December 9, 2025
Community Health Corner
In America’s Health Rankings report for 2024, Kansas is ranked number 28 of the 50 states in overall health of its residents. We need to raise that ranking which was once in the top 10! K-State Extension is working with others to improve everyone’s health, and we want all to join the effort. From urban, metro, suburban, rural and frontier locations, Extension works in partnership with communities to deliver meaningful, timely relevant programs and initiatives for health and well-being. The following resources help us improve well-being and achieve national Healthy People 2030 objectives.
Deepfake Protection Tips: The Kansas Dept. of Children and Families (DCF), through their, DCF Direct newsletter, recently reminded clients and department partners to be cautious about “deepfakes” on the internet. Working with the National Cybersecurity Alliance, DCF has provided simple tips here. Financial exploitation should always be reported to the Kansas Protection Report Center (KPRC) at 1-800-922-5330.
Holiday Stress and Children with Special Needs: The private, nationally acclaimed Child Mind Institute shares information about how to help reduce holiday-related stress for children with special needs or who are neurodivergent. Child Mind offers 24 Ways to Make the Holidays Kid-Friendly through podcasts, video and print pages here. Information is also available in Spanish.
Health Insurance Coverage by Kansas Congressional District: The Kansas Health Institute (KHI) has released a new fact sheet and interactive dashboard about health insurance coverage for Kansans broken down by congressional district and age group. The interactive state map of insurance coverage will be updated as ACA insurance subsidies are set to expire on December 31, 2025. Reputable sources of information about the federal insurance subsidy expiration include KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation), the Commonwealth Fund, the Brookings Institute and the Congressional Budget Office, September 18, 2025, report.
Looking Ahead:
- Kansas Governor’s Public Health Conference, March 30-Apri 1, 2026; Wichita State Univ.
- REGISTRATION OPEN! National Health Outreach Engagement Conference (NHOC), St. George, Utah, May 12–14, 2026.
- National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) national conference, June 15-18, 2026 in Wichita, KS
- Kansas Teen Suicide Prevention Conference, August 10-11, 2026, Emporia State University (KU AHEC Facebook Save the Date)
For more information, check out the Kansas health data dashboards and resources at Kansas Health Matters or contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu; and Stephanie Gutierrez, smgutier@k-state.edu