Recently in Enterprise Category

Dolph Simons Jr., World Company chairman and Journal World editor, remains transfixed in thought as he plucks away intensely on the old typewriter in the corner of his office.  A collection of the day's various news prints blanket his large desk.

            "Nearly impossible to find one of these nowadays," Simons said of the old machine, polished to a fine black.

            This year has, perhaps, been equally as colorless for the Journal World.

            As part of the growing trend among newspapers across the country striving to adapt to new technologies amidst an ailing economy, the Journal World had to cut several part-time and full-time positions this year, according to Simons.  

            Metropolis newspapers, however, may be taking the hardest hits.

            The Kansas City Star, owned by the McClatchy Co., the third-largest newspaper company in the U.S., cut 120 jobs from its workforce in June and another 60 in Sept. of this year.

            "The two biggest costs are newsprint and personnel," said Malcolm Gibson, general manager of the University Daily Kansan (UDK).  "You can't cut newsprint often times, so you have to cut personnel."

            Costs involved with the delivery of the newspaper also play a significant role.

            "People forget that the single biggest cost of the newspaper is taking it door to door--the labor costs, the energy costs and so on," said David Winter, a journalism graduate student, who has worked with such newspapers as the Denver Post and the Detroit Free Press.

            According to an Audit Bureau of Circulation report, the Kansas City Star's weekday circulation dropped 2.3 percent to 239,358 newspapers per day as of Sept. 2008.  In comparison, the Lawrence Journal World reported circulating 18,635 during the same period for its daily publication.

            Richard Musser, a retired KU journalism professor of 32 years, attributes part of the recurring layoffs to what many call "the death spiral"--a trend of rapidly declining ad revenues that began in the third quarter of 2007.  There has been an overall decrease in ad revenues for 10 straight quarters.

            According to the Newspaper Association of America, representing over 2,000 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada, ad revenues from third quarter '07 declined 7.4 percent, compared to -18.11 percent the same quarter of this year.  This decline equates to about $2 billion in losses.        

However, across the nation, smaller niche publications--publications targeted at a specific audience--are faring much better, Gibson said.

            The UDK, a niche publication targeted toward students, had its most lucrative year last year, generating $1.4 million in ad revenue.

            Of the $1.4 million generated by the UDK, only about $30,000 was generated by the online sector.

            Gibson pointed to the current dilemma for nearly all newspapers, including the UDK, in trying to bring that revenue across to the web, but solutions have not been forthcoming.

            To help relieve some of this tension, it may be time to revive the days of privatizing newspaper companies.

            "Public ownership was good for newspapers for a while because it allowed them to do certain things that you couldn't do under private companies," Gibson said.  "We need to relieve the pressures of the stock market."

            Whatever the case may be, the online community has remained vocal in its frustration over the waning industry.

            "There's a lot of whining out there," Musser said.

"Well, I'm sorry--it's too bad.  It comes to a point when this just doesn't help."

            Musser stressed the need for the journalistic community to look at the newspaper business in a different light in order to make progress.

            "Newspapers as a mass communication device; something for everybody--these are going to shrink," Musser said. 

"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years.  That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."

For students entering the tenuous newspaper industry, Musser gives this succinct advice:

"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years," Musser said.  "That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."

Musser added that students should be fluent in digital, HTML, video, and blogging skills before entering the job market.

Gibson said that while there may be a few out there who can "do it all," being an expert in all these areas needn't be a prerequisite. 

"There's never going to be one-man bands.  Collaboration is key," Gibson said.  "We can't teach you everything, but what we can do is teach you an appreciation for it all."

While disagreement among experienced journalists persists on how to best remedy the weakening industry, agreement remains ubiquitous in the fact that change is leading it to an uncertain future.   

            The United States ranks 44^th in the world in life expectancy and 41^st in the world in infant morality, the U.S Census Bureau reports.

            Disappointed by the rankings the U.S. present, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is one of the organizations seeking the means to improve health in the U.S. One of NACCHO's goals, partnered with other organizations and governed by the Public Health Accreditation Board, wants to strengthen the infrastructure of public health and is looking to do so by awarding accreditation to local health departments.

Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department
Photo taken by Jesse Brown

            The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is one of these local health departments seeking to achieve national accreditation, which essentially is a seal of approval from the government that will instill confidence in the community's ability to assess health problems with expertise to educate and prevent health risks.

With a recent salmonella outbreak, a recalling of candy from China because of chemicals or a parent's concern over lead-based toys, the concern for health is greater than ever.

            However, the economy is making the health department jump through hurdles.

Economic Hardships and Alternate Routes

In addition to more than a $70,000 shortfall in their operating budget from the city of Lawrence and Douglas County, which was originally approved back in April, the health department has had to make cuts to even accommodate this reduction of eight percent the city and county could offer.

This reduction of eight percent includes not hiring a new staff member to assist with accreditation, deciding not to replace two positions by retiring staff members, decreasing planned cost of living adjustment from 2 to .1 percent, reducing capital equipment purchases and increasing fees. The reduction comes to an estimated $200,600 the health department managed to cut.

Charlotte Marthaler, director of policy and planning, assures that achieving accreditation is not going to be an easy task.

"We are trying to achieve more with less," says Marthaler.  "In some cases that means simply doing more and working harder in order to achieve our goals."

Despite the difficulties the economy is making it to achieve national accreditation, there are alternatives to find more money. Announcing plans to achieve national accreditation in 2011, the health department received a $15,000 grant from NACCHO.

With NACCHO's grant, the opportunities to receive more grants become possible. The health department recently submitted a proposal to the Sunflower Foundation for $14,600 for additional training in quality improvement methods and they are in the process of submitting a proposal to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for quality improvement implementation and evaluation of these efforts.

Background to Accreditation and the Process to Accreditation

In 1988, the Institute of Medicine's "The Future of Public Health" was a manifesto as to how efficiently run health programs to deal with the health issues not only of today but tomorrow as well. In the book, the authors called for an organization to examine the benefits of accrediting governmental health departments. Accreditation became a key strategy to strengthen the public health system.

The Public Health Accreditation Board governs each health department through accreditation working with other organizations such as NACCHO.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is measuring itself by NACCHO's Operational Definition of a Functional Health Department to determine its strengths and the improvements that need to be made. They self-assessed themselves back in April with 225 different indicators and got a look at what needed improving.

The health department assessed themselves back in April with NACCHO's Operational Definition of a Functional Health Department and their overall scores are above.
Graphic: courtesy of Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department

"We're working very hard on being focused," says Marthaler. "We're trying to get ahead of the game."

Some of the things needed improving is: monitoring health status and understand health issues facing the community, engaging the community to identify and solve health problems, and evaluating and improving programs.

The top two things they scored best at were: protecting people from health problems and health hazards and enforcing public health laws and regulations.

"In order to find the resources to achieve accreditation, we are assessing what we are doing day-to-day and setting new priorities," Marthaler said.

National accreditation can bring recognition from policy makers, confidence in the health department's ability to inform and help the community, and the expertise to carry out these goals to the city of Lawrence.

In a press release, Director Dan Partridge of Lawrence-Douglas County Health department said "We believe accreditation is an important vehicle for meeting the needs of the public and is a visible demonstration of our commitment to public health." 

A woman stands in the entrance of the Lawrence Humane Society sobbing. She's not upset about her empty pockets. Her tears aren't because of the fact that she lost her home to foreclosure. She's in shambles because she's losing her best friend.

"I don't want to give up my dog but I have no options," she says amid sobs.

In the economy's current free-fall, pet owners across the country are feeling the same pain.

And for Lawrence's only shelter, the spike in pet abortions couldn't come at a worse time.

The facility, which is in serious need of funding and becoming increasingly crowded, saw a 19 percent increase in owner drop-offs last month when compared to 2007. Pair that with an annual influx of around 150 student pet abortions every December and it makes for an extremely cold and crammed winter.

"It's like a double hit," said Lawrence Humane Society executive director Midge Grinstead.

