Category Archives: Ascension

Some call it liquid gold. Breast milk has many advantages in helping babies grow. It can build immunity and mature intestinal tracts, provide vital nutrients and hormones, reduce infections, and so much more. Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford is proud to announce they are now receiving safe, pasteurized breast milk donated by Tennessee donor mothers and pasteurized by the Mothers Milk Bank of Tennessee. This milk will be primarily used to save the most vulnerable babies in the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit NICU.

Unfortunately, not all mothers can produce enough milk to sustain a growing baby, especially one in the NICU. Studies have shown that 40% of NICU mothers arent able to produce enough milk. One of the benefits of the Milk Bank being located in Rutherford County is how centralized Rutherford County is in the state of Tennessee. This convenient location allows for easy pick up from the milk depots (collection sites) and distribution of donor milk throughout the state.

As the NICU at St. Thomas Rutherford continues to grow, donor milk is one of the most valuable resources that we have available, said Dr. Jason Parker, neonatal-perinatal physician at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital Rutherford. We can give premature infants the best nutrition for them when mothers own milk is not available. By using donor milk supplied by Mothers Milk Bank here in Rutherford County, St Thomas NICU is giving our most vulnerable infants the best start in life by improving digestive health and tolerance at a very crucial time.

Every ounce counts. With resources like Milk From Mothers Milk Bank of Tennessee, moms can access these essential resources to enable their babies to survive and thrive.

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Giving the Gift of Milk this New Year. Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford and the Milk Bank of Tennessee Team up to Save Babies' Lives - Wgnsradio

Camryn Accardo's long-awaited journey to Carnegie Hall was realized when the high school freshman sang on the country's biggest stage.

Accardo and Audrey Soulier, a high school sophomore, both had their dreams come true earlier this month thanks to the Carnegie Hall High School Honors Performance Series.

The teens, both former students and choir members at St. Theresa of Avila Catholic School, had to wait a bit because of COVID-19.Accardo auditioned in 2019 and was set to perform in 2020. Soulier, an East Ascension High sophomore, also had to wait for her turn on the big stage.

Accardo, 14-year-old St. Amant High student, called the experience spectacular.

"Performing on the stage of Carnegie Hall was an experience of a lifetime that I will always treasure and never forget," she said. "I made several friends along the way from many different states including Delaware, Idaho and Alabama. I truly enjoyed learning from conductor Dr. Ames, and he made the rehearsals fun, exciting and formed all of our voices into one within just a couple days.

Accardo's mother, Aleisha, said family and friends were able to join her daughter on the New York trip. The grandness of the stage and auditorium was breathtaking, she said.

"The red velvet seats and the ambience were so grand," Aleisha Accardo said.

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The teens received some sheet music one month ahead of the performance, giving them little time to learn six songs. After a daylong practice, the singers, representing 44 states, "sounded like they'd been singing together for years," Aleisha Accardo said.

She said she's not sure her daughter understands the full scope of her accomplishment. "It's really a big deal," Aleisha Accardo said. "We're so proud of her."

Camryn and Audrey auditioned for the Honors Performance Series and were accepted after a review by the Honors Selection Board. Acceptance to the elite group is a direct result of the talent, dedication and achievements demonstrated in her application and audition recording.

Camryn, a soprano, spent her weekend under the tutelage of world-renowned conductor Dr. Jeffery L. Ames along with other members from across the United States preparing for this special performance at the world-famous Carnegie Hall, a venue that marks the pinnacle of musical achievement. This was the first series performance at Carnegie Hall since 2020.

Audrey sang with the High School Honors Treble Choir, under the direction of Dr. Lynne Jackle at the Isaac Stern Audition/Ronald O. Perelman Stage.

