Golf With Jay Delsing - Brett Moorehouse and Kevin Korn of Ranken Jordan Hospital

Jay Delsing spent 25 years on the PGA Tour and is a lifetime member of the PGA Tour and PGA of America. Now he provides his unique perspective as a golfer and network broadcaster. It's time to go On the Range with Jay Delsing. On the Range is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA. Hey, good morning, St. Louis.

This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay Perley. What's going on, man? How you doing? I'm ready, man. I'm doing fine. Just ready for the rest and see what develops in the Golf with Jay Delsing show today. Well, we're all kind of sitting on the edge of our seat wondering about that, aren't we? Yeah, right.

Okay. Anyway, we formatted the show like around the golf, and the first segment is called the On the Range segment, and it's brought to you by the Gateway PGA. You know, John, there's always been a head pro that's been so significant in our upbringing, our introduction to the game, and these men and women around the area do so much behind the scenes with very little recognition to do some great stuff for the game. We've had some spotlights where guys from around this, the two-state area and some of the outward parts of Missouri that are just, it's remarkable some of their accomplishments.

Well, it's so huge for the growth of the game. You talk about, I'm glad that you support them. I know you supported them for a very long time. At the end of the day, they're the ones at ground level making this happen anywhere from the junior clinics to getting a membership often to kind of understand what some of these fundraisers and these other positive things are. Because it's tough sometimes for the membership to kind of get that, so they bring that to the table. They're key.

They're really key to the game, and I love that you're so high on that group in your region. Yeah, very much so. Pearl, anything to report on our social media outlets? Facebook is doing great. Twitter's doing great.

What else we got? Twitter? Twitter's doing fantastic. We had two Twitters? We had two Twitters. Well, it's called the K-Delphi. Maybe there's seven or eight Twitters.

Just in case they close us down on one of them because of our content, we got a second one right behind. Okay, so you're basically saying we're good? I'm trying to elaborate. Every time you tell me I'm not prepared, I'm trying to elaborate at this time.

We see you struggle with that elaboration. Good job, Pearl. I want to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing. 314-805-2132. They'll spruce up the inside of your house, the outside of your house.

Pull them up online, you guys. Check out some of the work they do, the refinishing they do on staircases. It's spectacular. They're great people. All right, so, Pearl, this show, I got an interview with Brett Morehouse, who's the CEO of the Rankin-Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital here in town. And also with him was Kevin Korn, who's a PGA of America professional, local guy.

Everybody knows him. He started a golf program at this hospital. So this bridge hospital is kind of an intermediary place where kids go from the regular hospital before they can go home. They need to get some extra physical therapy.

They need some things. And it's really an amazing place. I've been over there several times, and Kevin is doing a great job. And so it's really an important part of the St. Louis landscape, and it's pretty cool. That's great.

That's absolutely great. What's your association with Kevin up to this point? How did you know him before this episode? Well, I've known of Kevin just because he's one of the gateway section, gateway PGA pros here. But it's pretty well known that he does this specific golf thing.

He's out at Inverness, I believe, and he does great stuff out there at his club there. But he takes his time every week to go in on Tuesday and support these ill children and gets a club in their hand. It gives them lessons and just gives them some diversion, man. They love it. They're interested in the game.

Many of these kids, as they leave this hospital, have taken up the game. It's pretty neat. That's awesome. That's awesome that he's inspiring at that time when they need it. I'm sure the families appreciate that, too.

All right. So one thing that I want to bring up, John, is Worldwide Technologies is now the title sponsor of the Mayakoma event down in Cancun, Mexico. You and I have been there several times.

It's an absolute gorgeous place. But here's what's more significant for us. They are also a big part of the Ascension Charity Classic that's held at Norwood September 6th through 12th. And those guys diving in further into golf, further involved with a PGA tour, only solidifies our new event here in St. Louis.

I couldn't be happier. It's a big deal. Do you know any of the principals in that group?

I do. We've had Jim Cavanaugh on the show. He's the CEO.

He's just a terrific guy. He's the guy that talked about, when they started the company, how he drove a shipment of laptops up to Omaha. And he also was the guy delivering the meeting. And so he went from his workers' clothes of moving all these laptops into the office. And they had to run in the restroom and throw a suit on. And somebody came in and said, Hey, didn't you just, I just see you.

He goes, yep, we're wearing a lot of hats over at this company. It's great to see them do so well. That's great. That's great that they're doing so well. And then they're spreading the wealth with such a special event for St. Louis. Yeah, they're also involved with the new soccer team.

So, Jim Cavanaugh's just a great guy. I think he was the number two overall pick, wasn't he? Back in the early 80s, drafting the MLS.

