some of these ventures or partnerships that come together are kind of like a crawl, walk, run – they develop over time,” said Stratton. “We have a long term agreement with Children’s Mercy to occupy the space, so we very possibly could be having another conversation five years from now about the additional space that’s needed for other services.”

The clinic will definitely be a financial boost to GCH; but early estimates on the financial impact are still uncertain due to the nature of the partnership.

“[Children’s Mercy] will take care of a lot of services that take place in the clinic, and when they come outside the clinic and need to take care of other services, we at Geary Community Hospital – here in our facility – will be able to provide those services for them.”

The clinic will be staffed by at least three specialty physicians from Children’s Mercy.

The project is projected to cost $1.9 million and be complete by the Spring of 2018. The project was privately funded by the Geary Community Healthcare Foundation, the R2B4 Bramlage Family Foundation, and other regional foundations.

One of the original “freedom writers” will be the guest speaker at the general session for USD 475 on Friday, August 11th.

The District hosts a General Session for employees annually to mark the beginning of a new school year. This year the keynote speaker will be Manny Scott – one of the original “freedom writers.”

In addition there will be an appearance and speaking engagement before General Session which will be open to the public. This public presentation will be held at Junction City Middle School located at 700 Wildcat Lane.

The public presentation begins at 7:30 am and is free to attend.

“When I was fourteen, I dropped out of high school. I was sitting on a park bench. Helpless, hurting, and hopeless, I was thinking about doing something that would have gotten me incarcerated or killed. The ending of my story seemed certain. But a total stranger sat down next to me, and inspired me to take a path in life down which very few people travel. From that moment, I began writing a new chapter in my life. And that has made all the difference.”

His poor school performance landed Manny Scott at the back of Erin Gruwell’s English class—a group now known as the original Freedom Writers. Their story was told in part in the 2007 film – Freedom Writers starring Hillary Swank.

Scott, the former high school dropout now has degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and Trinity International University. He is currently working toward a Doctorate degree in Chicago.

Scott’s speaking engagements and appearances have motivated members of the Department of Education, the National Education Association and countless organizations and schools worldwide.

He has appeared on ABC News’ Nightline and The View.

Learn more at mannyscott.com.

 

 

*feature photo courtesy mannyscott.com

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer involved shooting that occurred early Tuesday morning on the west side of Junction City.

Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci held a press conference Tuesday afternoon where he reported that the initial call to police was for a welfare check of a possibly suicidal subject. Soon after arriving at a residence on Windwood Drive (off Ash Street), another call came in to authorities reporting an armed man at the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 1723 McFarland Road in Junction City.

Authorities from the Junction City Police Department (JCPD) and Geary County Sheriff’s Office (GESO) responded to the Walmart parking lot.

“When [we] got there [the subject] was walking through the [Walmart] parking lot,” said Breci. “[Officers] had about an eight minute conversation with him trying to get him to put the guns down, and for most of that conversation he had a gun to his temple and a gun pointed at our officers.”

The subject was given commands to drop his weapons. The confrontation escalated and four law enforcement officers – three from the JCPD, and one from the GESO – fired at the subject.

The subject – whose identity will not be released until next of kin has been appropriately notified – was pronounced dead at the scene. He was a 23 year old white male from Fort Riley.

No law enforcement officers were injured during the incident.

“We’re continuing this investigation right now, we have a lot of paperwork, a lot of tie-ups – it just doesn’t stop when we leave the scene,” said Breci. “This investigation [includes] downloading body cameras, video cameras, video from Walmart, [and] video from surrounding businesses.”

Breci noted that the JCPD officers involved were equipped with body cameras,and both the GESO and JCPD vehicles had dash cam video recording.

All officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, per protocol. JCPD Chaplains will meet with all parties involved, including dispatchers, for “grief counseling”. Breci noted that a 16 year old male high school intern was taking part in a ride-along with one of the responding officers and witnessed the incident. He has been interning with the JCPD for a year.

“The sad fact is that somebody lost their life, so it isn’t a day to celebrate/to say things went great, because they didn’t,” said Breci. “Today wasn’t a success story, other than we prevented him from hurting other people.”

There were three calls to law enforcement for possibly suicidal subjects on Monday evening/early Tuesday morning.

The investigation has been turned over to the KBI, and is ongoing.

 

—

Junction City Police Department Public Information Officer Trish Giordano has reported that the KBI has been called in to assist with the investigation into a fatal shooting overnight in Junction City. “They’ve responded and are investigating the officer-involved shooting that we had.” No officers were injured in the incident,  but one other man is dead. His identity has not yet been released.

As of 7:15 a.m. a portion of Caroline Avenue near the Walmart grocery store on the west side of Junction City is still barricaded off, but the Walmart store is open.

—–

Junction City Police Department spokesperson Trish Giordano confirms early Tuesday morning that police are investigating an officer-involved shooting case. “No officers were injured and we’re still investigating.”

Although no officers were injured Giordano did confirm one man was dead but could not yet release the identity of the victim.

The incident on Caroline Avenue on the west side of the city was reported at 12:48 a.m. Police had responded to a check welfare case. Caroline Avenue in the area near the Walmart store on the west side of the city was barricaded off and crime scene tape was up at the scene.

 

UPDATE:

Junction City Police Department Public Information Officer Trish Giordano has reported that the KBI has been called in to assist with the investigation into a fatal shooting overnight in Junction City. “They’ve responded and are investigating the officer-involved shooting that we had.” No officers were injured in the incident,  but one other man is dead. His identity has not yet been released.

As of 7:15 a.m. a portion of Caroline Avenue near the Walmart grocery store on the west side of Junction City is still barricaded off, but the Walmart store is open.

—–

Junction City Police Department spokesperson Trish Giordano confirms early Tuesday morning that police are investigating an officer-involved shooting case. “No officers were injured and we’re still investigating.”

Although no officers were injured Giordano did confirm one man was dead but could not yet release the identity of the victim.

The incident on Caroline Avenue on the west side of the city was reported at 12:48 a.m. Police had responded to a check welfare case. Caroline Avenue in the area near the Walmart store on the west side of the city was barricaded off and crime scene tape was up at the scene.

 

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said Friday there have been conversations in which the Army is being pushed to expand the number of troop brigades at Fort Riley.

Moran told a Town Hall meeting audience in Junction City that the brigades the Army is looking would be tank and assist brigades. “The Army is expanding. NDAA ( proposed National Defense Authorization Act ) will increase the end strength for our military, and will allow for additional brigades to be placed across the country. At military installations the question will become is Fort Riley one of those places that gains from another brigade, and perhaps two.”

Moran told JCPost he thought officials would know if it is going happen by the end of the year, but he did not know how long it would then take the Army to reach the necessary end strength up to the size needed to provide the personnel for the brigades.

Moran informed the audience for the meeting at the American Legion Post 45 home that there is no language in the proposed bill as it came out of the Armed Services Committee that requires a BRAC ( base realignment and closure ). “But there is still a lot of push by the Department of Defense for a BRAC to occur sometime in the future. And again we want Fort Riley to be in a position to have nothing but success in a round of BRAC.”

Moran noted that people still remember the 4,000-plus people that the environmental assessment during the last round of Army troop number reductions, and this area is known for hospitals, schools and housing.