After having performances worldwide impacted for over two years, we are excited to be returning to the stage at Carnegie Hall. Being selected to the Honors Performance Series is something each finalist should be extremely proud of accomplishing, said Marion Gomez, program director for the Honors Performance Series. We processed nearly 10,000 nominations and have selected over 500 of the most talented student performers from around the world. Working with these conductors and performing at Carnegie Hall is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that these musicians will never forget.

The Honors Performance Series was created to showcase accomplished individual high school performers on an international level by allowing them to study under master conductors and perform in the celebrated venue Carnegie Hall. The Honors Performance Series is presented by WorldStrides, the nations leading educational travel organization. Learn more by visiting http://www.honorsperformance.org and http://www.worldstrides.com.

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Local high school students selected to perform at Carnegie Hall - The Advocate

Ascension Saint John will be closing its 22-bed unit that treats children in less than three months.

The hospital has decided to invest millions in more adult ICU space.

However, some people are worried they may have to take their children out of state, since there will be only one pediatric unit left in Tulsa.

A doctor in Muskogee said he sends nearly all of the kids needing a hospital to St. John. He said many rural communities rely on St. John - and the lack of pediatric care in Oklahoma is already bad enough.

Donisha Gillespie is a mother of two boys - RJ is 12 and Kam is two years old. RJ and Kam were both born prematurely.

"I've been through so much with my husband and I both," said Gillespie.

Donisha said RJ spent time in the Pediatric ICU at St. John.

Kam spent months in the hospital and St. John needed to transfer him in 2019, but there weren't beds available at nearby hospitals.

She was afraid she would have to move to Missouri or Texas to be with Kam.

"At this time, St. Francis was full, Oklahoma City was full," said Gillespie.

Eventually a bed at St. Francis opened up, but Donisha said without both hospitals, she wouldn't have known what to do.

"It's really disheartening to find out St. John is shutting down the pediatric unit," said Dr. Michael Stratton.

Dr. Michael Stratton has been a pediatrician for a few decades and works at Children's Clinic in Muskogee.

He said he transfers about three kids a week to St. John and it's a simple, easy process.

"The communication is great, there is no hassle, and they keep in contact with us," Dr. Stratton said.

St. John said, in a statement, it is investing $27 million to expand its adult ICU capacity.

It will close its pediatric ICU and pediatric inpatient unit on April 30, after doing a community needs assessment.

A doctor at St. John said there are 22 beds and up to eight are for the PICU.

St. John averages about 100 pediatric patients per month.

"I would hope they would keep it open," Gillespie said. "From my experience, pediatric care is hurting in the state."

St. Francis will be the only hospital with a PICU in Tulsa.

St. Francis made a full statement, saying, "The Childrens Hospital at SaintFrancissincerely thanks the pediatricstaff and physicians atAscensionSt. John for the many years of care and comfort they have provided to so many injured and ill children in our region. As the regions only childrens hospital, with the highest level of pediatric and neonatal intensive care, SaintFranciswill work to coordinate any transfers of care as needed to ensure patients continue to receive highquality care close to home."

St. John made a full statement, saying, "Ascension St. John Medical Center recently announced our plan to invest $27M to expand adult ICU capacity over the next two and a half years, which is expected to place ASJMC at the forefront of regional, critical care access. In order to accommodate the additional adult critical-care capacity, we announced our plan to close our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and general pediatric inpatient unit effective April 30, 2022. This decision was based on both a community needs assessment along with a thoughtful analysis of services already being offered in the community. There will be no interruption to our current pediatric ambulatory or surgical services, nor any interruption to our neonatal intensive care (NICU) services."

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Ascension St. John Closing Pediatric Intensive Care Unit To Expand Adult ICU - News On 6

2.5M / $3.4M investment round led by the Ascension Life Fund, with participation from Trifork, Hambro Perks, and R42 Group to fund ExSeeds expansion.

Seed-stage funding completed at the 5M / $6.8M mark.

With >95% accuracy versus certified laboratory equipment, ExSeeds CE-certified home sperm testing kit offers accurate diagnostics equivalent to traditional fertility clinics.

