GREAT BEND TRIBUNE Two new providers join Heart of Kansas in Great Bend Kathy Nokes Deann Schwartzkopf
Two new healthcare providers at Heart of Kansas Family Health Care are using their advanced nursing skills to care for and treat patients with a wide variety of diseases and conditions.
Kathy Nokes and Deana Schwartzkopf recently began seeing patients at the Heart of Kansas Great Bend clinic, 1905 19th.
Brett Middleton, chief executive officer, said that “in addition to their exceptional medical skills, Kathy and Deana are gifted nurses who have the natural ability to relate one-on-one with their patients. All of us are fortunate to have them here at Heart of Kansas.”
Shawnee County saw another drop in COVID-19 cases as it sits in the first phase of the vaccination plan.
COVID-19 cases have continued to drop since cases reached near-record highs the week after Thanksgiving. The county had 1,053 cases between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5, but has only 579 cases between Dec. 20-26.
Positivity rates also dropped down to 9.9%, which is the first time in weeks positivity rates dropped below the “uncontrolled” metric on the scorecard.
Craig Barnes, division manager of the Community Health Outreach and Planning department, said the case totals are still in the “uncontrolled” range, but he said Shawnee County citizens have done a much better job of following restrictions.
The number of new cases, positivity rate and hospital occupancy all dropped on this week’s COVID-19 community transmission and severity scorecard.
The Shawnee County Health Department’s COVID-19 scorecard issued Wednesday showed improvement for another week, but doctors are urging people to remain cautious, especially during the holidays.
The county reported 689 cases between Dec. 13 and Dec. 19, which was down from the 793 cases reported on the previous scorecard before.
“That number must come down to fewer than 175 cases for the outbreak to be considered under control,” the scorecard update said.
The county’s positivity rate also dropped to 11.1%, which is almost half of the all-time high 20% positivity rate the county reached two weeks ago. Health officials said that decrease could be due to expanded testing of asymptomatic people at the free testing sites in Topeka.