Get Healthy De Soto

…having a long-lasting positive impact on the health and safety of the De Soto community by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, through programs promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, weight control and disease and injury prevention.

Cycle Parade

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The De Soto Chamber of Commerce and Get Healthy DeSoto welcome you to celebrate fall with us during the Fall Festival. Decorate your bike with a St. Louis Blues theme and pedal your way down Main Street! The event is FREE, and you’ll get a chance to win a prize for the best decorated bike. New this year: a prize for the adult with the best decorated bike!

The event will begin and end at the DeSoto Farmers’ Market on Saturday, September 21st. Children and youth can be fitted for a free helmet beginning at 8 AM at the market. Registration for the parade will begin around 9:30, with a safety clinic at 9:45. The parade will commence after the safety clinic, and participants will ride south on Main Street to roughly Clement Street before turning around and heading back. All ages are invited to participate, and all non-motorized vehicles are welcome too: wheelbarrows, bikes, strider bikes, etc.

You can complete the form and bring it with you to expedite registration.

Registration Form

It’s not easy being green…

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but green things sure are good for you!

We all know about eating leafy green vegetables, but that’s not the only green we should consider. New research indicates that growing up with green space is important too. Green spaces include parks, nature areas, woodlands, etc. The incidence of mental illness in adults who spent time with good access to nature from infancy to the age of 10 are 55% less than their peers that didn’t grow up with good access to nature. Let’s go over that again: the incidence of developing a mental illness in adulthood is reduced by simply being able to run on grass when you’re young! That’s a pretty powerful thing.

Mental illness is on the rise in the U.S. This has been attributed to our lifestyle, including screen time, increased stress due to work environments, and a lack of physical activity. This new research indicates that some of our inability to deal with these things might be hindered by our environment during our formative years.

What does this mean? Well, having green space as an adult might not be able to improve your ability to handle stress (although there’s some research to support this too). However, exposing your kids and grand kids to nature is probably a great start to helping them handle stress more effectively as an adult. Here are some good options:

Parks
  • Walther Park-play on the new playground equipment or dip toes in the Joachim.
  • Spross Park-walk the short trail, play some frisbee golf, and enjoy the sounds of the waterfall.
Walther Park
Other Outdoor Activities
  • The Missouri Department of Conservation offers a great calendar of activities. This link shows activities within 50 miles of our 63020 zip code.
  • Consider taking kids fishing or just turning them outside for a bit after dinner. (It was a great day when we realized our daughter was old enough to go outside unattended for a stretch of more than about 30 seconds.)
  • Get a kit from the library. Ours this week: skip-it! If you demonstrate, you get the added bonus of looking foolish, which sends kids into the giggles.

Get outside. It might be hot, but that will soon subside as we slide into fall. Help your kids spend a little more time in nature. It might improve their mental health.

Back to School…so soon!

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It is time to get those kids in their fancy duds, wonder how your junior high kid can make new clothes look like they’ve been tucked under the dog’s bed, and hustle the mountain of school supplies you’ve been tripping over into their incredibly small backpacks. (Wasn’t that bigger when you purchased it? How does it shrink without even washing it!)

School is about to begin.

DID YOU KNOW?
The greatest risk to a child isn’t riding a bus, but approaching or leaving one. From 2008 to 2017, there were 264 school-age children killed in school-transportation-related crashes. The majority of those students weren’t on the bus; 203 were either walking, waiting for the bus, biking, or in another vehicle.

All those brightly colored lights on a bus mean something…usually: STOP! Drivers are legally required to stop while following or meeting a bus on a 2-lane road when the bus extends the stop-arm and has lights flashing. The rule is a little different on a 4-lane road. In that case, you only have to stop if you are following the bus; not meeting it.

Even when lights aren’t flashing though, be vigilant and watch for small people. They don’t pay enough attention as it is. Which brings up a caution to parents.

Talk to your kids about playing it SAFE:

  • Stay five steps away from the curb or edge of the roadway.
  • Always wait until the bus comes to a complete stop and the bus driver tells you to board.
  • Face forward after finding a seat on the bus.
  • Exit the bus when it stops and look left-right-left for cars before crossing a street.

Learn more at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.

Fall Festival 5K

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On September 21 at 8 am, you can run the flattest race in Jefferson County! The Fall Festival 5K is a popular event because it is devoid of hills and offers runners who complete the course a rebate. The race starts and end at SMCI on Veterans Drive, across from Walther Park. You can contact the Chamber of Commerce office at 636-586-5591 for more information or click here for the registration form.

National Immunization Awareness Month

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It’s National Immunization Awareness Month! Is Your Family Up to Date on Vaccines?

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). This annual observance highlights the importance of getting recommended vaccines throughout your life. You have the power to protect yourself and your family against serious diseases like whooping cough, cancers caused by HPV, and pneumonia with vaccines.

During NIAM, Get Healthy DeSoto encourages you talk to your doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional to ensure you, your child, and your family are up to date on recommended vaccines.
You can also visit CDC’s Interactive Vaccine Guide, which provides information on the vaccines recommended during pregnancy and throughout your child’s life. As your children head back to school this fall, make sure they have the recommended vaccines. August is also a key time to make sure you are up to date on all the vaccines you need to stay healthy.