CMT's Ten Toes + Transit program celebrates 20 years as registration opens for Fall 2026 season. Karen Troxell July 27, 2026 Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT), in partnership with the St. Clair County Transit District (SCCTD), AARP in St. Louis, BJC Healthcare, and the Centene Foundation, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its award-winning Ten Toes + Transit program in 2026 and CMT is excited to announce that program registration for the Fall 2026 season will open on Monday, August 3, 2026. For two decades, the popular walking program has helped more than 14,000 older adults combine walking and public transit to discover area attractions, stay active, build friendships and gain confidence using MetroLink and MetroBus. As the program celebrates this significant milestone, CMT invites both returning participants and newcomers to experience everything Ten Toes + Transit has to offer. Beginning Monday, August 3, interested parties can register online via CMT's website here, by calling 314-231-7272, by mailing in a registration form, or by attending one of three in-person registration events scheduled for August. Request a registration form be mailed to you by sending an email to [email protected]. In-Person Registration Event Details: * Tuesday, August 11, 10 AM - 12 PM: Belleville Transit Center, 800 Scheel Street * Friday, August 14, 10 AM - 12 PM: St. Clair County Office on Aging: 201 N. Church Street * Wednesday, August 19, 10 AM - 12 PM: Shrewsbury City Center, 5200 Shrewsbury Avenue The Fall 2026 session will kick off with a special tour of The Fabulous Fox Theatre, a beloved performing arts center located in the Grand Center Arts District, on Tuesday, September 1. While participants can register for the program beginning August 3, registration for 4 CMT-led "Special Walks," including the Fabulous Fox tour, will not be available until Monday, August 10. Beginning September 1, the 12-week session runs through December 4. Participants can join the group that best fits their location, schedule and preferred day of the week, or join walks based on their interest in the destination. Each week, participants and trained volunteer walk leaders ride MetroLink or MetroBus to one of the hundreds of destinations accessible by transit throughout the St. Louis region. Walks range from approximately 0.25 to 5 miles, often followed by time to enjoy lunch or a snack before returning by transit. Since its launch in 2006, Ten Toes + Transit has become a signature community program by making it easy, fun and social for older adults to stay active while exploring the region and learning how to navigate via transit. Over the past 20 years, the program has connected thousands of participants with local parks, museums, neighborhoods, trails, restaurants and cultural attractions - all accessible by the bi-state region's public transit system. The cost is $20 per 12-week session and includes weekly guided walks and a walking kit featuring 3 one-day transit tickets, a printed schedule and more. Belt bags and pedometers are available to new registrants by request. A special Ten Toes + Transit t-shirt has been designed and will be available to registrants, while supplies last. Single-walk registrations are also available for $5 each for those who may not desire to sign up for the entire 12-week calendar of walks Beginning August 3, registration will be available online, through the mail, by calling Citizens for Modern Transit at 314-231-7272, or by attending one of the in-person registration events mentioned above. CMT hopes you'll join CMT in celebrating 20 years of walking, exploring and connecting through transit. Questions about the program may be directed to CMT staff by email at [email protected].

BJC Health names new St. Louis Children's Hospital president. Nikki Stafford will also serve as president of the St. Louis Children's Hospital Foundation July 13, 2026 3 minutes Nikki Stafford joins BJC Health as president of St. Louis Children's Hospital, effective July 13. She was selected following an extensive national search focused on identifying a leader with strong operational expertise, a proven track record of transformational leadership, and a deep commitment to improving children's health. Stafford succeeds Trish Lollo, who was named BJC Health East Region group president in 2025. Lollo has been the President of Children's since 2019. "As president, Nikki will lead St. Louis Children's into its next era of growth and innovation, setting the strategic vision to advance clinical excellence and strengthening our position as a national leader in pediatric care," said Lollo. "She will also play a key role in supporting the continued growth of St. Louis Children's at CoxHealth, our joint venture in southwest Missouri, helping expand access to exceptional pediatric care for children and families across the communities we serve. Nikki will continue to foster a warm, welcoming environment where children and their families feel supported, comfortable, and confident in the care they receive." Stafford joins BJC from UW Health Kids in Madison, Wisconsin, where she most recently served as president, American Family Children's Hospital, and system vice president, Pediatric Services, UW Health. Prior to joining UW Health Kids, Stafford held roles at Prisma Health Children's Hospital-Upstate, Greenville Memorial Hospital, Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, and National Neuro, LLC. She received her Master of Science in occupational therapy from Washington University in St. Louis and Master of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business. She is board certified in health care management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, is a Fellow of the Riley Institute through Furman University, a member of the Greenville Chamber's Leadership-Class 46, and a member of the International Women's Forum. "I'm excited to collaborate across BJC and Children's, both renowned for their commitment to excellence in care and community well-being. By building on this this special culture, we can expand the impact we have on children and families throughout the St. Louis region and beyond," said Stafford. "Throughout my career, I've combined my clinical background with experience in operations, strategy, partnerships, and philanthropy. I'm deeply committed to advancing quality, safety, and the patient experience while strengthening overall organizational performance to best serve our communities." In 2025, U.S. News & World Report again recognized St. Louis Children's Hospital as one of America's Best Children's Hospitals, ranking St. Louis Children's as No. 1 in Missouri, No. 1 in St. Louis, and No. 3 in the Midwest region. About St. Louis Children's Hospital St. Louis Children's Hospital is part of BJC Health, one of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States and has provided exceptional care for children from all 50 states and 80 countries around the world for more than 145 years. With its academic partner, WashU Medicine, St. Louis Children's is consistently ranked among the nation's best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and earns national distinction for comprehensive services that include heart, cancer, neurology, and orthopedics. St. Louis Children's is among an elite group of pediatric hospitals worldwide that have achieved a fifth consecutive, four-year Magnet Distinction(R) designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. St. Louis Children's is also one of the few pediatric hospitals in the Midwest nationally recognized by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center, which is the highest classification of trauma care. To learn more, visit StLouisChildrens.org, Facebook, X, and Instagram.

