Submitted by Jessica Schenkel

The Lowell Milken Center will be hosting the inaugural Stubby Day from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 29, at the city park in downtown Fort Scott. This fun-filled day is in honor of one of the Center’s unsung heroes, Sergeant Stubby, who happens to be the most decorated animal in American military history. We are encouraging the community to bring their families, four-legged loved ones and friends to celebrate.

Stubby’s story will be told at 9:30 a.m. while area businesses/vendors will be present: Lee’s Paws and Claws, Gypsy Soul Rescue, Fort Scott High School Thespians for face painting, Kenny Felt Photography pet portraits from 9:30 10:30 a.m., Kinede’s Cakes with special desserts and the City of Fort Scott. There will be games, prizes and beverages.

Sergeant Stubby saved many lives while braving countless battles in WWI and we want to share his story with you.

Submitted by Angie Bin

“There will be Drama” was the theme of this year’s International Thespian Festival and the phrase proved true for 25 Fort Scott High School Thespian troupe members who were lucky enough to attend this year’s festival for free.

FSHS Thespian troupe #7365 was selected by the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) as a 2017 Send a Troupe to Festival Grant winner. The festival at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, June 19-24, was $740 per student which included rooming and meals each day and admittance to all the shows, workshops and late night activities.

FSHS Junior Ally Heenan said, “It was an amazing opportunity to experience and I feel extremely lucky to have been able to go. I made many friends and I feel it brought our troupe closer together as a family.”

Having never attended festival before, FSHS qualified for the grant by completing an in-depth application and providing an administrative recommendation letter from Superintendent Bob Beckham. As grant recipients, the FSHS troupe was recognized in front of more than 4,000 students and troupe directors on the main stage during the festival.

According to EdTA, the festival is a celebration of student achievement in the performing arts and a one-of-a-kind, weeklong immersion experience in singing, dancing, acting, designing, directing, creating, writing and memory-making. Festival featured workshops presented by theatre professionals, individual and group performances, programs for technical theatre students, and opportunities to audition for college admission and scholarships. Some students travelled from as far away as China and Dubai to attend this year.

“It made me have more of a passion for theatre,” said FSHS sophomore Carlee Studyvin.  “Meeting people from all over the U.S. was something that I will never forget.”

FSHS Junior Mary Gladbach added, “It was so exciting to be surrounded by people who I could share my love of theatre with, we were all complete strangers, but we still felt connected because of our shared passion.”

Theatrical make-up design, specialized choreography, playwriting and improvisational acting were some of the most popular types of workshops among the Fort Scott troupe. FSHS Thespian President Hunter Adamson, junior, also benefitted from a special class on Leadership that she attended each day. Many students attended panel discussions over productions they saw and even met the musicals’ composers.

FSHS Thespian Director Angie Bin, FSHS English teacher Mark Bergmann, and parent chaperone Mindy Bartlett also attended the festival.

Despite a few light showers on Wednesday, the Fort Scott Hurricanes swam against the Chanute Sharks in a swim meet at the Fort Scott pool. Fort Scott won the meet with 391 points to Chanute’s 333.

The Hurricanes will be swimming in Iola next Wednesday.

Swim Team Results PDF

After serving as part of the team at Mercy Hospital since 2010, Dr. Amy Sachau worked her last day there on July 5, after deciding to transition away from full-time and work and closer to her hometown of Overland Park.

“We have felt so loved in Fort Scott,” Sachau says, adding the rural hospital was just what she was looking for after completing her family medicine residence. “It is an honor to have worked at Mercy Fort Scott, as I feel the focus truly is on the care of our patients.”

Sachau will be starting an employee health clinic for the Shawnee Mission School District, where she attended school. There she will be able to care for the large school district’s employees and their families while spending more time with her two daughters, age 8 and 10 years, and living within walking distance of her mother.

“It was an incredibly difficult, tear-filled decision,” Sachau says, saying she wants to take advantage of the time she has with her daughters as they continue to grow up. “My new position will be part time, and will not require working nights, weekends and holidays, so I can spend that time with my family.”

While looking forward to moving closer to home and spending more time with family, Sachau said she will miss the community of Fort Scott, its slower pace and the friendliness of the residents and hospital staff.

“I love my co-workers at Mercy, and in fact, this is the very hardest part of leaving,” Sachau says. “My staff bends over backwards for our patients—and for me—day after day, and I could never thank them enough.”

