Endocrinology Clinic Brings New Level

of Care to SEK

PARSONS, Kan., June 24, 2009 – Labette Health is partnering with one of the nation’s leading pediatric hospitals, Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., to bring an endocrinology clinic to Southeast Kansas.

Dr. Wayne Moore, endocrinology section chief at Children’s Mercy, headed the first clinic at Labette Health June 18 and saw approximately 30 patients. The Children’s Mercy team will operate the clinic on an every-other-month basis, allowing patients from Southeast Kansas to see their physicians in Parsons instead of traveling all the way to Kansas City for a 30-minute appointment, Dr. Moore said. Dr. L. Kurt Midyett, medical director of Children’s Mercy’s diabetes program, also will see patients at the Parsons clinics.

“Labette Health is a great facility,” Dr. Moore said, noting that the Rector Diabetes Education and Resource Center now under construction on the Labette Health campus will be a “fantastic” addition. As an endocrinologist, he treats cases dealing with growth hormones, thyroid, puberty and sexual development, but his primary focus is diabetes.

“Diabetes is a disease that is increasing about two to four percent per year, and that’s just type 1, not to mention type 2,” he said. Type 1, known as juvenile diabetes because it is commonly diagnosed in children, is a disorder in which the body does not produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or is unable to recognize it, is increasingly common and has been associated with obesity, lack of exercise and other lifestyle issues.

A 2008 pilot study of more than 600 Labette County children in grades two through five found that more than 20 percent had a body-mass index (BMI), that is considered obese according to Centers for Disease Control standards. More than one in three were overweight.

The Rector Diabetes Education and Resource Center, which is being built with a gift from Jacque and Kelly Rector of Parsons to the Labette Health Foundation, will provide diabetes-related educational programs, nutritional counseling and other support for area diabetics and their families.

The next Children’s Mercy endocrinology clinic at Labette Health will be in August.