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Medical Society Of Sedgwick Co. Takes Lead In Federal Health Grant

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A non-profit group of doctors in Sedgwick County is moving forward with a federal health grant; the same one that the county rejected last month. KMUW’s Deborah Shaar has the story....

The Medical Society of Sedgwick County negotiated with the state of Kansas to be the lead organization for the $2.3 million dollar grant.

The money will be distributed over four years and is expected to bring about specific steps to combat the high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the county.

Doctor Donna Sweet says Sedgwick County has a 30 percent obesity rate, the highest in the state.

“The Sedgwick County Medical Society was very distraught over the county commission’s lack of understanding of the need in this community," she says. "We need that money to help our people, especially the poor.”

The county commissioners turned down the grant proposal in January preventing the Sedgwick County Heath Department from leading the program.

The Medical Society says they’ll work with the health department and other community partners such as the YMCA to develop a strategic plan over the next few months.

They expect to complete this phase by November.

Sedgwick County was just one of seven communities in the state to receive the federal grant. Sweet says the other six communities have already started using the money to develop strategies.

Kansas was one of 17 states overall that was awarded funding.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.