He's a really high draft. Yeah, he's an absolute stud. One of the best things that happened to him was he didn't make it in the MLS because he started this company and has never looked back.

And he's a strong corporate citizen along with Enterprise and Emerson and some of the other folks. So, it's great to have those guys further involved in the PGA Tour and the game of golf. Fantastic. Well, that is going to wrap it up. Oh, almost forgot the tip of the cap and my buddy Colin Burt over at the Dean team of Kirkwood.

How could I forget them? Burley, how's your truck, by the way? It is absolutely fantastic. And with our crazy schedule, thank goodness I have that truck.

It made everything possible, let alone easier. Well, Colin's at 314-966-0303. Call him and tell him you want the same deal Burley got on that truck because he's got a lot more than Volkswagens over there. But the tip of the cap this week goes to the Ascension Charity Classic team. All right, so these guys and gals have been out selling and they've been out working for over a year because of the pandemic, beating the business bushes here in St. Louis. One Pro-Am is entirely sold out.

We've sold out all of the cabanas and skyboxes, even to the fact that they're looking at additional holes to create new opportunities for businesses for skyboxes. This shout out goes to Tim, Connor, Megan, Michael, and Alonzo. Great job guys, we're tipping the cap to you. And thank you for the Dean team of Kirkwood, especially Colin and Brandy for bringing it to you. Reach them at 314-966-0303.

Come back for the front nine. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. This is Paul Weisinger and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. I want to thank the Gateway section of the PGA of America for supporting the Golf with Jay Delsing show. There are over 300 men and women, PGA professionals, and over 100 golf facilities in the greater St. Louis area supporting us. They're experts in the game. They know the business of golf. And at this point in time, this pandemic, the golf courses are jammed.

These folks are working 10, 12 hour days and just doing great stuff and really appreciate them. Every time you pull up to a public course or a private course, a driving range, there's a really good chance that that facility is run by a member of our section. Some of the examples of the programs that are run by these PGA professionals and the Gateway PGA section include PGA Reach, Drive, Chip, and Putt, PGA Hope, and the PGA Junior League. To learn more about the Gateway PGA, go to GatewayPGA.org. To find a local PGA professional coach for your next session, go to PGA.com.

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Marcon Appliance Parts Company is based in St. Louis, Missouri and is the largest distributor of major appliance parts in North America and proud distributor of General Electric Parts. I am delighted to welcome Marie Davila to the Golf with Jay Delsing show. I'm sure you know where it is, but in case you don't, Marie Davila is a landmark out in West St. Louis County. It's located on the corner of Clayton and Weidman Roads. It's also on 21 beautiful rolling acres right on the way out to Queenie Park. It's a country club like atmosphere.

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We learned that there are one, two and three bedroom villas that you can live in and there's also 24 hour care in the East, West and the Waterford buildings. So Marie Davila had everything that my mom wanted. One of the things that stood out in my mind as well was the way the family owned business treats their guests. That's right, they refer to them as guests, but they treat them like family. So if you're in the process of trying to make a tough decision for this next part of life, you got to visit Marie Davila. This is local, this is family and this is St. Louis. This is Marie Davila.

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We are farmers. Hi, Jay Delsing here for SSM Health Physical Therapy. Our golf program has the same screening techniques and technology as the pros on the PGA Tour use. That's right, SSM Health Physical Therapy has TPI, Titleist Performance Institute, trained physical therapists that can perform the TPI screen on you as well as use the KVEST 3D motion capture system. It is awesome.

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The Front 9 is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. Welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm Jay.

I got Pearly with me. Brad Barnes is taking good care of us here at the ESPN Studios. We're on the Front 9 brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic, September 6 through 12 at Norwood Hills. It's coming fast. Folks, get your tickets. There's still a few Pro-Am spots available.

Yeah, PGA Tour back at the loo. It's going to be great. All right, let's go straight to this interview with Brett Morehouse and Kevin Corn from Rankin-Jordan Pediatric Hospital, Bridge Hospital. Brett Morehouse is brought to you by Golden Tee. I am sitting down this morning with Brett Morehouse, who is the president and CEO of the Rankin-Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital here in St. Louis. Hey, Brett, thanks so much for taking the time to be with me today.

Hey, good morning, Jay. Thanks for having me on. I'm really excited to be on your show today and look forward to talking with you. Well, I've known you for quite a while. We kind of reconnected last year at the golf event that you guys had at Norwood, raising money for the hospital.

But there are so many things to talk about here, Brett. I know April 9 was a really special day. I think you guys celebrated your 80th anniversary this year. Eighty years of serving kids in St. Louis, giving kids and families a better chance of recovery after a serious injury. Mary Rankin-Jordan started the hospital in 1941, Jay.

