(mellow music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

- "R-Town," the show about Rochester, catches up with 125 Live.

And we learn about a street medicine elective course for medical students learning to bring healthcare to underserved communities.

We also take a trip to our city streets and history aboard the Rochester Trolley and drop in for bead art at the Rochester Art Center.

All that coming up next on "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

(upbeat music) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town."

(upbeat music) We are here at 125 Live joined by operations manager of 125 Live Ken Baerg, who's here to tell us what's new and next here at 125 Live.

Welcome to "R-Town."

- Well, thank you for having me.

- Well, there's been a lot of things going on.

I know if anyone's been driving around here in the last year, there's been a lot of construction.

Can you tell us what impact that bridge opening is having and what you have planned?

- Well, we're really excited because for the last year, we've had no bridge over Elton Hills over the Zumbro River here on our port here by Silver Lake.

In addition to that, North Broadway had been ripped up for an extended period of time.

And so there's been a long roundabout way and lots of road close signs around the neighborhood here.

So, other businesses in our area have really been struggling.

We're getting people inside.

No one really knows we're here yet.

Now with the bridge starting to open up again, we're so excited.

We're gonna be throwing a huge party on Friday, August 26, from 4 to 8:00 PM.

We have a variety of live music that will be here.

Child and adult acts for entertainment.

Different things, an arcade, vendors, food, drinks, even shots distributing.

We'll be providing some samples here, as well as other great partners, including Olmsted Medical Center, Dunn Brothers Coffee, and the Blue Plate Diner.

- [Nicole] Wow, so it's really sort of a welcome back to this area and re-engaging, - [Ken] Yes.

- I know we've caught up with 125 Live over the course of the pandemic and it's different phases.

How are you continuing to engage your community here at 125 and grow that community, despite the ongoing pandemic?

- We keep replicating some of our working programs and we're expanding them.

So that we make sure that for every activity that we have, that's being very successful and we're hitting some certain targets for different demographics.

We're expanding and working even harder to get people who may not know that we're available to them.

So, one of our biggest pushes that we've done recently is helping individuals with lower incomes.

Kind of realizing that we have services that can assist them either a sliding fee scale.

Of our 4,700 members, 3,300 of them receive some variety of assistance for their membership.

So, I mean, we've really been pushing hard to get more and more people in the community, who older adults who may not feel that they can financially afford a membership to have arts, entertainment, fitness, wellness programming.

We provide that to them for as little as upwards of $5 a month, depending on their need.

So, we're trying to market and get into those communities and let everybody know we're here and we're available, and we're providing many services, including our food pantry.

And now our SEMCAC senior dining program to provide meals for Monday through Friday for older adults.

- [Nicole] Can you tell us a little bit more about that food pantry and the meal program?

- Definitely.

So, we are really blessed to be here in Rochester with lots of great partners.

Hive, Cub Foods, and People's Food Co-op, and several other great organizations help provide us with food under our pantry.

And we're seeing around about a thousand visits a month of individuals with some nutritional, inconsistencies at home.

They might not be able to have three meals a day.

They might be eating the same meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

What we're trying to do is provide balance, healthier options and then some other options to come in.

And then with our meal program with SEMCAC, which is sponsored by the Southeast Minnesota Area Agency on Aging, provides the opportunity to do congregate dining.

So, we're currently seating up to 60 people a day, Monday through Friday, to provide just healthy well-rounded meals, as well as about an hour of just socializing to go with each one of those.

- You know 125 Live hasn't been around that long, but it certainly made quite an impact in the community.

I know I was flipping through the Community Education brochure and saw that a lot of the programs were being hosted here.

I guess, Can you talk a little bit just about some of the ways in which this space is used by not just your members, but other members of the community?

- So, what we've discovered is that we've realized that being an organization that we are, where we're really member driven and we've really done everything we can to provide as many services as possible, we've realized that more than just our members would benefit for some of these activities.

