Here are a few upcoming health- and wellness-related events in the Lawrence area — plus one that’s a bit beyond city limits — that may be of interest.

Healthy Native Children Workshop scheduled Tuesday in Mayetta

A workshop for Native American parents of young children aims to “help foster the health and development of Native American children from local tribal communities,” according to a news release from the University of Kansas Life Span Institute.

The Healthy Native Children Workshop invites any parents or caregivers, and it will focus on children age 5 and younger. Topics will include managing challenging behaviors, preparing for kindergarten, preventing and identifying early hearing loss and promoting healthy and active lifestyles, according to the release.

“Native American children are 2.89 times more likely to be in special education programs due to developmental delays, so it’s important to educate parents on what causes developmental delay, such as recurrent ear infections and sedentary lifestyles,” Joshuaa Allison-Burbank, a KU speech-language pathologist who created the workshops, said in the release. “We want to help parents identify and build on their strengths to help set children on a positive developmental trajectory.”

The free workshop will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Old Bingo Hall at 1677 Q Road in Mayetta, about a 50-minute drive from Lawrence. The event includes a meal and children’s activities, according to the release. No registration or RSVP is required.

Planning is underway on additional workshops in other Native American communities in northeast Kansas, according to the release.

Health data visualization tool coming

In addition to celebrating the Douglas County Health Champions at its community breakfast — slated for 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine St. — the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department will announce the launch of a new data visualization tool on its website.

The Healthier Together platform, which will be available at ldchealth.org/healthiertogether, will be an interactive dashboard surrounding health data and the Douglas County Community Health Plan, according to George Diepenbrock, the department’s communications officer.

Diepenbrock said the tool will actually go live online on Monday — that’s the first day of National Public Health Week, which runs through Sunday, April 7.

‘Neuroscience of Innovation’ lecture coming up

photo by: helenfisher.com media kit

Dr. Helen Fisher

One of Business Insider’s “15 most amazing women in science today” will give a free lecture at KU on April 12, according to a news release.

Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute, has written five best-selling books on the neuroscience behind human social behavior, according to the release about the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship Symposium Lecture.

In her lecture, Fisher will discuss “the role of brain biology and personality as it relates to innovative thinking and the natural composition of a working team,” as well as “how to capitalize on your own creative style, all with the goal of improving the audience’s understanding of how individuals collaborate, resolve conflict, sell, innovate, and lead,” according to the release.

Fisher’s lecture, “The Neuroscience of Innovation,” is free and open to the public at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 12 in Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Memorial Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.