Users receive a fertility score directly on their smartphone within minutes alongside a live video of their sperm sample.

The test eliminates the need for men to attend a doctors surgery, clinic, or hospital facility, which is particularly useful while access to some medical services is restricted during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

ExSeed sells both directly to consumers and collaborates with leading clinics to help treat patients at home.

+4x revenue growth since December 2020

More than 10,000 tests carried out on ExSeeds platform as of December 2021

February 2022, London, UK: ExSeed Health, the pioneering male fertility startup, today announces that it has closed a 2.5M / $3.4M seed extension round, led by Ascension and with participation from Trifork, Hambro Perks, and R42 Group. The investment will drive further European expansion and is a step forward in ExSeeds mission to tackle rising male infertility.

This is the latest investment from the Ascension Life Fund, a specialist health tech fund and brings the total Seed-stage investment in ExSeed to more than 5/$6.8 million. The investment comes after ExSeed has maintained average month-on-month sales growth rates of more than 20% in 2021 and quadrupled their sales since December 2020 thanks to equal growth in DTC and BTB. They also have an undisclosed partnership with a large fertility industry player.

British Standards Institute (BSI) approved ExSeeds state-of-the-art, smartphone-based sperm testing kit last year, clinically validating it as an in vitro diagnostic medical device. Successful CE certification of ExSeeds device highlighted huge steps being made in the at-home health tech sector, validating it for use across the European Economic Area and guaranteeing patients over 95% accuracy, bringing it in line with accuracy offered by traditional fertility clinics. The at-home test doesnt require users to attend a doctors surgery, clinic, or hospital facility and it comes with a lifestyle intervention program that has shown highly promising health improvement rates.

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Morten G. Ulsted, Co-founder and CEO of ExSeed, comments: This funding round is critically important for us and our mission to improve the treatment paradigm for male infertility and tackle the social stigma often attached. By allowing men to test, and potentially improve their fertility, in the comfort of their own home, ExSeed is helping to break taboos and raise awareness around male infertility. Moving forward, we see plenty of opportunities to work with relevant healthcare partners throughout Europe and beyond, like the NHS and private fertility clinics, with an ExSeed test being the first step on a patients wider fertility journey.

zgr Tuncer, Partner Ascension Life Fund, says: ExSeed has an exciting technology that addresses a real need in the fertility market and they have established strong partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies in the fertility space. They have a strong team and science which has been proven and we are really excited for them to be part of the Ascension Life Fund."

Dominic Perks, Co-Founder and CEO at Hambro Perks, says: Our investment in ExSeed demonstrates our ongoing confidence in the future of health tech. Male infertility is a growing problem that affects millions of men around the world, but remains largely taboo. We hope that ExSeeds vision and mission to tackle this problem will improve the lives of millions of couples who struggle to conceive every year. We look forward to helping ExSeed continue to expand and working with the team to build this truly innovative health-tech platform.

Declining fertility rates are amongst the most pressing health concerns for men across the world and according to the NHS, infertility affects 3.5 million people in the UK alone. In addition, sperm counts are almost half the level they were 40 years ago.

Some of the largest contributing factors to these declining fertility rates include the modern western diet, typified by a high intake of calories, processed meat and dairy, added fat, and sugary snacks; alongside other modern vices including smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, a sedentary lifestyle, and pollution.

ExSeeds testing kit marries the powerful camera capabilities of modern smartphones with sophisticated, cloud-based analysis, providing patients with a live view of their sperm sample directly on their screen and highly accurate quantitative analysis of their sperm concentration and motility in just 3-5 minutes. The results are paired with additional behavioural and diet data to generate a bespoke lifestyle program that helps would-be dads improve their sperm quality over a 90-day period.

Each kit arrives with at least two tests, meaning users can track and improve their results over a number of testing cycles, while the ExSeed app, available on iOS and Android, presents the opportunity to discuss the results and ongoing concerns with professional fertility doctors with exportable reports. A local clinic recommendation is then issued, should it be needed or requested.