So through community and our partnership, we've been able to actually expand and provide additional services that our members can participate in, as well as individuals who would not normally consider coming to 125 Live for an activity.

So, I mean we have a working wood shop here.

So, being able to provide wood shop classes for our members that we do.

But then also for individuals who just may be interested in starting a new hobby, maybe not so interested in committing to joining our wood shop, but just having the opportunity to a couple of times a week to stop in, build a project, and just make some personal accomplishments, as well as our fitness and wellness activities that we work through with community ed.

- [Nicole] That's fantastic.

You might catch me at a pottery shop class.

- [Ken] There we go.

We do a lot of those and they're very popular.

So, sign up as quickly as possible.

- [Nicole] Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much, Ken, for catching us up on some of the wonderful things you're doing here at 125 Live, and we look forward to chatting with you again.

- [Ken] Thank you again for having me.

(upbeat music) - Be sure to stick around.

We have more great stories coming up next.

We learn why the Rochester Trolley and Tour Company is known as the Med City's storyteller as we hop a board and see our city in a new light.

We also learn about a street medicine course, where medical students collaborate with local partners, serving people experiencing homelessness in our community.

But up first, we're taking it bead by bead as we head to the Rochester Art Center for a healing bead art class in this week's art culture segment.

(mellow music) - [Margo] One of the fun things about beading is getting together and just sharing our lives and our beading together at the same time.

- I'm Amy Garretson, education and community outreach coordinator right here at the Rochester Art Center.

We were thrilled to welcome bead artist Margo Yee and Chris Allen into our studio space today for open studio beading.

- [Chris] Open beading at the Rochester Art Center was every Wednesday in the month of May here at the classrooms of the Rochester Art Center.

My name is Chris Allen and I live in Rochester, Minnesota, and I am a bead artist.

- [Margo] We didn't have a set agenda for projects for people during open beading.

But some people brought their own beads and supplemented them with beads that we supplied at no charge that have been donated.

I'm Margo Yee and I'm one of the coordinators at the open beading here at the Rochester Art Center.

I'm a volunteer.

I think that as we age, we have an obligation to return something to communities that have been so kind to us during our busy working years.

- [Amy] I get to work with artists who are so passionate about their medium.

Chris and Margo reached out and asked how they could share their love of beading with the community.

I had met both artists in the past.

I had seen their work online, on Facebook and Instagram, and said, absolutely, sounds fantastic.

We would love to partner with you to bring this opportunity to the community.

- [Chris] Oh, it look so good.

We wanted to gather other beaders to create bodies of, new bodies of work or to admire what each other is doing, or help solve problems for other beaders.

Bead work to me is something I've practiced for over 30 years.

For me, it's meditative.

It's a practice of healing and thinking, and I just love teaching it.

Yeah, this is very therapeutic.

As a result, we brought lots of people together that we didn't necessarily expect.

- [Margo] Because of Mayo Clinic, every week we had a patient and a caregiver from either Fargo, or Chicago, or someplace in Iowa.

Then we didn't really expect that they would find the art center and actually get to come and bead with us.

And we feel like we sent them home with a good feeling about Rochester.

- We believe the arts can be really healing as well.

And that arts and cultural programs do a lot to heal the soul, just like our good doctors here in Rochester heal the body.

We really believe in the power of the arts, and music, theater, dance, visual arts, to just kind of complete that whole picture.

- [Margo] Well, I think that the arts are so important for people.

It's a great stress reliever, but it's also, it's just so fun.

- [Chris] Last week, the Upper Midwest Beach Society came from Minneapolis and we all started a new project called beading rocks with sunflowers on them in honor of what's going on in Ukraine.

So, we're building community through bead work.

- [Margo] I'm so grateful to the fact that they've allowed us to do this here and didn't charge rent.

And it was great for the students because they don't have to pay for materials.

And we just have had a great time.

