KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – More than 600,000 international fans will attend eight World Cup matches in Kansas City in four months, creating an unprecedented medical challenge for local healthcare systems.

The University of Kansas Health System is leading preparations to provide medical services at every match, base camp and Fan Fest location while ensuring local patients continue receiving care.

“This is a super exciting challenge. We love dynamic situations and planning for those and how to mitigate risk and things. So this is exactly what I love to do,” said Dr. Bryan Beaver, who is leading the medical planning effort.

Training underway at Arrowhead Stadium

Beaver’s team has been training for a year and a half, running table-top exercises and full-scale drills at Arrowhead Stadium will be taking place soon.

“We have more of those coming as we get closer to the World Cup,” Beaver said.

All hospital systems in Kansas City will participate in the effort, with 20,000 staff at the University of Kansas Health System alone, plus regional partners.

“This is a first for Kansas City in terms of the length of this event and the number of people that we have coming. But when it comes to hospitals and collaboration, COVID was actually a pretty good example of there was an enormous need for health care,” said Laura McCarthy, vice president of public and community relations at the University of Kansas Health System.

Planning continues as details emerge

The medical plan will be finalized when team base camps are announced and translation service needs are determined.

“So once we have a little bit better idea who’s coming here and what that might mean for estimates of numbers of fans, we’ll be able to put a little bit more details in place,” McCarthy said.

Medical services will be available for team medical staff if needed, though those details are not finalized.

Healthcare officials also plan to help international fans understand the U.S. healthcare system, including the difference between urgent care and emergency departments.

“What’s the difference between an urgent care or an emergency department, when to go to an urgent care versus when to go to an emergency department, and then how to access that care and how to get there,” Beaver said.

McCarthy said coordination is happening in tiers, with primary focus on the Kansas City metro area plus Lawrence due to potential base camp locations, then expanding statewide.

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Kansas expects to have Darryn Peterson available Saturday when the No. 14 Jayhawks welcome AJ Dybantsa and No. 13 BYU to Allen Fieldhouse for a showdown between two of the Big 12’s best teams, and two of the top freshmen in college basketball.

Peterson and Dybantsa are widely expected to join Duke star Cameron Boozer in going in the first three spots of the NBA Draft in June. But the order is anybody’s guess at this point, and it could hinge heavily on how the rest of the season goes.

Dybantsa leads the nation in scoring at 23.6 points per game. Peterson is averaging 21.6, but has appeared in just 10 games.

Peterson missed last week’s win over Kansas State while dealing with an ankle he sprained in a win over Colorado. That was the latest malady for the 6-foot-5 guard, who also has dealt with hamstring and calf issues that have cost him time in every month of the season so far.

“I anticipate him being ready to go,” Kansas coach Bill Self said before Thursday’s practice.

Students have been camping inside Allen Fieldhouse since Monday to get the best seats for the highly anticipated game between the Jayhawks (15-5, 5-2) and Cougars (17-3, 5-2). Each of them are 2.5 games back of Big 12-leading and undefeated Arizona, and a game behind Houston and Texas Tech, meaning the loser could be pushed out of one of the first-round byes available in the Big 12 tournament for the top six teams in the conference.

The showdown between Peterson and Dybantsa has been eagerly anticipated all season.

They crossed paths twice on the AAU circuit last year with Peterson leading Prolific Prep to wins over Utah Prep both times. In the first, Peterson poured in 32 points with 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 76-70 victory. But it was the second game last February in Atlanta that has become legendary: Dybantasa scored 49 points with nine rebounds, only to be outdone by Peterson, who not only scored 58 points, grabbed seven rebounds and five assists, but also hit the winning 3-pointer in an 88-86 victory.

Yet as much as folks are looking forward to their head-to-head matchup, Self said, the reality is that Kansas is still playing BYU.

“We’ve made that point many times,” he said. “I’m sure they would say the same thing about us, too. The objective of the day is to win the game. And that’s the only thing I’m thinking about, and that’s all the players should be thinking about as well.”

It also will be the 1,000th men’s game played at Allen Fieldhouse since it opened on March 1, 1955.

“The building has been open for what, 71 years? That’s a lot,” said Self, who has coached 352 of those games. “As you know, before every tipoff I look at the guys to my right and left — my coaches — and say, ‘Can you believe this? We’re spoiled rotten here.’”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Restrooms and locker rooms in public buildings would be limited to biological gender only under a bill approved Wednesday in the Kansas House.

The 87-36 vote followed nearly six hours of debate.

The bill also requires drivers licenses and birth certificates to reflect a person’s biological gender at birth. The Kansas Court of Appeals struck down a previous gender marker requirement that was part of another law.

Read and track the bill here.

The bathroom requirements were added to the bill during a committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. The proposal does not preclude a gender neutral, single-person restroom facility or a family restroom.

The lack of a formal hearing on the new provision was cited by some in their opposition to the bill.

“There’s no public input in the Senate. There’s no testimony from your municipalities that you live in that are going to have to deal with the fallout and ramifications,” Rep. Dan Osman, D-Overland Park, said.

Other representatives disputed that argument.

“I know for some of you, this may be a brand new bill, you’ve never heard this topic, you’ve never seen it discussed in the legislature, but I can tell you it’s not new. Things like this have come up. We’ve had many conversations,” said Rep. Charlotte Esau, R-Olathe.

Supporters say the policy is about safety and ensuring official documents match biological gender. They also cite privacy, especially for women and girls.

“They deserve environments that respect those boundaries without forcing them to negotiate privacy in moments when they should not have to,” Rep. Megan Steele, R-Manhattan, said.

However, opponents say the bill discriminates against people who are transgender.

“Trans Kansans are not a threat to anyone,” said Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen, D-Topeka. “There are a lot of people in Kansas, who will be emboldened by this kind of legislation and other kinds of legislation to harass transgender people.”

A motion to send the bill back to committee failed.

The bill would still need approval from the Senate.

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