That Podcast In Hutch

There's nothing quite like putting up the Christmas Tree to get in the Holiday Spirit - and for the second year in a row, Hutchinson can enjoy watching our own community Christmas Tree take shape in DCI Park on Main Street. In this episode of Rooted, the folks at Hutch Rec give us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to plan, set up, and display a 30-foot-tall Christmas Tree. They'll also give us a little history on the annual Light Up Hutch Festival. This annual nighttime Christmas parade is sponsored and managed by Ad Astra Radio - and it's been a big Holiday hit with creative floats and use of lights. But it's more than a parade, thanks to community partners who join to provide information about local non-profits, Hutch Rec, and downtown businesses. Hutchinson has a lot of great Christmas activities, but also a great downtown filled with local stores where you can find unique gifts - all while supporting local businesses. You'll learn about how important the holiday season is to these businesses, and how much thought and effort they put into creating special memories for everyone. Look for that tree to go up this week - that's your signal that Christmas is in full swing.  

Every industry has its language, and in this episode of Ounce of Prevention we learned that the health field is filled with alphabet soup. Candace Davidson with the Reno County Health Department explained the various groups that work together to study, plan, and implement tools to help us address some of our biggest health challenges. There's the Reno County Community Wellness Coalition, which is the umbrella organization for six other groups that explore topics such as mental health, food insecurity, health access, student health and wellness, active transportation, and substance misuse. Each, of course, with its own acronym. I've participated in some of these groups before, and am currently active with the Food Advisory Council and Bike/Walk Hutch. Yet I learned much more about how all these groups approach their work, and how to come together to create a clearer picture of community health in Reno County. There's a lot of good work happening in Reno County - and for the health of our friends and neighbors. What these groups do is a critical part of planning for the future - and engaging in long-range work to improve our lives. You're going to learn a lot - I did! 

What makes a place? That's the question we asked in this episode of Rooted.Amy Conkling and Denice Gilliland from HutchRec joined me, along with Kari Mailloux from the Hutchinson Community Foundation. We walked through some of the history and science of placemaking, and discussed some of the intentional spaces and places that people in Hutchinson enjoy today. For me, this is an important conversation - but it's also one that's very fun to me. I enjoy thinking about those unique corners of our community that hold special memories and meaning. I especially enjoy it when I get to learn the stories about the places that are important to others, too. One thing I think you'll learn in this episode is how much effort has been put into better understanding what spaces have been underused in our community, and how there's a growing movement to build public places around natural behaviors and actions of the people in a community. I'm thankful for the work of people like Kari, Amy, and Denice, who put so much of themselves into building up our community. I think you'll feel that when you listen - and I suspect you'll have some new found appreciation for the places that make Hutchinson. 

This episode of That Podcast in Hutch is all about feelings - and an upcoming event that hopes to create more public conversation around the topic of mental health in our community. Bret Thomas visited the studio to talk about Feel Fest - which is being held in Downtown Hutchinson on Oct. 9 and 10. They'll have a dance, a run, some movies, and a number of workshops - all built around normalizing feelings and discussions about their effects on our daily lives. I really enjoyed this conversation with Bret - who I first met a few years ago when he offered to record a live podcast interview with Brady Scott at the Hutchinson Library. I love Bret's energy, his passion for our community, and his willingness to throw his effort into helping with fun and meaningful events in Hutchinson. Bret shared some of his own mental health experiences, both as a U.S. Army Veteran and as a young man trying to navigate modern life. I appreciated his vulnerability and openness about his life - and his hope that others might find some resources and tools to help them during Feel Fest. I hope you'll take time to listen to our conversation - and that you'll support the work they're doing with Feel Fest. The event kicks off with a dance from 7-10 p.m. at the Farmer's Market Pavilion, 103 W. 2nd Ave. Saturday morning begins at 9 a.m. with a Run to Remember - to honor those we've lost. You can run, walk, or ride in a golf cart if you have mobility issues. Feel Fest City will take place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on 1st Avenue, in front of the Fox Theater. This segment will include workshops, an open mic event, and a grief tree - where community members can write the name of a loved one in remembrance. For more information, including comlete schedule of events, visit feelfest.org

Welcome to another edition of Ounce of Prevention! I had so much fun with this episode, and I think you'll have a lot of fun listening. We talk about bats. We talk about sexually transmitted illnesses. We talk about Ebola virus - which to me is one of the scariest things on the planet. Kate Gardner, the epidemiologist with the Reno County Health Department came into the studio to share with us her work recording, tracking, and educating us about communicable diseases. This is really important work that a lot of us never see up close - but we're glad it's happening when a restaurant is serving bad chicken or when some random petting zoo in North Carolina is a suspected source of a massive rabies outbreak. By the way, if you ever wake up with a bat in your house, just assume that you need to go get treated for rabies. It probably got you while you're asleep. I'm excited for you to hear this episode. It's as fun as it is informative - and I think you'll walk away with a better understanding of the work that happens at your local health department. 

