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By Margaret R. McLean

Napier Avenue road diet plan rejected by county commissioners

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The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has rejected a plan to put another section of Napier Avenue on a road diet.

The board this week approved a resolution officially opposing a Berrien County Road Department project that would reduce Napier from four lanes to two lanes with a center turn lane between I-94 and US-31.

Berrien County Administrator Brian Dissette tells us the county does need to reconstruct Napier in that area in the next five years, but the road department’s plan for a reduction of lanes didn’t satisfy commissioners.

“There is enough development occurring in that area that it had some on the board a little nervous that the lane reduction wasn’t a great idea,” Dissette said. “And then with the announcement of the state’s infusion of cash at Cornerstone to try and help develop the nearby site in Benton Charter Township, I think that was kind of like the last straw. They said there’s too much up in the air as far as total development.”

The county board in September approved a transfer of control of that section of Napier from the Michigan Department of Transportation to the county following the completion of the US-31 to I-94 connection. As part of that, MDOT provided the county $1.88 million to reconstruct the road.

Dissette says while that project will still happen, the board of commissioners wants the number of lanes to be preserved.

It’s back to the drawing board for the road department.

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By Margaret R. McLean

Broker mental health improving but more support still needed, MIMHC survey shows

mental health brain blocks

“Overall levels of contentment remain similar to 2022 and frustratingly suggest only marginal progress has been made”

The Mortgage Industry Mental Health Charter (MIMHC) has shared the findings of its annual survey for 2023, finding that 58% of companies are now providing brokers with support – up from 54% last year.

However, the Charter says that as 42% still don’t, there is “a long way to go to normalise mental health provision in the mortgage industry”.

46% of brokers say they have seen an improvement in workplace mental health provision over the past year, but 54% haven’t – compared to 51% in 2022.

The fourth annual survey, which coincides with Mental Health Awareness Week, aims to understand the mortgage industry’s current well-being, and importantly, highlights the key areas in which mental health provision needs to improve.

The survey found that brokers are increasingly overworked. 46% now work between 45/60 hours which is up from 42% last year. 12% of respondents still maintain that they are working more than 60 hours weekly.

Brokers also reported no change to professional contentment. 44% are still disillusioned/ moderately happy with their situation. However, the majority (56%) are happy with their role.

In addition, wellbeing is improving. 16% of respondents believe their mental health is ‘poor’ or ‘of concern’. This is markedly down from a 23% result in 2022 but continues to highlight the need to support individuals in the mortgage sector. At the opposite end 44% of people reported feeling good/excellent compared to 41% in 2022.

Worklife balance is improving. Although a blend is still evident, hybrid working is up to 37% from 27% in 2022 and nearly 1 in 4 respondents now work permanently from home. As a result, 17% think their work/life balance has improved – up from 8% last year. Only

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By Margaret R. McLean

Establishing a good support network during mental health awareness month

May is mental health awareness month, and across the state folks are taking a breath to focus on self-care.

After the intense isolation and uncertainty brought on by the political climate of the last few years and COVID-19, mental health treatment has only become more relevant.

Kari Oyen is the director of the school psychology program at the University of South Dakota. She said don’t underestimate the value of social interactions.

“The social-emotional system is running rampant,” Oyen said. “We do a lot of what we call reward seeking, so when you are beyond the age of 10 there’s a dip in your dopamine. Dopamine is the thing that makes you feel good when you get rewards. That’s what’s happening – you get that reward seeking – but what’s so fascinating about adolescents is you mostly feel those things in the presence of peers. There is a lot of perhaps misperception that is happening for our adolescents, and they really are perceiving that they are feeling quite isolated.”

Dr. Wallace Jackman with Avera said there are tangible effects to social media use.

“There’s a direct link between the amount of time folks spend on social media and their distress level, anxiety and depression,” Jackman said. “There’s a lot of research that supports that. We also know about 86 percent of adolescents sleep with their phone. We know sleep problems can contribute to more anxiety, more depression.”

But Jackman said we can’t be afraid of difficult conversations that surround mental health.

“That myth I think is still floating out there that would cause the person to commit suicide or hurt themselves,” Jackman said. “Research supports just the opposite. By asking folks those questions, ‘how are you doing,’ ‘you seem different today,’ or asking them if you know they have a

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By Margaret R. McLean

Macromex and Next Root Management System: solution for food safety and healthy eating

Macromex, one of the main players in the Romanian food industry, together with Next Root Management Systems, a HoReCa consulting provider, is launching a solution aimed at optimizing food flows and safety, as well as bringing healthy nutrition to kindergarten canteens and schools and targets 40 beneficiary educational units by the end of 2023.