Mercy staff also spoke highly of Sachau and her care for her patients.

“It has been an amazing experience working for Dr. Sachau,” says Kyla Probasco. R.N., of the Mercy Clinic. “She has always provided exceptional care for her patients. Their love and appreciation for her has been very apparent the last few months and speaks volumes for her character.

“This community is really going to miss her. I consider it an honor to be a part of her team and have always been proud to say, ‘I am Dr. Sachau’s nurse.’ I am extremely sad that Dr. Sachau is leaving, but am so happy for her and her family and all of their future endeavors together.”

Submitted by Tina Rockhold, Mercy Hospital

At 70 years old, Roxine Poznich simply isn’t ready to retire or let a cancer diagnosis interfere with her plans. So when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the square-dancing great grandma handled the do-si-do with the disease with determination.

The Diagnosis

Roxine’s cancer was diagnosed in late February.

“I wasn’t feeling bad, nor did I have any symptoms of any illness,” she said. “I’ve always been active and healthy so it never occurred to me I might have cancer.”

But she decided to take advantage of a heart and vascular screening that Mercy was promoting during National Heart Month.

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have that checked. When the radiology technician used ultrasound to check the arteries in my neck, ankles and abdomen for blockage, I certainly was not expecting her to find a softball-sized tumor just below my ribs.”

Roxine has worked as a level 2 histology technician at Mercy Hospital Fort Scott for 26 years.

“I see my co-workers in imaging services almost daily and I consider them my friends. Knowing that they were able to find the tumor makes me even more grateful for their expertise and the compassionate way they treat patients.”

The Care Team

“Learning I had cancer was a shock. I was nervous about my treatment, so I wanted to be somewhere I knew the people caring for me. Plus, I wanted to stay in Fort Scott so I didn’t have the extra burden of traveling out of town.

“I knew I could count on the team at Mercy’s Cancer Care Unit of Hope to provide the best care available. Dr. Nassim Nabbout, oncologist/hematologist with Cancer Center of Kansas, took me under his wing and explained to me the process for surgery and treatment. He was kind, straightforward and honest – exactly what I needed to tackle the disease.

“I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Nabbout and the Mercy Cancer Care Unit of Hope nurses. The care is as good if not better than if I had traveled to a large hospital or bigger city. Our community is so fortunate to have this clinic at the hospital.”

The Outlook

Fortunately, Roxine’s form of cancer is slow growing and treatment success rates are high. She was even able to work throughout her eight weeks of treatment except for the actual days she received the drug rituximab.

Once her treatment was complete, she was released and back to dancing again.

The Privileges of Partnership

Mercy has partnered with Cancer Center of Kansas since 2008 to provide oncology/hematology services in Fort Scott. Through the Cancer Center of Kansas’ relationships with such well-known programs as M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the program offers Mercy Fort Scott patients the most current cancer research in detection, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, control and quality of life. To learn more about the physicians and treatments available at Mercy Cancer Care Unit of Hope, call 620-223- 8589.

The Fort Scott National Historic Site began to celebrate Independence Day over the weekend with the Symbols of Sacrifice memorial displaying thousands of American flags placed in honor of every American soldier who died for the United States since the Revolutionary War.

Other demonstrations were also given to fort visitors Saturday by volunteers dressed in period clothing. Further events and demonstrations will be available for visitors throughout the day on Tuesday. See here for another FortScott.biz article for details on the schedule of events.

Volunteers from scout troops as well as families and other individuals placed the flags Thursday and the flags will remain in place through Sunday, July 9. Fort staff invites volunteers to help remove the flags Monday, July 10.

For a third year in a row, the LaRoche Baseball Complex will host a Fourth of July event, including live music, food and beverages, a guest speaker and fireworks, while raising money for three organizations providing support for combat veterans.

“A great cause, and you can support it,” Larry Gazaway said of the event during a recent chamber of commerce event.

Gates will open Tuesday at 5 p.m., while the opening act, the Barnstormers, will perform at 6 p.m. A double-amputee veteran will speak on the topic of the struggles veterans face and how people can honor and support them in gratitude for their sacrifice.

At 8 p.m., Jason Boland and the Stragglers will perform, before the night ends with a fireworks display.

Tickets remain available for the event, and range from $20 to $35. Funds raised will be used to support Heroes’ Sports, the E3 Foundation and Combat Warriors Inc.