I've learned in my time that most of the good things in life come from good people working to create goodness in the world. That's certainly the case with the people who dedicate their time, effort, and talent to HutchRec and the foundations that support their work. This month's episode of Rooted explores the people - and the relationships - of the people who work behind the scenes to make sure the events, activities, and features in Hutchinson have the financial, technical, and volunteer support necessary for success. I sat down and visited with Jennifer Weathers, who serves on the Hutch Recreation Foundation Board, Karin Neal, who serves on the Dillon Nature Center Board, and Amy Conklin, Assistant Executive Director of HutchRec. They explained about the relationship between HutchRec, its commission, and how these foundations support HutchRec's mission - and allow the organization to accomplish more than it could alone. These relationships have been a topic of conversation lately, and I think it's worth taking the time to hear directly from the people who do this work. As you'll learn in this episode, the people who serve on these boards are just regular people who hope to make a meaningful difference in their community. You'll hear about how their work supports youth sports, summer camps, local artists, long-term improvements, and countless other investments that enrich our daily lives. 

This episode of An Ounce of Prevention began with a simple question: What does the Reno County Health Department do, anyway?Turns out a lot - and it’s not just vaccinations and restaurant inspections. For the record, the State of Kansas took restaurant inspections away from local health departments more than 10 years ago and gave them to the Kansas Department of Agriculture. But I digress - our local health department does way more than most of us realize, working daily to study trends, anticipate issues, and deploy measures to help us all live healthier lives. We have a program that helps older adults do light house keeping and tasks around the house - which helps people to live better independently in their own homes. They schedule foot care for seniors who struggle to care for themselves. They help manage maternity education programs, healthy food and living, substance misuse information. And, of course, they help track the spread of infectious diseases - and develop plans to help our community respond effectively. There’s so much that falls under their work, it’d take too much to list it all here. I really enjoyed this conversation with Candace and Kara - and I am certain you’ll learn something about the Reno County Health Department that you didn’t know before! An Once of Prevention is made possible through a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant.Our theme music is Never Going Home by Charlie Lewis, Free Music Archive, licensed CC BY-NC-SA

Thanks for the great response to our first episode of Rooted - with HutchRec. It was great to see the positive feedback from so many of you. Our second episode of Rooted focuses on the power of stories and storytelling. My friend Sue Wray came to the studio to share a story about the important role the Hutchinson Recreation Commission has played in her life - starting when she was a young child in Hutchinson.We also talk about the quarterly magazine Inspire! Marketing Director LoriBeth Reynolds shares her original vision for the publication, as well as how it’s evolved over it’s first three years in print, and digital form. Sue’s story is included in the most recent edition of Inspire - complete with an adorable piece of artwork of Sue as the youngster in her story, created by Arts and Culture Coordinator Jocelyn Chambers. You can pick up the latest copy at HutchRec downtown, at all the coffee shops in town, or online here. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy this episode. It’s a fun look back in time that allows us to examine the importance of recreation and growth opportunities in the lives of children in our community. We also talked about a few upcoming events - including the Farm to Table Dinner in September. Tickets are already on sale, and you can get them here. Rooted is partnership between That Podcast in Hutch and the Hutchinson Recreation Commission - one that focuses on how HutchRec builds community through its programming, events, and sports activities in Hutchinson and Reno County. Look for Rooted in your favorite steaming service on the 2nd Thursday of every month. 

I'm very excited to help bring an informative and entertaining new podcast to That Podcast in Hutch listeners! An Ounce of Prevention will be an up-close conversation about public health with Candace Davidson and Kara Bunce, who both work in the field every day with the Reno County Health Department. In this first episode, we talk about the history of public health in the United States. It reaches back to the 1940s, when one of its earliest missions was to combat the growth of malaria. During that conversation, I realized how fortunate I've been in my life to not worry daily about contracting the mosquito-borne illness - which is prevalent and fatal in many parts of the world. We explore the ways in which public health has touched individual lives across the country, in Kansas, and here at home in Reno County. I guarantee that you'll learn something in this episode, and find the conversation engaging and informative. Look for an Ounce of Prevention to hit your streaming service on the 4th Thursday of each month! An Once of Prevention is made possible through a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas Pathways to a Healthy Kansas grant.Our theme music is Never Going Home by Charlie Lewis, Free Music Archive, licensed CC BY-NC-SA

We’re embarking on something new here at That Podcast in Hutch, and I can barely tell you how excited we are about it! That Podcast in Hutch has partnered with the Hutchinson Recreation Commission to present a new Podcast - Rooted. A podcast that focuses on how HutchRec builds community through its programming, events, and sports activities in Hutchinson and Reno County. We’ll be exploring a different topic related to the world of recreation each month - and along the way we’ll share behind-the-scenes stories and examples of how HutchRec’s history in our community has made us richer, healthier, and more vibrant. In this first episode, I visited with HutchRec executive director Tony Finley, and Assistant executive director Amy Conklin about HutchRec’s history, and how the organization has adapted to the changing landscape of entertainment and recreation over the years. But we also visit about how recreation is more than recreation. It’s about connecting people, building community, and creating spaces where people can come together for shared experiences that create stronger bonds, and build bridges. I’m excited to present the inaugural episode of Rooted - a story about the important role HutchRec plays in building a rich community.