She was 72 years old when she started the hospital. It was on the Dew Road in Creve Core. And the concept was building a place that was out at the time. That was out in the far west suburb of St. Louis.

And now it's probably more considered the center. And get people out into the nature and fresh air and rolling hills and a little bit more quiet and away from the city so that kids could have a better chance to recover. And so we have photos of kids outside on a gurney with her in the Rose Garden, enjoying nature and recovering by moving and not being stuck in a bed all day. And so we've just continued that vision and mission of hers all the way up to here 80 years later. We're doing some of the same things here. And so that's how we help kids and families recover is just by movement.

Play is a big part of it as well. And so that's what we've been doing for 80 years and look forward to doing it for another 80. Oh my gosh, Brett.

And we're going to jump on with Kevin Corn a little later because he's got a golf program that's helping these kids at a different level. But my gosh, in 2004, I think you guys moved to your current location. But Brett, when you talk about what you guys are doing, a state of the art facility, even back when Mary Rankin Jordan started this thing, her vision was state of the art. And it had so much to do with fresh air and getting people getting these kids up and moving around, didn't it? It sure did.

It sure did. A lot of times when we think about medicine and health care, you think of the high technology, you know, you think of doctors and nurses and specialists. And, you know, now we have helicopters that can go out and save a child who's in a car accident. We have better obstetrical care. And so kids are born and surviving because of the better care.

We have medications we didn't have even five or ten years ago that are sustaining life. And so that is what we're seeing more and more of these kids are living. So this is actually a fast growing population. If you look at the St. Louis area in general, the pediatric population is pretty stagnant. But if you look at the kids that are born with medical complexities, kids that have, you know, two or more serious medical conditions going on, plus various social challenges with the family and home, that population is growing rapidly.

And so we're so excited that Mary was an innovator and realized a long time ago that, yes, you need the medical technology and you need the specialty and you need all that specialty work. But at some point, you've got a group of a population of people who survive all that. And they've been in a room for a year maybe in an intensive care unit. And that's all the family and the patient have known. And so they're in a fog.

They're in a little bit of a confused state because that's all they've known. And so when they come to rank in Jordan, we call this the getting better place. And so part of it is also about your attitude.

And so I remember Payne Stewart said one time, you know, a bad attitude is worse than a bad swing. And so here the attitude is you're getting better here. And so we're going to help you do that. And we're going to you're not going to sit in your room all day. You're going to get out and move and play golf with Kevin Corn or cook in the kitchen. Or right now we've got a group of kids doing music therapy together. So that is really no other place in the country is it has this care model. And I'd love to call, you know, if you and I called five or 10 hospitals today and said, who's your golf pro for your hospital? It'd be funny to hear what their answer would be. And we could say ours is Kevin Corn and he comes today on Wednesday to help the kids, you know, move and have fun playing golf and and also forget about what their ailment is maybe for that 45 minutes. You know, the kids get to think about something else other than than what they're having to do in therapy and things like that.

Yeah, I mean, you know what, Brett, it's just amazing. You have 140,000 square feet of state of the art equipment for these kids. I think you have 60 beds. Is that right? It is. Yes. Yeah. 60 60 beds for overnight.

Yes. And there's just great gyms and pools. Talk a little bit about some of the cool facilities. I know people that haven't been there.

They don't know what you guys have there. Yeah. So when I came in today, the kids, some of the outpatients were coming in to go to this music therapy program. And one of the staff told me the kids favorite one of their favorite things is when you come in the front door, there's a bridge. So they want to go up and walk across the bridge. And then there's another bridge at the back of the hospital. And so we put these little incentives in place, like a bridge or a fish tank or a golf putting green or bicycles in the middle of the building, a rock climbing wall. We put these incentives in place so that it would motivate the kids to want to get up and do their therapy and say, I'm I can do this. I want to get better. I can't get better.

Staying in my bed and having the care brought to me. So we have you know, it's it's it's we've had people from the outside who didn't know what this was. Think that it was a theme park at night. There are bright colored lights shining up on the building. Somebody thought it was a nightclub.

We've had different people, you know, try and predict. It does kind of look like a little mini Disney world, really. It's got interesting shapes and colors and it's very open and it's very uplifting. You know, we had this little girl who was here from Connecticut recently this summer, and she had been to four other hospitals on the East Coast and they were had not been able to help her resolve her issue. And here the mom told me, she said, I was so skeptical coming here on the first day because some of the things that your staff wanted to do were some of the things, same things we did on the East Coast at some pretty prominent hospitals. But then as the week went on, she said, I realized your building was different.

My daughter didn't feel like she was institutionalized. You know, she was up here. I found the little girl.