- [Amy] So I think people have a natural curiosity when they see a really cool piece of art and they wanna know how did you do that, how did you make that.

And being at the Rochester Art Center, we get to explore that question all the time with artists, where we get to learn the process and kind of the stories behind their artwork.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator 2] For more information about this story and other "R-Town," features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KMSQ #RTown, or kmsq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with the R-Town Spotlight and I have a wonderful guest today, Steve Finne, from Little Thistle Brewing Company.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

- So excited.

There's some things happening this weekend.

But let's start out with how did Little Thistle Brewing Company come to be?

- Really a love of craft beer and our local community.

So, it's myself and my wife is the CEO.

So, she's my partner in crime.

- [Danielle] And you both started this with a really awesome element of community focused.

Now, it's four years.

- [Steve] That's right.

- Oh my goodness.

- [Steve] Yeah.

- Well, there's an event happening this weekend.

Share a little bit more about that.

- Yeah, so every year we have an anniversary party.

And so this year, it's four years and everything kicks off at noon on Saturday.

And so, we have some bagpipers coming because we have a- - [Danielle] My favorite.

- Yeah.

Because I'm from Scotland originally.

And the thistle the flower of Scotland and all that fun stuff.

So, bag pipers at one.

We have Push and Turn local musicians at two.

And then, Annie & the Bang Bang is our other music guest at 4:30.

And then, we have lots of other stuff going on too.

- [Danielle] Really cool.

So, let's talk about the other stuff that's going on.

You brewed some craft beer specific for this.

Can you kind of highlight some of those offerings?

- Yeah, so we have I mean a ridiculous amount of variety of beers.

- [Danielle] You've been hard at work, yes.

- Yeah, yeah.

And so we try and make it fun for people who love variety.

But we do have, we're releasing a new beer every hour from 12 till six.

So, there's six or seven beers there that are new.

And then, there's other beers which are on tap all day, which another four new beers.

So overall, we're probably about 30 beers on tap that people can try- to celebrate.

- [Danielle] That's tremendous.

What is one of the new ones that you created?

- One of the latest ones we got is called Black Forest.

So, it's a take on like a black forest gateau.

So, it's an imperial stout that we fermented in port barrels and then conditioned on coco nibs and black cherries, dark cherries.

So it's a really nice like dessert inspired beer.

- And there's a lot to offer at Little Thistle as well.

Will there be food, games?

- [Steve] Yep, we do have food trucks this weekend.

Fire Brick Pizza is gonna be there.

We do have The Wandering Scoop, which is also ice cream.

And then, we do have, we have a prize giveaway this year too, which is new.

For the first, between 12 and three, everyone who's there when they buy a beer, they get a ticket and you can win.

We got this beautiful YETI cooler full of a whole bunch of merchandise from Little Thistles so.

- [Danielle] What color is the YETI cooler?

Is it teal?

- [Steven] It's gray.

Oh (laughs), it's crazy.

- [Steven] It's not teal.

No.

- [Danielle] Okay.

Darn, okay.

And there's of course things to do.

There's picnic tables outside.

Hopefully, the weather will hold up for that.

- [Steve] Yeah, we hope so.

I think right now it shows about 50/50 chance of rain, intermittent showers throughout the day, but that shouldn't stop us from having a whole bunch of fun.

(upbeat music) - Hello, again.

This is Michael Wojcik with your R-Town Rundown.

Going on this weekend in both Oronoco and at the Olmsted County Fairgrounds is Gold Rush.

It used to be a single event that's subsequently split into two.

You can go out there and get all of your antiquing done this weekend.

Also going on at Graham Park is going to be the Farmers Market and that's every Saturday morning.

This Saturday morning, start at 9:00 AM, RavensFire will be playing and the Rochester Chess Club will be there.

And you will have the opportunity to go try out your skills and get tips from our local pros.

"Burlesque on Broadway," will be going on Saturday night at 8:00 PM.