 

“I want every child who eats in school canteens to enjoy the best quality dishes, prepared according to high standards, under maximum food safety conditions. For our HoReCa partners, we want to bring more productivity and efficiency through our portfolio of products, recipes, advice and technology. And all these things cannot be achieved, neither for the children nor for the providers, if the respective location, in the present case – the canteen, does not have a planning of work flows, an efficiency and a standardization of operations. For this reason, we have joined forces with partners from Next Root Management System, to offer a complete service, for the benefit of the generations who are now in kindergarten or on the benches of schools”, says Albert Davidoglu, CEO, Macromex.

Through the project dedicated to kindergartens and schools, care and interest in healthy eating can be transferred outside the home, in the places where children and students spend the most time, during a week. The solution includes the verification of raw materials, along with an operational system adapted to each location, for added value for all these educational institutions and more safety for students

“With the desire to contribute to the improvement of services in education, we enter into a collaboration aimed at efficiency, standardization of operations, flow planning and food safety for production and storage spaces in kindergartens and school canteens. Our objective, for 2023, is to realize 40 such projects”, says Dragoș Panait, founder of Next

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By Margaret R. McLean

Carb cycling and intermittent fasting do they work?

Disclaimer: This is sponsored content. All opinions and views are of Dr. Kells’ Weight Loss and does not reflect the same of KOAA.

In this Your Healthy Family, as spring is finally here and swimsuit season is right around the corner, if you’re looking to drop a few pounds, we’re taking a closer look at some of the current popular diet trends and if they work or not.

Dr. Kristen Kells, D.C., B.S.c. owns Dr. Kells’ Weight Loss in Colorado Springs where they specialize in helping people who are in their 40s and 50s and beyond lose weight, where they have failed in the past.

Dr. Kells is traveling her own weight loss journey and knows firsthand the struggles that come with trial and error, with whatever the latest popular weight loss trend is.

One very popular trend on social media right now, is called carb cycling. Dr. Kells says, “Carb cycling is eating what is called a very low-calorie diet or very low carbohydrate diet, or VLCD. It restricts carbs and we do know that in the long term doesn’t work well. You do it maybe three days a week, eating lower carbs, and lower calories, and then you cycle that with days of higher carbohydrates. We typically see this type of eating pattern in the athlete population, so if you’re an endurance athlete or bodybuilder or you’re a wrestler, or you have high-activity days you need those carbohydrates. But what most of the sedentary population does not need on any day is a ton of carbohydrates.”

Another popular trend is intermittent fasting. Dr. Kells explains, “Intermittent fasting is withholding food for certain periods of time. There are many different ways to do it. You can do what we call 16/8, which is eating all of your

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By Margaret R. McLean

Students at Spencerville High School take part in a Mental Health Activity Day | News




Students at Spencerville High School take part in a Mental Health Activity Day

SPENCERVILLE, OH (WLIO) – As students approach the end of another school year, Spencerville High Schoolers had the chance to put away their notebooks and just have some fun. Our Nathan Kitchens reports.




Students at Spencerville High School take part in a Mental Health Activity Day

“In high school, it’s hard. You struggle with a lot of things. You’re trying to figure out your life, and is just really hard mentally on you,” stated Emma Core, a student at Spencerville High School.




Students at Spencerville High School take part in a Mental Health Activity Day

Spencerville High School is bringing awareness to the mental health challenges any high schooler can face with a mental health activity day. Students had a chance to release that stress with fun activities from bounce houses to sidewalk chalk and even boxing. Wrapping up a busy school year, a break from the hustle and bustle is just what the students needed.




Students at Spencerville High School take part in a Mental Health Activity Day

“After having our state test, I think we’ve all kind of needed a moment to relax and kick back. Boxing has been really fun. We’ve done some painting, a lot of artwork, which has really helped our mental well-being I think,” explained Henry Lee, a student at Spencerville High School.

Overcomer Boxing Studio opened their doors and taught the students basic boxing combinations. The students had permission to have at it with a punching bag, and they appreciate the chance to release that tension inside.

“It’s exciting to have a class like this that’s usually so, oh, you don’t want to be aggressive, we get a chance to let that aggression out and let our minds be a little bit more free than a school setting,” added Lee.

“I feel like they come in, they are kind of wound up. By the time they leave, they are a little bit wound down, they’re a little more stress-free. That’s what I really love to see, that’s kind of why

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