Tag Archives: Shareable Stories

Local Gardeners find ways to adjust to the summer heat

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WALNUT, Ks. – Up until today we have seen over ten days of triple digit heat in the Four-States, and it has led to a difficult time for anyone with a garden.

KOAM’s Jaylon Banks caught up with Jamie Burke of the Burke Family Gardens on some of the challenges they have faced and some tips on how they have adapted.

“Last year we watered our garden once a week, maybe a couple of times a week.  Right now we’re watering our garden every day, and it’s for a couple hours at each section every day,” says Burke

Tips on how to better take care of your garden in the summer heat:

  • Lay down mulch on the soil because it acts insulator to the soil and keeps in moisture longer
  • Water the ground of the bed and not the top– with prolonged sun exposure and heat– the water droplets can act as a magnifying glass– causing sunburns
  • Give the plants or produce some shade by planting trees around, growing sunflowers, or placing a sheet up
  • Move what you can indoors– Still place it by a window so that it gets enough sunlight.

 

COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

Mali donates Medi Teddies for others fighting illness like her

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JOPLIN, Mo. – A young woman fighting a terminal illness is on a mission to help others with Medi Teddies.

Mali House, of Galena, Kansas, has an illness that causes severe seizures. She’s spent a lot of time in the hospital getting intravenous (IV) fluids or medications. Needles and IVs can be intimidating. So having the fear of needles herself, Mali wants to help ease the situation for others. She’s doing this by donating Medi Teddies.

A Medi Teddy has a plastic bear to hide the IV bag and a plush bear that children can hold. The hope is to provide comfort to patients and help distract them.

Mali delivered some of them to Freeman Health System today. Her goal is to deliver them to several hospitals in the Midwest.

She also donated Medi Teddies to local police departments and highway patrol offices.

More about the Medi Teddies

Ella Casano invented the Medi Teddy in 2019 when she was just 12-years-old. According to Freeman, Ella is afraid of IVs and undergoes an IV transfusion every six to eight weeks for Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP). She invented the Medi Teddy to make IVs less intimidating for others like her.

You can donate to the Medi Teddy organization here: https://medi-teddy.networkforgood.com/.

COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

KCU student returns from running Boston Marathon with new outlook on health

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JOPLIN, Mo.–Over 28,000 runners made it to Boston on Monday to compete in one of the best-known races in the country: The Boston Marathon.

One of those runners was first-year Kansas City University medical student, Daniel O’Kelly.

“It was exhilarating. I mean, it’s a historic race, and the crowd and the spectators are amazing,” O’Kelly said. 

Monday was the medical student’s first time running in the Boston Marathon. But it wasn’t his first marathon. O’Kelly ran in the Kansas City Marathon last year, it’s how he qualified for this years Boston Marathon.

“So I had a good foundation to build off of. But I was training for probably about five or five or six months, incorporating speed and long runs just to try and prepare .”

O’Kelly says exercise and his health have helped him with his studies, and overall wellbeing.

“Health and and exercise go really hand in hand. For me, I’ve always found exercise, especially aerobic exercise, just to be such a fundamental part of my productivity, my drive and my happiness at at large…I’ve seen exercise as a fundamental part of…my my time in medical school. It just helps me be a better student.”

Not only has it helped him become a better student, but he says he hopes this experience can help him become a better physician in the long run.

“I’ll certainly champion running as a physician when I’m trying to keep my patients healthy… I just want them to to really see exercise as a positive thing rather than a source of  discomfort and pain like a lot of people see it.”

Although marathons aren’t for everyone, people should take their exercises ate their own pace.

“Not everyone needs to do a marathon to feel accomplished as a runner. It just takes, a mile every day, half a mile every day to…feel more resilient, you know, stronger, feel more empowered to do hard things.”

He said his  biggest takeaway from the race was that although it was tough, he’s ready to try again next year.

“The day of I thought I’d never do this again, the next day I woke up and really felt motivated to do it again next year.”

O’Kelly finished the marathon in under three hours.

COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

Kindness off the Beaten Path

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JOPLIN, Mo. – Beaten Path, just two doors down from Soul’s Harbor, is John Baker’s newest venture: a coffee shop and art gallery that’s piqued some interest from the neighbors.

“My initial thought was: They’re opening something new, but there’s going to be so many more people coming by and just thinking, ‘Oh no, here’s a whole bunch of homeless people,’” said Tiffany Twigger.

More than Coffee

Tiffany is a mother of four who fled an abusive situation. She’s been staying at Soul’s Harbor for about a month and she’s quickly become a fan of Baker’s coffee and his kindness. A smile, a cup of coffee, and a listening ear goes a long way for people who may often feel overlooked.

“He understands and he is proud to be next to somewhere that is doing so much for people who may be struggling, going through something, you know? And it doesn’t bother him, and he doesn’t feel that it’s going to affect his business none. He chose to be here,” said Twigger.

A Mission to Give

While many people would shy away from opening a business this close to a homeless shelter, John Baker calls it a blessing.

“God sends people here to us, and every time that God has ever sent someone here to us, it has been in a way that we can help them. That’s why I know that this is our ministry. It’s not like, ‘Oh, well, we could try to help them. No, it’s like, here is the way to help them right here,’” Baker expressed.

Baker feels a strong connection to this place and the people nearby. He himself experienced homelessness when he was younger, but admits he had forgotten how difficult it was. Countless cups of coffee and conversation has brought back his sense of empathy.

Connecting over Conversation

“When I came back and started connecting with these people, it reconnected me with that route of who I was. And, I was like, ‘Man, it was so easy for me to get there. It’s just that easy for someone else to get there over a couple of bad decisions and a bad month,’” Baker realized.

“You got to know everybody’s story. Not everybody is homeless by choice…I had everything going for me. House, car, everything. And, just because of a bad relationship, it was all ripped away with nowhere to go all at once,” Twigger said.

Spreading Kindness

Baker says there’s no other place he’d want his business to be and challenges others to practice kindness.

“Who’s to say that this isn’t a hub of happiness? That, if you start it here, it will spread across this town like a like a good virus, you know, and spread happiness. Which, let’s be honest, we could all use a good dose of smile right now,” Baker said with a smile of his own.

Baker emphasized that Soul’s Harbor is right where it needs to be. He hopes more people will take the time to get to know the residents staying at the shelter by volunteering or simply having a conversation with them.

 

COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KOAM NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.