The St. Joseph Health Department, along with physicians and pharmacies, offer the flu vaccine
to protect against influenza. The health department will offer a clinic at the Mayes Memorial
Army National Guard Armory on Wednesday, October 1 from 8:30 a.m. to noon, or until
supplies are depleted. There will be no out‐of‐pocket charge for the vaccine, however, if a
person has insurance, such as Medicare, Missouri HeatlhNet (Medicaid) or a private health
insurance provider, please present that card at the clinic so that your insurance company can
be billed for the vaccination. The health department offers this free vaccine in order to protect
our community as fully as possible from the complications of influenza.

Prescription Drug Take Back Program

On Saturday, September 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. the St. Joseph Police Department  and the St. Joseph Youth Alliance will be conducting a prescription drug take back event at the East Hills Mall on the parking lot near Sears and Dillards.

This event is part of the national program sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It’s a free service to allows people to discard unwanted drugs, prescriptions and over the counter medicines, in a safe manner that doesn’t pollute the water supply, or allow them to fall into the wrong hands.

This is an excellent opportunity for citizens to safely dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs. The Police Department Mobile Command Post will be set up during the event.

A resurfacing project that will bring pavement improvements to Route N in DeKalb County has been rescheduled, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, contractors will begin microsurfacing the northbound lane Route N between Route O near Clarksdale and Route 6. On Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, they will microsurface the southbound lane on the same stretch of Route N. Crews originally planned to work Sept. 19 and 20.

Motorists should be alert and follow all construction signs and message boards. Flaggers and pilot cars will be used to guide motorists through the work zones. The contractor anticipates that all work will be completed by October 1, 2014.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued quality and financial performance results showing that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have improved patient care and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for the program.

In addition to providing more Americans with access to quality, affordable health care, the Affordable Care Act encourages doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to work together to better coordinate care and keep people healthy rather than treat them when they are sick, which also helps to reduce health care costs. ACOs are one example of the innovative ways to improve care and reduce costs. In an ACO, providers who join these groups become eligible to share savings with Medicare when they deliver that care more efficiently.

ACOs in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) and Pioneer ACO Model generated over $372 million in total program savings for Medicare ACOs. The encouraging news comes from preliminary quality and financial results from the second year of performance for 23 Pioneer ACOs, and final results from the first year of performance for 220 Shared Savings Program ACOs.

Meanwhile, the ACOs outperformed published benchmarks for quality and patient experience last year and improved significantly on almost all measures of quality and patient experience this year. (Please see the accompanying fact sheet for additional details.)

 “We all have a stake in improving the quality of care we receive, while spending our dollars more wisely,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said. “It’s good for businesses, for our middle class, and for our country’s global competitiveness. That’s why at HHS we are committed to partnering across sectors to make progress.”

Heartland Regional Medical Center is one of the ACOs that is eligible to share in savings as it generated $8.53 million in savings, and will be reimbursed a total of $5.01 million as their portion of shared savings for the first year of ACO operations.

“It’s gratifying to see the success we’ve experienced within the ACO space,” says Mark Laney, MD, president and CEO of Heartland Health and Mosaic Life Care. “Historically, our organization has focused on population health because we believe it is the right thing to do for our communities. We’ve firmly believe that high quality and an outstanding patient experience will, and does, control costs effectively. We’re looking forward to continuing this journey of innovation.”

Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, more than 360 Medicare ACOs have been established in 47 states, serving over 5.6 million Americans with Medicare. Medicare ACOs are groups of providers and suppliers of services that work together to coordinate care for the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries they serve and achieve program goals.

Parents and families of Northwest Missouri State University students will gather for a weekend of entertainment, athletic events and family fun as the University celebrates its annual Family Weekend, Sept. 19-21.

The weekend’s highlights include free entertainment, the annual Alumni Awards Banquet, the renaming of the Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Saturday afternoon football game against the University of Central Missouri. Festivities surrounding the football game include the Hy-Vee Bearcat Zone tailgate and the halftime introduction of the Northwest Family of the Year.

A complete schedule for Family Weekend along with detailed information for specific events is available by clicking here.

CIE re-naming ceremony

Northwest will celebrate the naming of its Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in honor of the University’s ninth president, who served Northwest from 1984 until his retirement in 2009. The ceremony begins at 9 a.m. at the CIE, located on the northeast corner of the campus on North College Drive, and it is open to the public.

The CIE, which the University dedicated in September 2009, was Hubbard’s vision to provide unparalleled learning and research opportunities for Northwest students and faculty in a wide range of disciplines. The 46,679 square-foot combination research center and high-tech business incubator combines academic and entrepreneurial resources while providing assistance and encouraging development of new small businesses.

Athletics

Kickoff for the Bearcats’ football game against Central Missouri is set for 1 p.m. at Bearcat Stadium. The Hy-Vee Bearcat Zone, Northwest’s tailgate area prior to all home football games, gets under way at 11 a.m. at the Raymond J. Courter College Park Pavilion.

There will be performances by Bobby Bearcat, the Bearcat Marching Band, Bearcat Steppers and the Bearcat Cheerleaders. Fans may bring their own food or a tailgate meal is available for $6.75.

The football game includes a halftime recognition of the Northwest Family of the Year.

In other athletics contests during the weekend, the Northwest soccer team will take on Missouri Western State University at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19 at Bearcat Pitch.

Northwest volleyball will host two games at Bearcat Arena against the University of Washburn at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, and against Emporia State University at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20.

