We might be in the dog days of summer right now, but Lori Cage and her team at St. Tammany Health System’s Parenting Center are already looking ahead to the fall and the wealth of events they have on tap for Northshore parents and children.
Lori recently visited The Lake 94.7-FM to talk about the Parenting Center and the classes and events they have coming up, including the always-popular Monster Mash Halloween event.
Listen to Lori’s conversation with Charles Dowdy of The Lake in the embedded audio player below or at The Lake website. You can also scroll down to read an edited transcript of their conversation.
Charles Dowdy: We’ve got guests in the studio from St. Tammany Health System. One of them is whispering. Who is whispering? Was that you, Lori. Were you whispering?
Lori Cage: I don’t whisper. It must have been Tim.
Tim San Fillippo: I think we are both pretty loud.
Charles: I thought I heard whispering. Could just be voices in my head. How is everybody. We good?
Lori: Yeah!
Tim: We are good, but I have to tell you, I appreciate you sharing that information with our community about our current COVID numbers because we are concerned about where we are at as a community and as a health system right now.
I just want to encourage our community to really think about what is going on. Look at the science when it comes to this new Delta variant. Get out there and get vaccinated. Just a few weeks ago and even for the last few months, we were in single digits with inpatient care for our COVID patients. Just yesterday we were at 19 – and that’s largely with, as you had mentioned on the radio, folks who haven’t been vaccinated.
The good news is that if you did get one of the three vaccinations, it is showing to prove effective against this new virus. So we encourage you to do it. We have many opportunities that will give you a line of defense against the thing, but we went from a nice period of clear to some big numbers at the hospital.
Charles: Yes, and I think the main thing I think everybody wants is for life to remain as normal as possible. We want to go back to football games. We want to go back to events, concerts and whatever. You know, if we don’t keep ourselves straight those things are going to be in jeopardy.
Tim: That is true, but we do have some more exciting or more friendly or more exciting news to talk about today. I have my friend Lori Cage from the Parenting Center here. She just wants to share information about some of the programs we have going on this summer.
Charles: All right, Lori. What are you doing to me? You bring all these notes. We got notes.
Lori: I know you make fun of me because I make notes. I just can’t help it.
Charles: It is a whole page of notes. How we going to get through all of this? I guess I need to shut up and let you start talking. That is how we get through it. Before we get to the notes: How is the Parenting Center? Are we doing good?
Lori: The Parenting Center is on and popping. Again, people are ready to get on to normal life I think, so our membership has increased. We have a center that you can come to -- caregivers, grandparents, parents with their kids. They can come to play 9 to 1 Monday through Friday. Then we also do a lot of fun activities and classes and such. We went from having two to three member families a month to 20-plus.
Charles: So how do you join? How does that work?
Lori: Actually, you just come in a fill out a form. Due to COVID, the administration in the hospital has gifted free membership to the community. So we are kind of like the library. You can just come. We have a great indoor and outdoor play area. Like I said, some of the fun classes we do: We have a Cuddle Buddies class which is for children 2 and under. They do music and songs and things like that. Then we have the Play and Learn class, which is for ages 3 to 5. They also do music and bubbles and crafts, and at the end they start working on some of those fine motor skills.
Charles: All right, yes and then you have got ballet.
Lori: Ballet, yes.
Charles: Now I want to hear about this next one.
Lori: I knew you would.
Charles: Funky Flow Family Yoga.
Lori: Funky Flow Family Yoga.
Charles: What is that?
Lori: That is a brand-new offering we have. That is a yoga for 3- to 5-year-olds and their parents or caregivers. It is very basic, so they start learning how to build strength and flexibility, exploration and imagination. It is only about 30 minutes, but it is traditional yoga movement and a little short meditation after. We are really excited to have that offering.
Charles: So the one thing that always strikes me about the Parenting Center is that anybody can go. I mean, it is open. You can just join, right?
Lori: Correct.
Charles: What else can we do there? You talked about some of the classes for the kids.
