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THE IOLA REGISTER Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Prayers for Kayla
Hospital no longer a shelter By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Community supports young cancer patient
Last week the Genoble family found out their daughter Kayla, 8, has osteosarcom. The family is pictured above from left, Mahailie Genoble, Angela Dryden, Michael Genoble and Kayla Genoble.
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Kayla Genoble is just like any other eight year old girl. She likes animals (especially snakes), playing with Barbie dolls, making bracelets, painting her nails and riding her bike. Last week when Kayla fell off her bicycle, the result turned the Genoble family’s lives upside-down. Possible hints of the young girl’s serious condition cropped up two months ago, her mother, Angela Dryden, said. “A couple months ago Kayla started complaining about growing pains in her leg,” she said. “She wrecked her bike last week and said it hurt, so we took her to the hospital.” The doctors said there were abnormalities in her
X-ray and sent Michael Genoble, Kayla’s father, and Dryden to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City. It was there that they found out Kayla has osteosarcoma, a cancerous bone tumor that grows rapidly, in her left leg femur bone. The news obviously came as a shock to them. “We felt like it was our fault,” Dryden said. “But it had only been there for 45 days, so we caught it very early.” On Tuesday morning Genoble and Dryden traveled with Kayla to Children’s Mercy to begin the first round of three months of chemotherapy. After chemotherapy there will be physical therapy.
COUNTY COMMISSION
Ambulance on mend; runs to date top 500 By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Ryan Sell laid out for Allen County commissioners Tuesday a recent event that sidelined an ambulance. Sell, who directs the countywide service operated by Iola, said Med 33, the ambulance in question, was transferring a patient to a Kansas City hospital when it had “catastrophic engine failure” near Paola. A local ambulance took the patient on. The problem, Sell said, was a fuel injector stuck open, which overloaded a cylinder and left the engine essentially a heap of scrap metal. Twin Motors, Iola, had the low bid of $16,600 to install a new engine. The ambulance had traveled 123,000 miles when the engine blew, Sell said, or 23,000 miles after warranty had expired.
The ambulance was one that had been transferred from the county’s service. Commissioner Tom Williams asked if the problem might have resulted from a maintenance problem. Sell said that when the county ambulance was delivered to Iola it seemed to need only an oil change, which was done. The contract that merged ambulance service under Iola has the county responsible for purchasing new ambulances, but no discussion arose over whether Iola or Allen County should be responsible for outof-pocket expense for the new engine. Sell said his concern was getting the ambulance back online. With the merger Iola has at its disposal six ambulances, four of which are active — two in Iola and one each in HumSee AMBULANCE | Page A4
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 105
With the tornado season fast approaching, the new hospital can no longer serve as a public storm shelter, trustees agreed at their meeting Tuesday night. “We simply don’t have room,” said Ron Baker, chief executive officer of Allen County Regional Hospital. The hospital has a specially reinforced safe room in the case of threatening weather, which accommodates 75. “If a storm happens during the middle of a busy day, our patients and staff alone will fill the shelter,” Baker said. The public, usually as many as 125-150, frequently sought shelter in the basement of the old hospital, said Patty McGuffin, head of nursing. The new hospital lacks a basement. Storm shelters in Iola are in City Hall, Lincoln and McKinley elementary schools, the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and the Iola post office. THE LACK of dependable cell phone service in the hospital was brought up by Dr. Brian Wolfe. “If I’m with a patient in the hospital and try to call my office, I can’t get a dial tone,” he said. The dense qualities of the strong, steel structure can cause such problems, Baker admitted. “It’s real inconsistent. Sometimes we get good service, sometimes not,” Baker said. “Unless you are near an exterior wall, service is sketchy,” said Larry Peterson, chief financial officer for the hospital. To facilitate better connection, “boosters” can be installed, as was the case for improving service in
See GENOBLE | Page A4
See HOSPITAL| Page A2
Businesses get a leg up Opportunities abound for entrepreneurs By STEVEN SCHWARTZ The Iola Register
Barbara Anderson’s job is to give small businesses a leg up in southeast Kansas. All they have to do is ask. When Anderson showcased the different opportunities available to area businesses, she didn’t have a shortage of things to say; the papers stacked up on her desk. Advantages are possible for nearly every aspect of the industry — everything from retail to manufacturing and construction — and some of them are ready for the taking. “There’s a lot of things out there, you just have to ask,” she said. Anderson is the regional
Barbara Anderson can help get current and prospective business owners in touch with resources. REGISTER/STEVEN SCHWARTZ project manager of business and community development for the southeast Kansas region, 17 counties in total. She said Allen County is an underutilized resource for business, and different groups recognize that. Her job is knowing who to put
“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier, American author 75 Cents
prospective business owners in touch with to help explore their options. “I’m not an expert, but I strive to be an expert on knowing who you need to talk to,” she said. Here are some of the opSee BUSINESS | Page A4
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