With teams in both London and Copenhagen, ExSeed has a research-led approach and works alongside leading bodies within the medical community, including partnering with several leading institutions, such as the European Sperm Bank, the University of Copenhagen, and a range of clinics.

The ExSeed app is available to download now for both iOS and Android users and the at-home testing kit can be ordered directly via the website: http://www.exseedhealth.com.

ENDS

About ExSeed

Formed in 2017, ExSeed is a pioneer in the male fertility space, which has developed a state-of-the-art device, enabling men to test, analyse, and improve their sperm quality from the comfort of their own home. ExSeed has developed advanced technologies which, in conjunction with doctors and clinics, will have a hugely positive impact on the treatment of male infertility worldwide.

The innovative ExSeed device is compatible with most smartphones and enables men to see their sperm in real-time. ExSeed users are also offered easy, online access to fertility specialists and a personalised and scientifically researched lifestyle intervention program, helping them to understand their health and fertility status, as well as how to improve both.

The company was founded by Emil Andersen, Morten G. Ulsted, and Daniel Daugaard-Jensen, all of whom bring a wealth of health and biopharmaceuticals experience, as well as a passion for improving male fertility.

About Ascension Life Fund The Ascension Life Fund is a specialist early-stage EIS fund focusing on the UK HealthTech and Life Science sectors. The fund combines the domain expertise of the investment team and advisors with Ascensions reputation, operational experience, and track record. Since launching in January, the fund has made five investments, including Novai (a retinal biomarker for the early detection of eye disease), Stablepharma (vaccine stabilisation technology), Pangaea Data (AI/ML to extract intelligence from health data), MedAll (training and certification for healthcare professionals), and ExSeed Health.

Media Contacts:

For ExSeed Ben KellyHead of Marketing+44 7786 036361bk@exseedhealth.com

Ascension Life Fund:Caspar BarrieMarketing Lead, Ascensioncaspar@ascension.vc+44 7837478861

For Hambro Perks:Catherine ArmstrongDirector of CommunicationsCatherine.Armstrong@HambroPerks.com+44 7398 003302

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Male fertility startup ExSeed Health secures further seed funding led by the Ascension Life Fund - Yahoo Finance

It was at a modest house in the Toronto suburb of Don Mills where Jay Woodcroft first dreamed of a future in the NHL, and ideally with the Oilers.

He was often the goaltender in mini-stick games, armed with a catchers mitt to defend couch cushions splayed out over a coffee table that acted as a makeshift net. Older brother Todd usually served as the shooter in the indoor battles.

They envisioned they were players from the dynastic Oilers of the 1980s. It was a fantasy land in every sense, including charts and spreadsheets as they tabulated all the stats for each Oilers player they were pretending to be.

We would keep track of it, Todd said. We were really, really involved in this.

Woodcrofts grand illusions when he faced off against his brother were to one day star on the ice, of course. However, it was the work he did with a pencil and paper after the sticks were down that provided a truer glimpse into the future.

Woodcroft organized, detailed and a copious notetaker then as he is now became the Oilers latest coach last Thursday when he replaced Dave Tippett.

The new bench boss is tasked with turning around a team with two of the NHLs signature superstars that was in first place two and a half months ago but has been sinking like an anchor basically ever since.

Its a tall task for someone whos never run an NHL bench. His boss feels hes well equipped to handle the challenge.

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Jay Woodcroft's ascension to Oilers head coach is more than a dream come true: 'Winning is a skill' - The Athletic

It started with an idea and some seeds.

Dan Czaplewski, the pastor at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, asked his neighbors about what change they wanted to see in the community. Those who lived near the church, located in Sherman Park at 2862 N. 53rd St., said they were concerned about crime, jobs and kids having something to do.

Soon, that turned their mantra into reality: growing people by growing vegetables.