Grinstead can understand the increase in economy-related drop-offs, but she can't understand the chronic neglect of KU students year after year.

Not only are students dumping their animals at the shelter, but also on the streets.

"They throw them in dumpsters. They kick them out the door and leave them on their own," said Grinstead.

As a result the shelter has seen some grotesque animal rights offenses, especially in the winter months.

Frostbite is more prevalent than anything else. It's not uncommon for animals to arrive at the shelter missing the pads of their feet, their noses, or their ears.

One memory of a dog frozen to the sidewalk after an ice storm still resonates with Grinstead and her staff.

"When he got up, part of him didn't. It was traumatic to even be there to help the animal," she said.

With finals rapidly approaching, the humane society doesn't see any signs of the trend reversing itself this winter break.

And with pet owners everywhere lining up to say goodbye to their four-legged-friends, things are looking increasingly grim.

After the cost of medications, veterinary visits, and increasingly expensive food, Grinstead estimates that the yearly cost of owning a dog is now somewhere between $900-1000 a year. And that's assuming that the animal doesn't run into any major health problems resulting in additional expenses.

Because of stricter admission procedures, Wayside Waifs in Kansas City doesn't have the same problems as Lawrence concerning space, but they've noticed a lot more traffic in and out of their doors amid the economic turmoil.

"We definitely have had more phone calls about people wanting to surrender their pets for what we believe to be financial and economic issues," said Jenny Brown, communications manager at Kansas City's largest shelter.

Even though space hasn't proved to be a problem, Wayside Waifs is experiencing financial issues of their own during a time when a spike in shelter demand has resulted in a need for more resources.

According to Brown, donations have dropped 40 percent and food prices have jumped 40 percent. Even the petroleum-based surgical gloves the shelter employees use have seen a 26 percent price increase.

"As donations stop coming in, animals keep coming in, and we have to live with our services," said Brown

Tom Godsey, Kansas City senior, just got a puppy at a time when it seems like everyone is doing the opposite.

Godsey got the Golden-Retriever from his aunt, who didn't feel she needed the additional financial burden.

Learning to cope with the responsibility of the five-month-old dog named Lexi has resulted in some difficult moments. But Godsey tries his best to be a responsible pet owner.

"She peed in my bed on Saturday, and she poops in the house still," said Godsey. "But I love her."

As for his peers who haven't been fulfilling their obligations as pet owners, "You need to make sure that you take on the responsibility well and don't give your dog up just because it's the end of the semester."

Wherever one goes this season there is bound to be bells ringing.  And it's not tinnitus, a ringing of the ears. It's Salvation Army bell-ringers.

But where does the money go from the red kettles?

83 cents out of every dollar goes directly towards programming.

"Sometimes I think people just think that when they give money to us it goes into this big pot," Aaron Smith, Salvation Army community relations director said. "And it doesn't. We use exactly what we get."

All of the funding for Salvation Army services comes from Lawrence and Douglas County. Though they do send out 10 percent of their earnings to the Kansas City division for support with training and insurance. 

The Salvation Army offers numerous programs including emergency assistance, lunches and shelter. They've been active in Lawrence for 120 years, and have changed with the needs of community.

"We've seen great depressions, wars, you know all of this stuff that is a big concern right now," Smith said.  "But we know how to adapt. If it's having a temporary shelter, if it's starting up a food program: wherever we see that need we work hard to fill that gap."

Lawrence has been affected by a shortage of volunteers, though the Salvation Army estimates they have 175 volunteers that cover multiple slots.

"There are 20 locations but we've never filled every slot. If we did it with separate volunteers that'd take 3,700 volunteers," Smith said.

With its ability to adapt to the needs of the community it monitors what other organizations in Lawrence are doing in order make the most services possible. If another group is focusing more on a program that the Salvation Army has done in the past they may very well direct those in need there.

"We work close with other organizations in town. We work hard to not duplicate services," Smith Said. "We all want to help people. I suppose some people could see it as a competition kind of thing but really it's not about that."