She's a five year old playing Pac-Man on this video game up here on the second floor. And so she was my point is that the daughter was comfortable here. And so she got to run around the building and really think that plus our staff and their caring for this little girl, their techniques and their unique ways of getting kids to do therapy really helped this girl recover.

And her mom said she was really amazed. So I credit that to the building. You know, hospitals typically are designed to give health care, but they don't give a lot of hope. And ours gives both. You know, we provide health care, but it also gives people hope. And, you know, again, bright colors, interesting shapes, different things throughout the building that incentives, you know, playgrounds, golf courses, kitchens, fish tanks, you know, all those things. So those are are just some of the ways. And we believe this is how health care should be.

Right. It shouldn't it should be more uplifting. It should be more interactive, you know, a lot more movement being involved and more focused on what does the patient like doing. And then you build their care plan off of that. So if a kid comes in and says, hey, I like Legos and I like basketball, then we build that program of therapy off of those two things. And that that that's the key to recovery. Well, so much so. I mean, when you start thinking about hospitals and you walk in there, if someone you love or someone you know you're visiting because they're they're suffering in some sort of way.

There doesn't seem like there's much hope in your place is so, so different. And in a world when health care is ridiculously expensive, you guys are a non for profit. Talk a little bit about the families that you help and how this care is given in a way that that, you know, people can use it and afford it. Yeah.

So so you said it exactly right. We care for the patient and the family. You know, our thought is if we don't take care of the family, then they're not prepared to take the child home.

And that's when failure occurs and the child ends up back at the hospital. And so our care model here at Rankin Jordan has been shown to we do so much preparation and training and education with the families that their readmission after we discharged them back home, their readmission rates back to the hospital is actually lower. We're also a lower cost setting.

You know, we're the only hospital in Missouri, I would guess, that does not have laboratory radiology, surgery or an emergency department. So we're we're we're built within a cost containment mentality and not to bore you with the business side. But like you said, health care is very expensive. The cost is rising quickly.

So our thought was if the kids need an X-ray or lab test, we can get that. There's plenty of that just at 40 and 270, much less, you know, in the metro area so we can get those services for them at those other places and save money. Our population we serve, by far the majority are families that have very difficult financial situations. So in Missouri and every state, there's a program called Medicaid.

Medicare is for the elderly. Medicaid is for the population with some economic challenges, some social challenges. And so most children's hospitals, you'll find 40 to 60 percent of the patients have Medicaid.

Here we're at 85 or 90 percent. So families coming in have a huge challenge with the medical condition of their patient, their loved one, and then they have financial challenges. And so the main payer for Rankin Jordan is Medicaid and not all the cost that it takes to do care beyond the bedside and to get these kids and families back to home. Not all those costs are covered by insurance and so we have to fundraise that and ask the St. Louis community has been extremely generous. You know, Mary and her husband Clay had wealth and so that's how they built the hospital in the first place. And then there were people that came along the way that continued her tradition philanthropically and giving to the hospital to help sustain it. And so nothing, that hasn't changed. We're still in an environment where we do have to fundraise and help defray the cost.

You know, I'll give you another example. Our hospital, we have pharmacists here that help organize and give medications to the kids, but ours go one step further. They sit down with the families before the patient gets discharged and we go through. We might spend four, six, eight hours with the family training them on how to do that, to give those medications and to make sure they're successful at home.

We have dieticians that do the same thing. And so we're really a one-stop shop, whereas if you or I, Jay, were in the hospital, heaven forbid, you and I may have to go out in the community to find those services and patch that together ourselves. What our family's like is that everything's under one roof and so it's a one-stop shop where they can get everything conveniently and to help get them back on the road to recovery. Another thing that we're seeing an increase in is just outpatient psychology. You know, like I mentioned before, the families come in here and they've just been upended.

Their life is like a Rubik's Cube and so we help them put that back together. You know, putting the family unit back together requires some counseling sometimes and so we offer that service here so that families, before we offered it, were having a six- to nine-month wait to get those services and now they can get it here as soon as they get discharged. So we provide all those wraparound services that you and I would probably have to go patch together on our own.

And so it takes fundraising and donations to be able to cover all that. You know, Brett, how many other bridge hospitals in the country do you know of? So I'm only aware of Rankin Jordan providing that transitional care. There are a few other hospitals that we compare ourselves with and there's about five or six, maybe ten, you know, across the country that we benchmark with and network with. But I don't believe there's any one of them that are doing exactly what we're doing with Care Beyond the Bedside, with Play. I think they may be – those other hospitals are serving the same population, but they're doing it more in the traditional fashion of acute care and, you know, how hospitals have operated.

