RX for Change: Confronting the health care crisis in Kansas

Dec. 7, 2005

By SHANNA FOSTER-GUIOT

Chanute Tribune

Residents of the small southeast Kansas town of Humboldt recently approved a $5.9 million school bond issue.

By most accounts, the issue's passage was due, in large part, to a particular aspect of the plan — a new high school gymnasium. The gym will include an elevated indoor walking track and cardiovascular equipment available for use by the 1,999 residents of Humboldt as a community fitness center.

“This gives the citizens here a chance to have similar fitness opportunities as you would have in a larger city,” Humboldt Superintendent Bob Heigele said. “To be honest, if the (school) board hadn't heard that kind of need from the community, they probably wouldn't have thought to spend (the) money.”

Kansans — in communities large and small — are catching up with coastal trends and looking for ways to become and stay healthy through fitness and nutrition. And city and county leaders acknowledge the need for community fitness centers.

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Nationwide, Americans tend not to get enough daily exercise, which contributes to an array of medical problems. As traditional medical treatment becomes increasingly expensive, Kansans have joined the growing number of people who seek to become — and remain — healthy through diet and exercise.

A few years ago, Chanute's 9,500 residents expressed a need for a fitness and rehabilitation center — a need recognized decades ago by the local hospital's board of directors.

“The idea of a medically based fitness center was a goal of the medical center's long-range plan since the 1980s,” said Patricia Morris, communications and strategic planning director for Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center.

In the mid-1990s, Morris said, there was a “shift across the nation in the way disease prevention and rehabilitation was viewed. Preventative medicine and the benefits of rehabilitation earned a new level of importance.”

Still, it took several years to put together a final plan for the center that exists today.

“It is divided into two distinct parts,” Morris said, “the community fitness center and the medical center's rehab services. It was something different for southeast Kansas.”

And, apparently, something residents needed.

“The community has been very supportive,” Morris said. “When we were first planning the facility, we thought we might have 300 members, but have well exceeded that estimate.”

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Two of those members, attorneys Tod Davis, 42, and David Clark, 41, work out together at the center at least four days a week. Health is a concern for both men, but their particular issues are vastly different.

Davis exercised even before suffering a massive heart attack nearly a year ago.

“When I first started working out, it was more about vanity,” he said. “Now, it's more for quality of life, today and down the road.”

Davis' physician prescribed an exercise regimen that includes cardiovascular activity to strengthen his heart. He also lifts weights.

“I'm probably in better shape now than before the heart attack — I know I have better endurance. I just feel better.”

Clark got out of the habit of exercising regularly, but began again last April. He was diagnosed with diabetes four years ago and discovered that a regular exercise program helps him control the disease.

“I had tests again in August and my glucose and cholesterol levels were both down and the only change I made was starting to work out again,” Clark said.

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With nearly 119 million Americans tipping the scales with unhealthy numbers, weight management ranks high among health concerns.

Kansas adults particularly are heavy; the state ranks 17th in the nation for overweight adults. And 23 percent of those fall in the “obese” category.

Diet and exercise both play roles in keeping the pounds in check, but nutrition affects health most significantly, health professional say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that each state formulate an obesity plan and dedicate funding toward prevention and control of obesity. Recent studies show childhood obesity is more easily prevented, while adults must find ways to become and stay healthy.

Diabetes, which often leads to heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure, is one of the most life-threatening conditions associated with obesity. It is also one of the diseases that responds most favorably to nutrition therapy.

Mali Ziglari, in her work as an advanced registered nurse practitioner at Chanute's Ashley Clinic, sees nearly 140 diabetics every month and works with them primarily on healthy eating, blood sugar monitoring, increased activity and medication management.

“Nutrition plays a primary role in diabetes management and there is no way to treat diabetes without first learning to eat properly,” Ziglari said.

“There are people with diabetes who can manage their diabetes without medication, but they have to be diagnosed at an early stage and be willing to eat properly, lose weight and exercise regularly.”

One of Ziglari's patients, Nicholas Alonzo, 54, combats the disease with nutrition therapy.

“That was two years ago, and so far I've been able to control it (without medication).

“I had to cut back on sweets quite a bit and fried foods. The main thing is watching your diet and controlling your weight.”

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Over the last 20 years, fitness centers available to the whole community have overtaken muscle gyms used by a few. The new fitness and wellness centers often are affiliated with local hospitals, which also offer nutrition programs and medical services.

Hays Medical Center opened the Center for Health Improvement in 2002, spending $15 million to meet a prevailing community demand.

Fitness manager Stephanie Schaffer said the center appeals to all ages.

The largest group of members, though, is between 55 and 75 years of age and most have been referred by their physicians.

“The doctors give us the diagnosis and we work out a fitness plan for that patient member,” Schaffer said.

Many patients who go to the center for cardiac rehab or physical therapy find it easier to transition into the fitness side when their rehab is completed.

The fitness center boasts a membership of 2,200 in a town with a population of 20,000. Schaffer said many drive 30 miles or more to use the center in northwest Kansas.

“We're out here in the boondocks,” she said, “and we knew that a community like Hays needed a facility like this.”