This is a relatively new event to Rochester and tickets are available online.

Absolute Theater will be having an open house on Saturday from two to 4:00 PM.

This is their opportunity to go see the Chateau Theatre, where they will be performing and hear what they have going on for their upcoming season, ask questions, and learn more about their new space and the new occupants of the space.

Rescheduled for Sunday, from one to 4:00 PM, starting at the Rochester Art Center is the Zumbro Pedal Party.

This is an opportunity to go out with your family and kids and do a safe route that does not cross traffic anywhere downtown.

There's free gelato for the first 100 kids who sign up there.

And this is the event that was previously scheduled for about a month ago.

At that time, there happened to be a tornado so they rescheduled it.

It seems like a wise decision for those of us that ride bike outside.

Our host here at 125 Live have been dealing with the Elton Hills Drive Bridge closure for a long period of time.

That bridge is back open and they're going to celebrate.

On August 26th from four to 8:00 PM, they're gonna have an outdoor celebration.

You can come celebrate the opening of the bridge with them.

We're going to be going on hiatus for five weeks here.

So, we hope that you get out and enjoy all that "R-Town," has to offer.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Laura Elwood with the Rochester Trolley and Tour Company.

Today, we are doing Rochester's history tour.

- And we'll start the tour.

- [Laura] So, the Rochester Trolley and Tour Company is Minnesota's largest touring service.

We do history tours, haunted tours, seasonal tours for the Amish Community, winery, brewery, as well as like school field trips, day trips and adult trips.

Today's tour is the Rochester's history tour.

We operate this seasonally, May through October.

And we really highlight the key players of the individuals who started this city, the people that are bringing this city forward, as well as architecture and fun facts that you may not know about our city.

Guests really love to know what's happening in this town.

And this allows you to see it, feel it, and experience events around the city that you may not have exposure to.

We have five trolley that operate Wednesdays through Sundays, and then also luxury buses for winter when we have private chartered events as well.

All of our trolleys are named after five individuals who really were the pioneers of Mayo Clinic.

And all of them, but one are Mayo.

So it's Mayo brothers, Mayo family, and then Alfred Moes.

So when you take a tour with us, you really get to hear about some funny stories, some comical stories, and then individuals that stayed here while they were being seen at Mayo Clinics.

We partner with a lot of local vendors too to allow you to have an experience that's you can create on your own, but also with our help.

We really enjoy working with the hotels in town, Mayo Clinic.

And the history center is a huge, huge partner with us, allowing us to really grow the experience and knowledge of our city.

(upbeat music) - This week, the Zumbro Valley Medical Society kicked off its second year of the street medicine elective for medical students at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine.

Here to tell us about this unique course are Beth Kangas, executive director of ZVMs, and Jeff Woods, medical student and student leader.

Welcome to "R-Town," both of you.

- [Both] Thank you.

- It's good to be here - Thank you very much.

- Well, Jeff, as a student, I wanted to kick off with you and ask you how the elective began and why is it so important to the medical school curriculum?

- Yeah, well, it began about a year and a half ago when I first learned about street medicine, attended a lecture with the founder of street medicine, and was just probably the most inspired I'd been in the first year of medical school.

I felt like a lot of the stuff that you learned in the first year of medical school is pretty divorced from the care of patients.

But it was the pure spirit of just helping someone who needs it without any other kind of barriers, or electronic medical record, or any other concern standing in the way.

So, I was really touched and just reached out to Beth and said what can I do to get a street medicine program started.

So, we kind of started working together.

At that time, we decided that one of the first steps would be to start this medical students elective, which basically our thinking was this would be sort of a leap of faith that if we just gathered what turned out to be 28 first and second year medical students together to learn about street medicine that it might be able to generate kind of interest from Mayo Clinic generally, from individual physicians, from the school of medicine, and maybe start to become the kind of spark that would start a whole street medicine program in Rochester.