This one, Rankin Jordan, you know, just turns all that upside down. We had people here from the Cleveland Clinic one time, you know, one of the premier medical institutions in the country, and they noticed that we didn't have televisions in the patient rooms. And they said, how can you get away with that? How can you not have – now, this is before, you know, the iPhones really and before iPads. So now, of course, you would say, well, that's logical. They're watching everything on their screen.

This is 2010. And so that's what traditional healthcare looks like, you know, all private rooms, TVs in your room, refrigerators, couches, you know, everything comes to the bedside. Here, we're just the opposite. We make the rooms comfortable but not too comfortable, and so the kids have to get out and move, and the families have to, you know, participate in the recovery session.

So I think we're the only ones probably in North America doing it this exact way, but there's a few other hospitals that are obviously having to serve this population because it's a growing group. St. Louis is so much better off, Brett, with having you in our community. Thanks so much for what you're doing for these kids and their families, and keep up the great work, and I'll probably see you at the golf event at Norwood. Yeah, Jay, I look forward to seeing you on the 23rd of August. We had a great day last year.

Mary is always helping us with the weather out there, and so I look forward to another day, just being outside and, you know, enjoying some activity and helping raise money for these kids and families. So thanks a lot, Jay, really appreciate it. All right, that's going to wrap up the front nine, but don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with the back nine on Golf with Jay Delsing.

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Get the protection and the peace of mind you deserve. Professional Golf returns to St. Louis in 2021. The Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson. Stars like Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and more compete at Norwood Hills Country Club September 6th through the 12th. Tickets, clubhouse passes, hospitality suites and pro-am-forsums are on sale now. All proceeds go to North St. Louis County charities.

Visit AscensionCharityClassic.com or call 314-938-2828. PGA Tour Golf is back in the loo. The Ascension Charity Classic. I am with my buddy Joe Sheezer from USA Mortgage. Hi Jay, how are you? Doing great Joe, thanks so much for the support of the show. I really appreciate the opportunity. Congratulations, this is your third year and we're really proud to be a sponsor all three years since the very beginning. It's a great show and we look forward to it every Sunday morning.

Well thanks a bunch. Tell us just a little bit about USA Mortgage and what you can do for people. Well USA Mortgage is an employee owned company so over a thousand families here in St. Louis work for the company.

So if you want an opportunity to patronize a local company, please call USA Mortgage 314-628-2015 and I'll be more than happy to sit down with you, go over your options, discuss all the different programs that are available and give you an opportunity to support a local company. That's awesome Joe, thanks so much. Appreciate it Jay, thank you. This is Golf with Jay Delsing, I'm your host Jay and I am visiting with Mark Christensen. He is the owner of the Christensen Golf Academy in Quincy, Illinois and this is the gateway section of the PGA Spotlight. Mark, good morning and thanks for joining me.

I appreciate it Jay. Mark, tell us a little bit about, gosh you've been such an accomplished teacher, you were the 2012 gateway teacher of the year among many other accolades. Tell us a little bit about your program and I also know you have a really large gateway PGA Junior League program as well.

Yeah, that's probably one of the crown jewels of my academy right now. I've got 73 kids involved in PGA Junior League and we're playing matches all the time. I've got a couple of people that helped me as far as captaining the teams are concerned and we've got kids ages from 6 to 14 in our Junior League program and we've got some really, really nice little players. I've got a 12 year old named Ty Novosel who played in one of my tournaments for the day.

Shot 143, 72, 71, just absolutely blew away the field. He's an incredible little player and I've got some kids coming up. We kind of move them from the regular Junior League into my long course in the league and we have heated battles about once every week. It's incredibly competitive and the high schools around the area, I can't wait for this little crap of kids that I've got going right now to join the battles on their high school teams.

So this is a lot of fun. That and my winter program, I've got this really cool big tent, if you will, that has three garage doors that open up out on my range and I teach all winter long. Inside to outside, I teach in threes and I've got people coming in and we do all our major tear downs and rebuilds during the winter time so that they can just work on their golf swings and become better ball strikers and better putters and then hopefully by the time the weather gets going good, we've got some things that are really in place that they can put up some scores. So that's kind of the basis for how we've had some of our successes over the years, including Luke Guthrie who's playing in the Corn Ferry Tour right now.

He's had some success in the PGA Tour. I know you were up here for the Pro-Am that we had up here, played with some of the members out here at Spring Lake Country Club and Quincy Country Club and the people in the area that we just had a blast with the other. So Luke made a lot of that happen and it's been a heck of a lot of fun since he made it out there in the big tent. And this is Mark Christensen and he's in Quincy, Illinois and Mark, it's so fun to watch these kids progress, isn't it?