Czaplewski, who goes by Pastor Dan, started recruiting young people from the community to serve as interns for urban farming. The goal was to give kids an outlet for a brighter future.

We really want our interns to have some agency, Czaplewksi said. I ask the kids, Whats your passion? What do you want to see better in your community?

Starting out modestly, the biggest challenge was finding space.

Then, in 2018, it all began to come together. Looking for community partners, Pastor Dan found a plot of land at 4900 W. Burleigh St., just in the shadow of Ascension St. Joseph hospital. He was able to lease the space for $10 a month.

Ascension would later become a partner for the program, lending space at Ascension All Saints Family Center, 2400 W. Villard Ave. The field is nicknamed St. Mikes Farm, as it stands where St. Michaels Hospital used to.

Ascension also provided funding for some projects, including a greenhouse at the health center finished in April, paid for by a $100,000 grant from the Ascension All Saints Foundation.

Its been a great partnership, Czaplewski said. You cant farm without land.

The farms provided 1,700 pounds of fresh produce in 2021, roughly double the amount from the previous year, as part of a program called Farm to Hospital and Community. Going to farmers markets, food pantries and local businesses, such as the Upstart Kitchen, the food produced by the farms is intentionally meant to provide fresh produce in areas affected by food insecurity.

In past years, it also provided food directly to the cafeteria at St. Joseph hospital.

Direct access

Patients at the health center are also given direct access to the fresh foods.

The health center had a patient who came in with no food whatsoever in the house with a family, kids, Czaplewski said. They came out and said Hey, can we pick some stuff? We said, Of course, thats what its there for. We fixed her up with a box of vegetables to take home to her family. Right place, right time.

Jenny Ovide, community medicine clinical coordinator at Ascension All Saints Family Health Center, said the health center serves as a hub for the community. Improvements to it in recent years have included a running track, a test kitchen and a classroom. The kitchen and classroom function as places for patients to exercise, learn how to prepare meals and to get educated.

In the summer, kids will be out riding their bikes and Ill be in the garden, Ovide said. Theyll come over and Ill say you want to taste one of our tomatoes? That is a gift truly for the community.

Ovide, who also goes by Nurse Jenny, said those participating in the health centers medical residency program, which provides experience for new doctors, also take part in the program. In some cases, they go out and tend the fields themselves. In others, they sit down with a family in the centers test kitchen at the end of a series of cooking classes.

There is really nothing more spiritual than sharing a meal, Ovide said. It puts the doctors and nurses on the same level with the people. It takes them away from being the doctor in the coat to the community.

Ben Juech, board secretary for the Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church Community Development Corporation, said kids get to see something grow from start to finish.

These kids walk into a fallow field, so to speak, and see something grow over the summer and cultivate it its really something special, Juech said.

For Czaplewski, the farm work goes beyond just a few life lessons.

There is dignity to the work. There is empowerment to a paycheck, but there is also something psychological, emotional and even spiritual about working the land, Czaplewski said.

In case you missed it: A harvest of riches: Meet some of Milwaukees finest urban farmers

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A partnership between a church and Ascension Wisconsin is feeding residents on Milwaukee's North Side - Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service

The Y on Patrick Grahams Yale letterman jacket always begged the questions. Why would he try coaching? And once he finally did give it a shot, others would ask why he wasnt on Wall Street.

Charlie Weis often indelicately put that question to Graham, the Raiders new defensive coordinator, when he hired him as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame in 2007.

He got the tough treatment, the same that I got when I first got my shot, Weis, Notre Dames head coach from 2005 to 2009, said in a phone interview. I wanted to find out whether or not he could do it. It only took a few months to figure out he was going to be one of the good guys. He went to Yale, and he had not only smarts but football smarts. And if your first impression was that he was reserved and professorial, he was a grinder and he was never intimidated.

And he could really get on the players on the practice field. He looked like he was losing his mind at times, but the players all respected him.