Lori: Right. We also do a lot of parent education. So, one of the things we offer, which I think is fabulous, is parent coaching. We do a lot of classes like potty training and temper tantrums and things like that, but if you have a specific issue that you really just want to talk one-on-one with somebody about and get some help and advice and some tools, we offer that as well. Coming up, actually, on Aug. 2, we are starting a three-week series called Active Parenting. It is a very comprehensive program, so it will go over all kinds of good information about positive discipline.
Charles: And, yeah, you guys do some stuff for before you even have kids, right? We have talked about that in here before.
Lori: Yes, absolutely. One of my favorite classes is our Boot Camp for New Dads -- although I can’t go in it because no female under 2 feet tall is allowed in.
Charles: You mean over 2 feet tall.
Lori: I mean over 2 feet tall! We have a volunteer facilitator and they just kind of talk to you about your new role as a dad. I know everybody talks to their bud and you might have family members, but sometimes it is good just to have someone outside of your circle to talk to about some of the issues that are coming up. You don’t know what you don’t know.
Charles: No doubt. I remember when we left the hospital with our first child, I was like, “You really letting me do this?! I am allowed to take this thing out into the world?” It is scary.
Lori: Right, and then I have got two of my educators that just had babies. They are in the process of developing a similar thing. A Boot Camp for new moms. They are my educators and one of them is a first-time mom. She said, “I just didn’t know what I didn’t know.” Especially working at the Parenting Center and having all of these tools. She said, “Oh, no, no, no. We need some more help.” So, they do all that. We also do Baby Chat for Siblings. So, you know when your new baby is coming, just to talk to the other child about what their expectation, because it is kind of scary. There is somebody else coming, that gets exciting, but also” What are some things we might need to address before the baby gets here?
Charles: Cool. How do you sign up for this stuff?
Lori: You go online to Sttammany.health or you can call us at (985)898-4435. Some of the other things we do is we offer a friends and family CPR class, and we check car seats for free as well.
Charles: Alright, we are doing well with these notes. You are so organized. This says “moving into the Covington Clinic.” What does that mean? What the heck, what are you doing?
Lori: Well, we are going to be moving in with our Pediatricians and our Pediatric Rehab clinic. So, that will be quite exciting. We are happy to be there with them and … to get us all in one place.
Charles: Good, and then, hard to believe it already, but: Monster Mash. We are already starting to talk about that.
Lori: Oh, please, I have already had four meetings. Yes, we are a go with Monster Mash on Oct. 23 from 10 to 2. We are planning for it to be Monster Mash as usual, so we are thrilled.
Charles: It’s one of my favorite events, and I don’t even have little kids anymore. I still find a way to go. It is a fun event, and the kids are so cute.
Lori: They are. Everybody dresses up. I love it too. It is just a lot of fun and, you know, as usual we are going to have our crafts. We have been confirmed with Home Depot. They sponsor us and so we will have tiles. I know some people have been doing those hand tiles – you know, they do the handprints with the kids and decorate them for years. So, your tile is secure this year.
Charles: Good, all the usual stuff at Monster Mash.
Lori: Absolutely. And we still have sponsorships available. Some of the fun things you can sponsor: trick-or-treat house; you can have candy or give away in that. We also have our Black Cat Community Partners, where you get a 10-by-10 space. We ask you to do a game or activity for kids. Those are all exciting and very popular. So, you can go to www.dothemash.org and find out more information – or you can feel free to call me. You know I like to talk.
Charles: All right, there you go. Lori, sounds like things are going great. We appreciate the work you do out there on the Northshore and thank you for your time today.
Lori: Thanks for having me.
Charles: Tim, anything else as far as you guys go?
Tim: Yes, we are only about a week away from that Clerical/Professional Walk-In interview event. That is going to be Wednesday the 21st – so, Wednesday, July 21. For details, visit us at sttammany.health/clericaljobs.
Charles: All right guys thanks so much for you visit.