It really is. I've got some 9-10 year olds that then become junior high golfers and it's cool as a teacher because you know where they started from and what they were like when they were really young. I came to Quincy in 1993 and a lot of the kids that I'm teaching right now are the children of the kids that I was teaching in 1993 and 94 and they come up to me and I say, he's way better than you were. So there's a lot of families that are involved in all of this up here and without them none of that works. The family is the basis for it all so when we've got great supportive parents that will guide them lovingly and we get good instruction and we've got course time which we're blessed to be able to have up here. We've got a lot of golf courses that are very kid-friendly so the development can happen. That's Mark Christensen.

It's the Christensen Golf Academy in Quincy, Illinois. Mark, keep doing your thing and congratulations. I appreciate it, Jay.

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However you play, you will be the talk of your neighborhood. Visit home.goldentee.com to learn more. I want to tell you about Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood. My friend Colin Burnt runs the store over there and he helped me buy a used Volkswagen for my daughter Jo when she turned 16. We've had the car for over a year.

It's running great. It's nice and safe and we've taken it there to get it serviced just recently. Pearly, that does the show with me, just bought a nice Toyota truck from Colin. So I want you to know that if there's any sort of vehicle you need, anything at all, you can get it at the Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood. You can call them at 314-966-0303 or visit them at deanteamvwkirkwood.com. We're halfway there. It's time for the Back Nine on Golf with Jay Delcey.

The Back Nine is brought to you by Fogelbach Agency with Farmers Insurance. Welcome back to Golf with Jay Delcey. I'm your host Jay. Pearly is sitting right here next to me somewhere, not next to me, down in Florida. Some beautiful resort with his toes in the water and it's like sipping on a, what do you got, a pina colada? What are you drinking over there? Just a coconut smash.

Yeah, it's awesome. I asked for that though. I think he tried those in Hawaii the first time, on your dime. I think that's what that was. You know how many were on my ticket too when I tried to check out of there? I'm like, holy cow, how did my bill become eight pages long? Anyway, so welcome to the Back Nine and it is brought to you by the Fogelbach Agency with Farmer. Ed Fogelbach and his family run this agency here in St. Louis. If you need any type of insurance for your business, for your health, for your family, call Ed and his family. They will help you today.

314-398-0101. All right, so let's go to the second half of my interview with Brett Morehouse and Kevin Korn, both with Rankin Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. Kevin Korn is brought to you by Golden Tee. So Kevin, just visiting with Brett Morehouse, Rankin Jordan President and CEO, and I want to tell the folks about this golf program that you have set up, maintained, and founded at Rankin Jordan Hospital. And it happens on Wednesdays, I think.

So please give us some background. Yeah, it's something that started just over 10 years ago and Brett and everyone at Rankin Jordan has been incredibly supportive and welcoming through all of it. We go on every Wednesday, the kids have a standing tee time at two o'clock and we teach them how to play golf and use golf as a form of therapy for them. And allow them to see that they can do something when a lot of times they've been told they can't or feel like they can't because of an injury accident that may have occurred. Yeah, they play golf from their hospital beds, from their wheelchairs, standing with aid, standing with no aid.

It doesn't matter to us. We make sure that they can swing the golf club regardless of what medical issues they're fighting and facing. So how did you get the idea, Kevin?

What's the genesis? Because it is so cool and there are guys, men and women like you in our community that are doing things like this for people and bringing the great game of golf to them and helping them in ways that they're not necessarily that easily understood. Yeah, we're fortunate in this section. We've got some wonderful people that do a lot of good things with golf, especially through the PGA Reach and the Gateway Hope and whatnot. But about 11 or so years ago, I saw an article in PJ Magazine on a program at Texas Scottish Rite in Dallas-Fort Worth. And so I got in touch with the folks down there and spent some time on the phone with Dana Dempsey talking about their program.

And it was, I believe, at the time they met once a month. And as I'm reading the article and talking to her and think about it, I'm like, you know, we're fortunate in St. Louis to where we've got overall, I think, the best pediatric health care in the country. And we've got some fantastic hospitals. And I want to do this here. We should. Why not? You know, I can teach people how to play golf. So let's do it and create this program.

I just wanted to put theirs on steroids. And instead of doing once a month, I thought once a week year round was fantastic. You know, because we've got that 52 week climate here for golf, right? So why not do it all here?

Yeah, exactly. And talk to, I was still at Glen Echo at that time. This was a couple years before I came out here to Ensbrook. And I talked to one of our members there and he suggested Rankin Jordan. He said, explains what the facility is like, what they do, all that. Fantastic. That's, you know, wonderful. And he set up a meeting with me and the folks at Rankin Jordan and went there and, you know, it was a couple minutes into the meeting.