Notre Dame was Grahams third stop, after a reluctant entry into the profession following his playing career at Yale. By then, Graham had fallen in love with being around a team and making players better. Now, he is in Las Vegas, where he has inherited an improved defense on a 10-7 team, and hes not wasting any time.

Graham knew what Maxx Crosby had been hearing, so he called his new defensive end right after taking the job as his coordinator last Friday.

The first thing he said was: Stop hearing all this noise about 3-4, 4-3 (alignments).

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Belief and trust: The ascension of new Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham - The Athletic

New research from the University of Texas Dell Medical School could help change the way strokes are treated.

Dr. Steven Warach, a Dell Medical School neurology professor and director of the stroke program at Ascension Seton hospitals, analyzed the treatment of 9,000 people from 25 stroke networks, including at Ascension Seton hospitals in Austin, as well as hospitals in Los Angeles, North Carolina, New Zealand and Australia.

Warach and his teamlooked at data to see if giving the clot-busting medicationtenecteplase after a stoke instead of the standard medication alteplase ledto any adverse side effects. His team found that people treated with tenecteplase had about 50% fewer hemorrhages as a side effect than people treated with alteplase.

"It's not just as good as, but it's even safer," Warach said.

Waranch is presenting the findings at this week's American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

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The two medications are very similar and even made by the same manufacturer, Genentech, but the newer tenecteplase is a genetically engineered variant of alteplase that can be given more efficiently. Tenecteplase is a five-second injection instead of a one-hour intravenous infusion that alteplase requires.

"It reduced the time it takes to get the medicine into the patient once they arrive at the hospital," Warach said.

With a stroke, there is a 4-hour window from the start of symptoms to get these medications into a patient to minimize the stroke's long-term effects. Classic symptoms for stroke spell out the word FAST: Face drooping or numbness, Arm weakness or inability to equally raise both arms, Speech difficulty (slurring speech, can't speak or difficult to understand), and Time to call 911. Other symptoms include severe headache, numbness or weakness in the leg, confusion, trouble seeing or blurred vision, trouble walking or loss of balance or dizziness.

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Tenecteplaseis also an easier medication to give at surrounding hospitals before a patient can be transferred to a major stroke center for care.

Alteplase has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with an ischemic stroke, which is the most common type and is caused by a blood clot in the artery blocking blood flow to the brain. Tenecteplase has only been approved for use in breaking up clots after a heart attack.

Warach's researchcan't be used to bring to the FDA for consideration because it's real-world data instead of a clinical trial. Three larger clinical trials are being done now to address efficacy and safetyand are expected to have results in a year or two, Warach said. "I expect they are going to confirm what we have seen in practice," he said.

Warach also has done a cost analysis on the two medications, and he said giving tenecteplase saves about $2,500 from alteplase mainly because of the difference in the cost of the medications. Even though tenecteplase is not FDA authorized for this use, Warach said he has not had any trouble with insurance providers covering it.

Warach said he wanted to do this research of bringing real-world data together so that doctors who have been waiting for more data about the safety of tenecteplase versus alteplase would have it.

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Warach's current study looked at stroke data from July 2018 to June 2021. Ascension Setonhospitals in Austin began using tenecteplase for strokesin September 2019 after looking at data from five smaller studies that found it to be as effective as alteplase at preventing long-term disabilitiesthree months after the stroke.

One study found that when tenecteplase was given in preparation for surgery to remove a blood clot that was causing a stroke, the medication would dissolve the clot on its own. This helped persuade Ascension Seton hospitals to give tenecteplase as an off-label medication for strokes instead of the FDA-approved-for-strokealteplase.

Warach previously put together data from five smallerclinical trials about tenecteplase's use in strokes and presented that research at last year's stroke conference.