According to St. Joseph Fire Inspector Steve Henrichson fire crews were called out to the 200 block of Wilmer street just before midnight on a report of a garage fully involved.
“There was fire coming out of every door and window and through the roof by the time our guys got there,” said Henrichson. “It was just a matter of keeping if from spreading any further at that point.”
After battling the fire for around 30 minutes crews were able to finally put it out. However, the cause of what started it in the first place has officials asking questions.
Henrichson said the cause of the fire is believed to have been intentionally set.
“We found a gas can that the owner said was not his inside the doors of the garage,” said Henrichson. “other neighbors heard an explosion.”

The garage was detached and the only building on that piece of property, however the fire did cause damage to the neighbor’s property near the garage which included damage to a boat, melting the side mirror on a car, and melting part of the metal siding on the neighbor’s house.
The estimated loss on the garage itself it believed to be more than $6,ooo.
Henrichson said no one was injured.
The fire department is now turning the investigation over to the St. Joseph Police Department for detectives to look into who may have started the fire.

Anyone with information in connection to this case is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS

The Internal Revenue Service has notified Missouri Western State University that the university has been randomly selected for an examination of its federal tax returns for calendar year 2012.

“Not really concerned,” said Dr. Cale Fessler, MWSU vice president for financial planning and administration. “We did reach out to the IRS just to kind of touch base and ask a few questions and were informed that it was a random request.”

Western received the letter from the IRS Thursday, Sept. 11, scheduling an examination. Fessler said the list was comprehensive and included a request for audited financial statements, other documentation related to general audits, payroll, faculty and staff benefit plans, international employee payments, international student scholarships, and employee contracts for 2012.

“It was really a random generation of that timeline,” said Fessler.
Western is now working to gether all the requested documents, something Fessler said could take some time.
“Our initial meeting had about 13 different individuals around the table from all kinds of areas, from human resources, payroll, financial aid, various academic areas,” said Fessler. “We’re putting that together and we’ll be ready for them.”
The IRS is expected to onduct the examination of the 2012 records on campus October 20-24.

The Atchison County Community School District is warning parents to be on the lookout for Enterovirus D68.

In a release sent out to parents Tuesday afternoon the district is asking the community to be proactive to prevent an outbreak of the virus which can cause severe respiratory illness, especially in children with a history of asthma or other respiratory diseases.

“We have only seen a few cases of this virus in the surrounding community and by no means are we experiencing an outbreak situation,” USD 377 school nurse Tenille Forbes said in the release.

Parents are being asked to use make sure standard precautions are used to help avoid infection including frequent hand washing, avoiding contact with those who are sick, and covering up one’s cough.

The school is taking precautions after news reports from Children’s Mercy Hospital show an increase in activity of Enterovirus D68.

Signs and symptoms of the virus include cough, difficulty breathing, new-onset wheezing and asthma exacerbation.

If a child is diagnosed with the virus parents should contact their school nurse to let them know of the infection.

Northwest Missouri State University is included on U.S. News and World Report’s list of “2015 Best Colleges” and ranks as the top moderately selective regional university in Missouri.
U.S. News ranked Northwest at No. 80 on its list of “Best Regional Universities” in the Midwest, which includes all public and private universities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin as well as Missouri.

In addition to being ranked as the top moderately selective regional university in the state, Northwest is ranked third among Missouri’s public regional universities, trailing only Truman State University and Missouri State University. When compared to its peers in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, only the University of Nebraska-Kearney ranks higher than Northwest.
To develop its rankings, U.S. News analyzes data such as freshman retention, graduation rates, class sizes, students’ ACT and SAT scores, financial resources and alumni giving.
According to U.S. News, Northwest scores well with a student-to-faculty ratio of 22 to 1, and 45 percent of classes at Northwest are smaller than 20 students. Northwest’s freshman retention rate of near 70 percent places the University at the top of moderately selective institutions in Missouri and in the 66th percentile of its national peer group.
Northwest is a coeducational, primarily residential four-year university offering a broad range of undergraduate and selected graduate programs. It boasts a 59.2 percent graduation rate, which is about 20 percent higher than the national average. In addition, 98 percent of Northwest bachelor’s degree earners and 99 percent of master’s degree earners secure employment or continue their education within six months of graduation, according to the most recent data.

Furthermore, its vibrant and diverse learning community offers more than 150 student organizations, and textbooks and a laptop are included in tuition, which is among the lowest in the state, saving students an estimated $7,200 over four years. Northwest also offers 1,200 student employment positions, allowing students to build professional skills through its internationally benchmarked student employment program.

Northwest also places a high emphasis on laboratory- and experiential-based learning to help graduates get a jumpstart on their careers. Students have opportunities to build their resumes with experiences on campus in nearly every area of study, including the Horace Mann Laboratory School, National Public Radio affiliate KXCV, the RT Wright Laboratory Farm, Mozingo Outdoor Education Recreation Area, the internationally ranked Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship or Knacktive, a student-driven integrated digital marketing communications agency.

Northwest’s enrollment is 6,573 students, as of the first day of classes, a 3.5 percent increase since last fall. That total includes 1,333 first-time freshmen, a 2.9 percent increase from the first day of classes last fall. Northwest also recorded a 100 percent increase in its enrollment of international students, and graduate school enrollment is up 31 percent this fall.

To view U.S. News’ “2015 Best Colleges,” visit www.usnews.com/education.