AI platform reduces paperwork for WashU Medicine and BJC physicians. Less time on documentation means more time to focus on patients A doctor's workday often extends beyond the time spent with patients - typing up notes after patient visits can take a few hours daily. Most physicians say they would rather devote their mental energy to patient care than to such administrative tasks. To help ease that burden, WashU Medicine and BJC Health recently made a clinical artificial intelligence (AI) platform available to physicians that captures and summarizes what is said during medical appointments, allowing doctors to focus on interacting directly with their patients and less on note-taking. The joint Center for Health AI (CHAI) vetted the technology and is leading the rollout, starting with outpatient clinics. The center, established as part of the long-term affiliation agreement between WashU Medicine and BJC Health, is focused on developing and evaluating AI technologies to make healthcare more personalized and effective for patients and more efficient for providers. Doctors who use the platform find that it can save time and effort over manually typing up notes or transcribing recorded notes. "This resource allows us to spend more time engaging directly with patients and still produces records that are very accurate. The platform captures the relevant aspects of the patient-clinician conversation and is generated within 30 seconds or a minute," said Sam Bhayani, MD, who is a member of CHAI's executive team as the chief medical officer for WashU Medicine Physicians, the clinical practice group that includes more than 2,550 primary care and specialist physicians. The AI note-taking platform, called Abridge, is simple to use with a smartphone: After obtaining patient consent, the physician opens an app on their phone and the technology "listens" to the visit and generates notes that summarize the discussion. Bhayani, who is also the the Robert Killian Royce, M.D., Distinguished Professor in the Division of Urology in the Mary Culver Department of Surgery, explained that the physician can then review the notes, refer back to the transcript if necessary, and make edits and additions before adding them to the patient's electronic medical record - a much less time-consuming process than drafting notes from scratch. A pilot study of the platform and other similar options, conducted by CHAI and involving nearly 500 WashU Medicine and BJC physicians, generated overwhelmingly positive feedback from the doctors, Bhayani added. Early studies indicated that users of the Abridge platform had a 20% reduction in "pajama time" - the after-hours work physicians often put in to draft patient notes. Philip Payne, PhD, the Janet and Bernard Becker Professor at WashU Medicine and chief health AI officer for BJC Health and WashU Medicine, said the adoption of the Abridge platform represents a long-term commitment by both institutions to push healthcare innovation forward using validated AI technologies. "CHAI has a lot of high-level expertise to evaluate the impact of AI platforms like this in all facets of healthcare, ensuring that they are effective at improving clinical outcomes, provider well-being and patient experience," said Payne, adding that the rigor WashU Medicine and BJC Health bring to assessing the utility and reliability of these platforms means that decisions made here can provide a model for other healthcare systems looking to adopt these technologies. "If the AI platform improves quality, safety, outcomes and value of care at WashU Medicine and BJC Health, then other people will look to see how we made that work, and it will have a demonstrably positive impact for patients and communities elsewhere," he said. A commitment to innovation. The time-saving potential of the platform is significant: Surveys by the American Medical Association have shown that physicians often need to spend extra time on top of their normal working hours on tasks related to electronic health records, including transcription, inputting additional notes after a visit or cleaning up notes. Jennifer Schmidt, MD, an associate professor of medicine and associate chief of clinical operations in the WashU Medicine Division of General Medicine & Geriatrics, said she was surprised to find that even better than clearing her time, using the platform cleared her mind. "I had not anticipated how much it reduces your cognitive burden so you can focus on what your patients are saying and what it means for their care, rather than trying to multitask," said Schmidt. "For patients with more complex conditions, where there are detailed descriptions of their symptoms, this platform is really helpful because you're not focusing on trying to write down everything they say." Schmidt said she has seen how adoption of the platform has allowed her and her colleagues to close out their notes more quickly. She noted that WashU Medicine's proactive commitment to the technology positions it well to attract physicians who want to use these platforms in their practice. "Ambient AI like this is going to be adopted everywhere, and investing in it is really important," Schmidt said. "Physicians looking to work here want to have these platforms. This is medicine's future." To help clinicians adopt the technology, Abridge representatives visit the WashU Medicine and BJC Health campuses on a quarterly basis. Physicians and staff who want to learn more about using the ambient AI platform, attend a demonstration, or speak with clinical leaders can receive updates on upcoming campus visits by completing an online form. About WashU Medicine WashU Medicine is a global leader in academic medicine, including biomedical research, patient care and educational programs with 3,100 faculty. Its National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding portfolio is the second largest among U.S. medical schools and has grown 78% since 2016. Together with institutional investment, WashU Medicine commits over $1.6 billion annually to basic and clinical research innovation and training. Its faculty practice is consistently among the top five in the country, with more than 2,550 faculty physicians practicing at 200 locations. WashU Medicine physicians exclusively staff Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals - the academic hospitals of BJC HealthCare - and Siteman Cancer Center, a partnership between BJC HealthCare and WashU Medicine and the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Missouri and southern Illinois. WashU Medicine physicians also treat patients at BJC's community hospitals in its region. With a storied history in MD/PhD training, WashU Medicine recently dedicated $100 million to scholarships and curriculum renewal for its medical students, and is home to top-notch training programs in every medical subspecialty as well as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and audiology and communications sciences.