Cardiac care: COVID-19 and heart problems: Cardiologist talks prevention, lasting effects for cardiac patients

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Dell Medical School at the University of Texas researches stroke medication tenecteplase - Austin American-Statesman

What:My Ascension Tour with Emma Benoit in person

(the event will include an introduction by Emma, showing of the "My Ascension" film, and a panel discussion with Emma, local mental health advocates, counselors, and medical professionals.

When: Sunday, Feb. 6 from 2 to 5 pm

Where: Willmar Education and Arts Center

A suicide attempt left 16-year-old varsity cheerleader, Emma Benoit, paralyzed, but propelled her on a mission to use her painful experience to help others find hope, and shine more light on the fact that 20 young people die every day by suicide in the United States.

My Ascension is a feature length documentary that chronicles Emma's inspiring journey and quest to walk again, as she works to bring Hope Squad, a school-based suicide prevention program, to Louisiana. The film also highlights the stories of two remarkable young people who tragically did not survive their attempts, and we learn first-hand from their families, friends, school officials and suicide prevention experts about the devastating effects of suicide and what can be done to prevent it.

A collaborative effort between Wings of Hope (Willmar), Smiles for Jake (Brainerd), and The Heart and Mind Connection (Anoka), is bringing My Ascension and Emma to Minnesota February 5-10, 2022. All three nonprofits share a common vision: to bring hope, mental health awareness, and suicide prevention efforts to our communities.

The tour is intended to provide inspiration and information to our school-age kids and their families as well as community members. Acknowledging that were all affected by mental health is the first step to affecting change. And the fact that our youth are being directly affected by mental health issues and recent suicides is cause for alarm. The intent is to start discussions, open the door for support, and bring hope to families who care and love those who are struggling.

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My Ascension Tour with Emma Benoit in Person - KWLM (Willmar Radio)

Ascension Parish Registrar of Voters Shanie Bourg expects to be asking parish government officials for more money to finish renovations and expansions of her offices in Gonzales and Donaldsonville to better accommodate in-person early voting.

Bourg also told parish officials in a recent presentation that promised programs to expand voter registration to nursing homes and assisted living centers were put on hold last year.

COVID-19 concerns with vulnerable residents, as well as a state audit and other matters, led to the program delays, but at least some of them will be restarted this year, she said.

Bourg is a former Louisiana Secretary of State elections administrator who is in her first year as Ascension registrar. She took over from Robert Poche', the longtime registrar who retired in early 2021.

Bourg also said she plans to hire a new chief deputy who has experience with handling paper ballots and another civil service employee.

She suggested that having experience with paper ballots will come in handy when the state buys new voting machines.

Bourg said state law requires they incorporate paper ballots.State officials are current discussing their options for new machines.

Bourg, an Ascension native, has been adding paint and floors to her Gonzales office at the old courthouse annex on Irma Boulevard and trying to expand or reorganize both offices for early voting, she says.

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But the cost of furniture and building materials have gone up since last year. Bourg informed the Parish Council on Thursday, Feb. 3, that the $60,000 that she had set aside this year for her Gonzales office renovation won't be enough.

While Bourg told the council in a virtual meeting she is still working on the numbers, her presentation materials estimated the cost of expanding areas at the Gonzales office for early voting could run $15,000 to $20,000.

In Donaldsonville, Bourg is trying to repurpose a room in the next-door assessor's office and use it for early voting.

Unlike the Gonzales renovation, the work at this historic courthouse in Donaldsonville won't involve paint or new floors just new furniture to reorganize the entire office.

The room in the assessor's office is connected to the registrar's office by a door that had been blocked with furniture and cabinets, according to a slide presentation Bourg delivered to the council.

"I dont think it's going cost a whole lot just to put some new furniture in here to make it accessible for voters to access that room," she said.

For early voting currently, machines are tucked into one corner of registrar's small Donaldsonville office.

Bourg said she expected to make a formal presentation of her budget request to the council in a coming Finance Committee meeting.

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Ascension registrar: Office renovations, expansions for early voting costing more than expected - The Advocate