And yeah, we've been delighted about how it's been developing over the last year and a half.

- Beth, what a wonderful opportunity to partner with medical students.

Can you tell us a little bit just about Zumbro Valley Medical Society.

And in addition to the street medicine elective, ways in which you've been working to train physicians and healthcare providers to serve those experiencing homelessness.

- Yeah, thank you.

So, Zumbro Valley Medical Society is a professional membership organization for physicians and physicians in training.

So, the medical students, the physicians are members.

We have 3,000 members in Olmsted, Dodge, Fillmore, and Houston counties.

And we started doing during COVID.

We started and with an online training series led by two medical students, where for half an hour community members talked about their role and the issues facing patients experiencing homelessness.

It was sort of what would you want doctors to know about people experiencing homelessness.

- You both have mentioned a little bit just about some of the how the delivery of healthcare would be, is different and the needs are different for people experiencing homelessness.

Can you talk a little bit just about what the street means in street medicine and what are the specific skills and knowledge that are needed to deliver not just adequate but good healthcare to patients experiencing homelessness?

- Yeah, the street basically means not coming into a clinic.

Folks maybe living under a bridge or folks we encounter on a street corner in encampments throughout the city, or even living out of their car.

Just someone who is currently unhoused and/or meeting at shelters in the community.

It's really different to...

I'm just a budding physician who hasn't delivered a whole lot of medicine in the clinic, but a lot of the challenges logistically are just how do you treat somebody when it's freezing cold outside, or even what kind of our scope of care will be, what kind of conditions are we able to treat, and what other things are kind of beyond what are our capabilities.

But I think one of the biggest differences is this is a population that has experienced, in some cases, trauma in institutional settings or in a clinic or hospital settings specifically, or has been subject to a lot of stigma, and might have a lot of kind of shame that's been imposed upon them by society.

So, I think an approach where it's entirely driven by kind of meeting people where they're at and what do the folks that we encounter who are experiencing homelessness?

What do they want, not what are we gonna kind of impose as the provider.

So, really the foundation of just unconditional positive regard, building relationships of trust, kind of listening, treating people with love, kind of that unconditional affirmation.

Those kinds of attitudes that are kind of the essential foundation for being able to actually deliver care.

So, that's something that I think doctors want to build in any context, but especially important in street medicine context.

- [Nicole] Yeah, certainly.

So, I imagine you have to work with a lot of community partners.

So, who are the community partners that you're working with and yeah, what role do they play in this?

- Yes, so last night's orientation for the selective, we had 11 agencies represented.

Agencies that are serving people experiencing homelessness.

The orientation was held at the Rochester Community Warming Center.

We have done outreach runs with the Landing.

We hope to be able to work with the county with their outreach team to be able to go out.

We also had the Salvation Army.

Dorothy Day help me out today.

IMAA joined us.

This is the problem with making a list, 'cause we're gonna leave somebody off and we don't want to- - [Nicole] Of course not.

- Yeah, Three Rivers Community Action, Lutheran Social Services.

- [Nicole] Sounds like some really deep engagement with the agencies and organizations in our community that are I mean working not just with those experiencing homelessness, but working at sort of different levels, the medical, the legal, the social.

- [Jeff] Exactly.

- Out realm as well.

- [Laura] Yeah.

Yeah and what was exciting last night is the both groups inspired each other.

So, the medical students were inspired by the social support agencies, the social provider.

Because day after day, they do this work and have the rapport that Jeff was talking about.

So, that inspired that passion, career passions, inspired the medical students.

And then people whose day job this is and they've committed their careers to this.

We're inspired by the enthusiasm, the energy of the medical students so.

- [Nicole] Well, thank you so much for inspiring us and sharing a little bit more about this wonderful course and all that you're doing.

And thank you all for joining us today.

Coming to you from 125 Live, I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

For now, be well and stay safe.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (mellow music) - [Narrator 2] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.