The Salvation Army has applied for a Home and Urban Development (HUD) grant that would allow them to change its strategy in coming years.

"I think all agencies have to get to the point where they specialize in something," Captain Wesley Dalberg, Salvation Army corps officer said. "Rather than trying the shotgun approach where we try to hit everything, we try to be everything to everybody. I don't think any agency can do that."

The plan is called five areas over five years. It includes a transitional housing program, a community food bank, youth and children programming, a focused emergency assistance program and a recovery and reintegration program for those who were in jail or prison.

If the HUD grant is approved the Lawrence Salvation Army plans on closing its shelter that started 20 years ago. The Lawrence community shelter would become the shelter in Lawrence, which will allow the Salvation Army to change for the community's needs.

"We want to make good decisions because they don't just affect us. They affect the people we serve," Dalberg said.

Heart pounding, palms sweating, out of control, failure, scared, shaking. Amanda Batter, Omaha senior, recalls these feelings she experienced before she was put on her medication. At first she didn't understand what was happening  to her and why these feelings were so frequent.

"Does everyone feel this way?" she thought.

After finally realizing she was suffering from frequent panic attacks, Batter went to a doctor and was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and severe depression disorder. Batter had joined an increasing number of college students who suffer from depression and anxiety. According to the American College Health Association (ACHA), the percentage of college students diagnosed with depression has increased 56 percent in the last six years.

The average age for many mental health conditions to surface is the typical college age range of 18 to 24 years old, according to the Mental Health foundation, a Web site that aims to inform people of all types of mental health issues. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 75 percent of all individuals with an anxiety disorder will experience symptoms before age 22.  

Batter, like millions of other students, went through a series of drugs until she found some that worked well with her body.

"Since I was 15 I have been prescribed to Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, and Welbutrin," said Batter. The first three drugs listed left Batter in a dream-state, feeling like she wasn't fully here. The last drug, Welbutrin, made Batter's body become resistant to the drug, which makes people feel even more depressed. After many bad side effects she was then prescribed to Lexapro and Lorazepam, both she has been taking for about a year now.

"Lexapro is an antidepressant and anxiety agent. I take this on a daily basis for severe depression disorder and generalized anxiety disorder," Batter said.  

This medication makes her mood more stable everyday rather than up and down, which is typically seen with depression and anxiety. It makes her a generally happier person, more active, more focused, and improves her well-being, she said.

 Lorazepam is a medication that is taken as needed, or when she starts to feel anxious. Batter will take it before tests or if she feels like a panic attack is coming on. The medication calms and relaxes her body to help reduce her heart pounding and shaking.

 Stephen Ilardi, associate professor of psychology at the University of Kansas said, "There's a bizarre irony for antidepressants."  He said that the use of such drugs" has increased exponentially over the last couple of decades and despite this, the rate of depression just keeps going up and up and up. It's not like we have a widely effective treatment."

 "I think I initially starting experiencing anxiety in high school, but it worsened when I got to college," Batter said.

That depression and anxiety is often triggered by leaving a structured home life, high school friends and relationships for a college life where students have to make their own decisions.

There was pressure and stress on her when she first came to college because she was an out-of-state student. She didn't know anyone at first and was away from everyone and everything familiar.

 "Not having anyone physically here to talk to and be supportive of you is something that can trigger my anxiety, and it did to an extent when I first came to school as an out-of-state student," Batter said.

Although depression and anxiety more strongly effect out-of-state students, it also effects the in-state as well. Kate Lynn, Overland Park junior, fell into a state of depression last semester.

"School just seemed overwhelming, my boyfriend and I were in a rocky stage and I found out my dad was moving to Iowa for work," Lynn said.

Lynn began secluding herself from her sorority and was only spending time with her boyfriend. In the middle of the semester she broke down and decided it would be healthier for her to drop out of her sorority and live at home and commute to campus each day.

"It seems dumb, but I just really needed to be around my family," Lynn said.

Lynn decided she didn't want to go on prescription drugs but thought that talk therapy would help. She began seeing a therapist and sure enough her depression subsided after a few months.