We went from trying to say, hey, this is what I'd like to do. We were trying to figure out how we can start it, when we can start it, how fast we get the kids swinging the club. And from day one, it's just gone like gangbusters. The kids love it. Staff loves it. It's the highlight of my week every week. There's nothing better than spending the afternoon with the kids over there and having fun and swinging the golf clubs. So, you know, it's been something that's been very rewarding for everyone involved. And each week when I walk out, I mean, we're, what, ten and a half years into it, so we're 575 clinics or something like that. Because there were some winters where we're doing two a week because the kids were enjoying it so much.

And I don't know that there's been one week where I've walked out of there and haven't felt like I got more out of it than what the kids did. Man, Kevin, that is so true, isn't it? I mean, that's one of the things that this game does where it just keeps giving and it gives in some strange and really cool ways. It does.

And it truly is a game for everyone and something that people can play their entire lives, you know, and regardless of what they're dealing with. You know, last year at the golf tournament at Norwood Hills, I remember walking up with Brad Barrett, introducing him to you and saying, hey, it looks pretty good for a quadriplegic, doesn't he? And he walked up to you. I remember that specifically, Kevin, and I still was staggered by that.

I didn't know what to say. You know, and Brad will introduce himself as a walking quadriplegic. He was diagnosed that way out of the big hospital and walked out of Rankin Jordan. And he took to golf while he was there. And it was just amazing to watch his progress week after week, not just with how much better he was hitting a golf ball, but how much better he was getting physically. And knowing that golf played a small role in that improvement and then gave him something he could look forward to when he got out of the hospital. I mean, it's just the miracle work they do there every week and being able to be there and be a part of what's happening and see those things. It's it's just mind blowing to think that our game can can be a part of that healing process for so many. Well, and when we talked to Brett earlier, he talked so much about how the hospital itself with the bright colors, the shapes, all of the things that you wouldn't necessarily figure on seeing in a hospital, how all that affects everyone's attitudes.

And I think this activity, it's already known that this physical activity releases endorphins and gets our our body working in a much more positive manner. And this is all part of it. It is. There's not a time when you walk into Rankin Jordan that you really feel like you're in a hospital. You know, everybody's upbeat and the kids are out of their beds, out of their rooms, are playing. They're not wearing hospital gowns or wearing clothes. They they're they're moving. And the Caribbean on the bedside is is evidenced everywhere you look.

As I remember being in the hospital with my dad after one of his knee replacements and seeing the sign that said healing in progress. And I just kind of laughed. I'm like, yeah, this wouldn't go over well. Rick and Jordan, you know, there's nothing about those kids, is there? You know, they want the kids out. They want to play in the you know, how many hospitals have you walked into the sea, an indoor playground, an outdoor playground, a baseball field, two putting greens, a rock climbing wall, a full swing golf simulator, an indoor pool. You know, it's it's just we're it's a very special facility and and we're lucky to have them here. And I'm sorry, we kind of talked at the same time and I apologize for that, but what what I was saying was those kids in healing quiet isn't part of the program.

These kids are laughing and they're there. They have smiles on their faces and they're even if it does nothing other than give them just a 30, 45 hour hour long respite from what they're dealing with on a daily basis. It's helpful. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, the healing isn't always a physical thing.

It's you've got the mental, emotional and social benefits that people can can derive from golf. And, you know, the kids get that, too. I remember one young man who. For the first three weeks or so coming to golf, he didn't speak at all. Which, you know, OK, no big deal, it's not the first child we've had that was nonverbal and won't be the last, but the therapist told me he could speak, he just didn't. And then all of a sudden, one day he starts talking and it was the first time that any of them had heard him talk. And then all of a sudden he started interacting with with the other kids and laughing and joking with them.

And, you know, it's everybody really felt like it was having that activity and that common bond with the other kids there, that they were doing something together and playing together. That really brought him out and got him to the point where he was comfortable. Being himself and, you know, joking with everybody and laughing, I mean, the first time I heard him walk up and say hi to me, I was blown away.

And then after that, as much as I like to talk, he didn't really give me a chance because he was talking all the time, which was very welcoming and enjoyable to see. Oh my gosh, Kevin, 100%. This is my guest, Kevin Korn. He is a fellow PGA of America professional. He's the head professional at Innsbruck.

And he has started this program, this golf program at Rankin Jordan going almost 11 years now. Kevin, thank you so much for what you're doing with the kids. Thanks for loving the game like I do and for growing it and keep doing what you're doing.

It's just helpful for everybody and raising everybody's water level. Absolutely. Thank you for the support and always good talking to you. All right, that's going to do it. Wow, Pearly, I can't wait to talk about this a little bit in the 19th hole. This hospital and what these kids do is just terrific. And we'll be right back.

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Grab your friends, a cold one and pull up a chair. We're on to the 19th hole on golf with Jay Delson. The 19th hole is brought to you by Michelobultra. Welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delson. I'm Jay.

