The Saint Louis Crisis Nursery opened its doors 35 years ago as a safe haven for children when their family faces a crisis like homelessness, domestic violence, illness, or overwhelming parental stress.

The Crisis Nursery supports families when they need it most. From the time the doors first opened until today, the Crisis Nursery has never closed. They are open, answering the helpline and keeping children safe 24 / 7 / 365.

Since 1986, the Crisis Nursery has expanded to five Nursery locations and 10 Family Empowerment Centers to help families all across our region: from Arnold to Ferguson and from Wentzville to East St. Louis.

Parents can bring children to one of the nurseries voluntarily and free of charge for a short term. The children receive a medical exam, nutritious meals, trauma-informed care, Art and Play Therapy, and take-home necessities. Parents will also receive crisis counseling, in-home visits, and parent education groups at one of the Family Empowerment Centers.

Thirty-five years of preventing child abuse and neglect consist of:

• 125,000 children kept safe at one of the Nurseries
• 4.8 MILLION hours of emergency crisis care for kids
• 63,000 families served
• 99% of children involved with the Crisis Nursery have NO child abuse hotline report
• 98% of the children stay with their family and do NOT have to go into foster care

How to Hack your Travel Workout
By: Dr. Ravi Johar, Chief Medical Officer, UnitedHealthcare of Missouri

Everyone from the occasional weekend trippers to hardcore nomads is guilty of skipping workouts while they are on the road. After all, our normal routines, including our regularly scheduled workouts, are often the first casualty of trip planning when we travel. Consider these tips to help stay fit while far away from home. 

Pack right. A pair of sneakers, tennis shoes or cross trainers are the minimum requirements for helping maintain your fitness regime. Add a jump rope and resistance bands and you have all the tools you need for a workout that combines cardio and muscle conditioning. Bands come in a variety of tensions to work for different muscle groups, so bringing multiple bands is a good idea.

Put one foot in front of the other. Whether you go by plane, train or car, traveling usually means long periods of sitting. Strap on those cross trainers you packed and use them to walk whenever and wherever it’s practical. If your flight is delayed, take the time to stroll around the terminal. If you’re driving, do a couple of laps around the parking lot at the rest stop. And investing in a wearable activity tracker or pedometer can help keep you walking when on the road.

Work with your jet lag. For many people, changing time zones deals a major blow to their quality of sleep. Instead of spending hours tossing and turning in bed while trying to get your body used to local time, channel your restlessness into a quick workout. It won’t necessarily cure your jetlag, but it will be a more efficient use of your time.

Take it outside. Let’s face it, many hotel gyms leave something to be desired, and working out in your room can get downright boring. Fortunately, cities around the globe have fitness trails also known as parcourses. These outdoor paths are often located in parks or promenades and are equipped with fitness stations that include everything from chin-up bars to balance beams. A brisk walk along a parcourse will not only help keep you in shape but also provide a great way to explore a new city. 

Got 15 minutes? Because travelers are often tight on both time and space, they need an effective workout routine they can do anywhere. Try picking five exercises and then simply doing each exercise for a minute. Repeat each exercise three times and add a warm-up and a post-workout stretch and you’re good to go.

You are what you eat. The grab-and-go meals people tend to eat while on the road can be convenient, but they are rarely healthy. Packed with sugar, salt, and fat, the snack you buy at the airport terminal or roadside convenience store provides quick calories but will leave you in no mood to exercise once the sugar high subsides. Eating balanced meals while traveling is a challenge, but a good rule of thumb is to never eat two bad meals in a row.

Be prepared. Even on a fun trip, accidents can happen. Or perhaps you catch a cold that leaves you miserable in your hotel room. Instead of letting the thought of that get you down, consider having a health insurance plan that can travel with you, like a Medicare Supplement plan. Because it pays for covered services provided by any doctor in the country who accepts Medicare, a Medicare Supplement plan can be a perfect option if your travel lifestyle is part of your healthy lifestyle.

Do the best you can. Staying fit while traveling will always be a challenge, so don’t beat yourself up if you miss a workout. Even a little activity is better than none, so celebrate the little victories. Once you’re home and back to your regular workout routine you’ll be thankful you carved out even a little time to stay active when you were on the road.

How to keep your plants happy this August:

1. Watering

In the summer months be very attentive to your watering. Take a spade or hand trowel and open a hole in the soil to feel it is moist. Again, if you are not sure, Water! Water the plant until you can tell that the soil is saturated around the plant, hand watering may mean 2-3 minutes per plant with a hose or if you use a sprinkler that might mean 1-2 hours of watering to get 1 inch of water per week. Be sure to have Greenturf irrigation adjust your sprinklers for all new planting to assure proper watering and keeping water OFF the plant leaves.

2. Pruning

Remove all dead flowers from annuals, perennials, and roses and trim plants back 20% to encourage new growth and new blooms.

3. Insect & Disease control

Summer is the time that bagworms, aphids, and Japanese beetles can be problematic. Set up Japanese beetle traps in an area away from your affected plants. For scale or many insects apply neem oil at the cool time of day for insect control. Junipers and Arborvitae should be sprayed with a Fertilome tree and shrub insect/bagworm control product before you see the damage. Summertime Fungus can be Among us on roses, ornament cherry trees, lawns, and many other plants and Sherwood’s Forest recommends using a preventative fungicide like Fertilome F-stop on these areas. Hire an arborist company like Timberline Professional Tree Care (www.stltreecare.com) to set your home up with a yearly preventative Spray Program is the best option for large trees and yards.

4. Weed Control

Keep your garden weeded and well mulched to conserve water and keep your plants happy. For the lawn use Fertilome ‘Weed Free Zone’ to control lawn weeds, ‘Sedgehammer’ for nutgrass, and Fertilome ‘Over The Top’ to control Bermuda weed grass invading desirable plant areas.

5. Critter Control

Control mole by setting traps or applying Bonide ‘Molemax’ that repels moles with a castor bean product. Snakes and moss can be controlled using Fertilome Sulfur Products. For lawn mosquitos use Fertilome Lawn Shield Granular with Cedar oil. Many insects’ animals can also be repelled by planting citronella, lavender, marigolds, mints, and other plant varieties that they don’t like.

Deer, Deer, Deer, so many Deer. There are many products that help like Bonide Repels All & Bobbex Deer Repellent and Morganite Fertilizer that work when applied weekly and it is best to use a variety of brands, so animals do not get used to one only. Deer netting or chicken wire is the best defense to keep animals away from your plants.

6. Fertilizing

Fertilizer your plants with an organic plant food like Espoma tones. Espoma has a special fertilizer for your Hollys, Trees, Rose, Evergreens, Citrus, Vegetables, and your BLOOMERS.

7. Questions?

For diagnosis of plant or lawn problems, take a picture of the area and if possible, cut off a leaf or branch and bring it to your local Nursery and Garden to get expert advice.