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KZNA-FM 90.5 serving northwest Kansas will be off the air starting the afternoon of Monday, October 20 through Friday as we replace its aging and unreliable transmitter. While we're off-air, you can keep listening to our digital stream directly above this alert or on the HPPR mobile app. This planned project is part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining free and convenient access to public radio service via FM radio to everyone in the listening area. For questions please contact station staff at (800) 678-7444 or by emailing hppr@hppr.org

My Fellow Kansans S3: Episode 3 Anil Gharmalkar, Jalon Evans-Gharmalkar And Tamarah Chancellor

Celia Llopis-Jepsen/Kansas News Service

A first-hand account of what it's like to be hospitalized with COVID-19, and how a family handled the situation.

The term "essential worker" covers a wide range of jobs that proved especially vital when Kansans were hiding out at home from the coronavirus.

Anil Gharmalkar of Oswego has one of those jobs: He’s a truck driver, and traveled across several states with trailer-loads of food so there would be meat on grocery story shelves.

It was on the road where COVID-19 caught up with Gharmalkar. He, his wife and his mother spoke with the Kansas News Service about how the virus wears down your body and your mind.

Jim McLean is an editor and reporter for KCUR 89.3. He is the managing director of KCUR's Kansas News Service, a collaboration between KCUR and other public media stations across Kansas.
Celia comes to the Kansas News Service after five years at the Topeka Capital-Journal. She brings in-depth experience covering schools and education policy in Kansas as well as news at the Statehouse. In the last year she has been diving into data reporting. At the Kansas News Service she will also be producing more radio, a medium she’s been yearning to return to since graduating from Columbia University with a master’s in journalism.