Pearly's with me and we're at the 19th hole brought to you by Michelobultra. Pearl, put down your coconut smash or whatever the hell that is and go grab that ultra because they're better. Absolutely. They're better. All right.

Yeah. So, John. Man, this Rankin Jordan Hospital, Mary Rankin Jordan, it started this thing years and years ago, 75 years ago. This thing has grown and helped so many families and not only in this area, but just from all over the place and these kids with special needs that come in here and need special care.

And then to twist a little bit of golf in there. It's just heartwarming. I just love that you highlight these types of stories. You know, we get bombarded with so much garbage in the media in general, and there's so much good going on out there. I'm a 99 percent believer. I think 99 percent of people and what's going on is good.

It's just that we talk about the 1 percent bad all the time. It's a great story. It's caring people.

People care for a long time, continue to get better at it, and it's more important. It's just great. I just appreciate that you do these things. Yeah. Well, we appreciate them. And just through the we hope we never have to use a hospital like that. Right.

For our grandkids or something like that. All right. So, Pearl, let's shift gears a little bit. And I want to talk about Vinny Del Negro. Vinny Del Negro. Oh, my gosh. Vinny Del Negro.

Let's go to that clip right now. I lost my father this Wednesday. And I wanted to play well for him. I thought of him the whole time. Every fairway, every shot, what he would tell me, toughen up, hit the shot. You're either good enough or not.

Just hit it. And I stuck to my game plan. My Caddy Dirk, who's been with me for years, was fantastic. And this is from my dad, you know, thought of him every shot, you know. He was such a I wouldn't be here without him, you know. So winning this tournament would mean so much to me and performing well for him. Can't tell you what it means.

It means the world to me. OK, so Vinny Del Negro wins in Lake Tahoe. That's a celebrity. That thing's been called a lot of things right now.

It's called the American Century Championship. And he beat John Smoltz in a playoff. And Smoltz, he just jacked up the 18th hole in a big way. But to listen to him.

He just lost his father Wednesday of the tournament week. And to listen to what he used for inspiration. I mean, it just it was awesome to listen to a guy that's played in the NBA. He's coached.

He's done all of these things. It's just remarkable to listen to how authentic he was, how he just threw it out there and said, this is what I got. Well, our fathers were so important to us. We know how much they influenced us as well. And so I think we could both relate and many, many, many people could relate to what he was talking about. And just love when people give credit where where the credits do, you know, where it originated from. And that was that to me was was his message.

And it was just neat how emotional he was. I'll tell you, Jay, playing if his father passes away Wednesday and he's playing, that's tough. I don't I like to think that I would have done that, but I don't know, man.

That's tough. Well, John, when my dad died, I went down. We had you know, I was in charge of a lot of the. Getting some of the stuff together for my mom and things like that, and I left the very next I played in a U.S. Open qualifier. That I somehow slapped it around and got through in a playoff and then got on a plane and went down to Fort Smith because my brother had convinced me. My dad absolutely wanted me to do both of these things. I qualified for the U.S. Open.

You later, Katie, for me. And I went and played in that U.S. Open at Wing Foot. And then I went down to Fort Smith. I got in about three thirty in the morning.

I flew into Tulsa, rented a car, drove over to Fort Smith. I'd had a seven thirty tee time. So I got about two and a half hours of sleep and I went out and finished fourth in that tournament. And it was this inspirational thing, John. But it absolutely buried me for about two weeks afterwards. And I wound up with this really heavy chip on my shoulder. I was angry. I was pissed off. I was all sorts of different emotions that I don't typically play golf with, but I couldn't keep that up. It was too much, man. It just overwhelmed me. Yeah, incredibly emotional time that we all go through at some point. Yeah, that's that's that's not even it's hard to even talk about without getting emotional about it.

So I don't want to talk about that anymore. But, Pearl, that's going to wrap up another show. Man, where are you going to be next week? I'm going to be right here watching the dolphins, just like I am now. Not the football dolphins, the dolphins, dolphins.

Yeah, the dolphins. You could be swimming. Oh, what was that, Pearl? I was trying to imitate a dolphin. I wasn't doing pretty good. Sounded like a horse almost.

I thought it was Wilbur. All you can really hear is when they come up for air and it's pretty cool. And they are they are one majestic animal. I love watching them. Once in a while when I'm kayaking around them, they're they're playing and dancing around the kayak. It's a lot of fun, but we don't need to talk about that stuff now. I don't know what to say. Who knows with this guy. Let's just wrap this thing up. This is golf with Jay Delson. We'll see you next week. Hit him straight St. Louis, not from a kayak. See additional terms at one Peloton dot com slash home dash trial Peloton motivation that moves you.