Mid Rivers Newsmagazine Your online news source for St. Charles County, Missouri

In May 2015, Mercy is expected to open its Virtual Care Center in Chesterfield, a technological monster of a building packed with 170 workstations, each of which sports six to eight computer monitors. With this new facility, Mercy claims it can provide the “best possible care to people when and where they need it.” The facility is expected to provide 24/7 telemedicine support across Mercy’s network of hospitals. But what exactly does that mean?   What’s in a name?  Telemedicine is defined as the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide healthcare at a distance, but that clinical definition ...

Christmas without cookies wouldn’t be Christmas. That’s a sentiment many share with St. Louis’ own cookie guru, Julia Usher, author of the award winning cookbook, “Ultimate Cookies and Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year” (published by Gibbs Smith).

Francis Howell Central and Fort Zumwalt South did not come away with the ultimate prize on the weekend of Nov. 14 in the Class 3 and Class 4 soccer tournament at Blue Springs South High School in suburban Kansas City. Still, the two clubs came back with a pair of gifts that were much more valuable in the long run to their schools and programs.

Building new homes in Lake Saint Louis  McKelvey Homes celebrated construction of its new 85-home residential development in Lake St. Louis, Wyndemere Estates, located on Hwy. N, two miles West of Hwy. 40. A ground-breaking ceremony took place on Oct. 30. Pictured from left are Charlie Zeni, Mark Cohea and Tim Martin of McKelvey Homes; Lake Saint Louis City Administrator Paul Markworth; McKelvey Homes President Jim Brennan; Lake Saint Louis Mayor Kathy Schweikert; McKelvey Homes Sales Manager Sheri Luster; Jefferson Bank Vice President Allen Burnett; city staff members and Alderman Gary Torlina and his wife, Carolyn.   PEOPLE Frontier Integrated ...

Sleeping in dentures Elderly people who wear their dentures to bed at night are putting themselves at increased risk for coming down with pneumonia, a recent study found. Because poor oral hygiene is a known risk factor for pneumonia in the elderly, researchers in Japan investigated various oral health behaviors and incidences of pneumonia among more than 500 adults aged 85 and older. In a three-year period, 48 cases of pneumonia were identified among the study participants, and those who wore their dentures overnight had a little more than double the risk of contracting pneumonia than those who removed their ...

Forty-two students from Lincoln, Pike, St. Charles and Warren counties received a total of $21,000 in scholarship awards from the Cuivre River Electric Community Trust.

A game of strategy is popping up in more St. Charles County schools – but it has nothing to do with keyboards or joysticks. “Chess is becoming a more popular sport, but it is already one of the most popular sports/games in the world,” said George Krasnopolskiy, owner of CheckMates USA, a chess instruction company. “Millions of people of all ages play chess, estimates have it between 600 and 700 million. That’s almost 10 percent of the world’s population.”

General Motors’ Wentzville Assembly and Stamping has been recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for enhancing biodiversity at the facility and engaging community partners to promote wildlife conservation and education. The plant has received a Corporate Lands for Learning certification for its partnership with the Wentzville School District. The certification program recognizes outstanding environmental education efforts that offer hands-on learning opportunities on corporate lands to teach ecological concepts and the human role in conservation.

Home sales and construction in St. Charles County were steady through the early fall this year with officials saying they’re optimistic that the housing industry will continue to recover from the recession.

Partners for Progress and the St. Charles County Economic Development Center held a conference on Wednesday, Nov. 19 with the goal of continuing a conversation centered on the demographic shifts in St. Charles County, and how businesses and the government can benefit from a younger perspective.