October is nigh, and, as if on cue, the weather this week is reminding us why fall is one of our favorite times of year.

Football season is waxing. Hurricane season is waning (fingers crossed). The year-end holidays await.

Still, even with all that going on, we’re thinking pink here at St. Tammany Health System.

That’s because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we’re once more preparing for a monthlong campaign that will see us and our 40-foot Be Well Bus crisscrossing the parish to remind residents of the importance of getting their annual screenings.

Since we’re products of South Louisiana, we’re also once more planning on making it fun.

It all starts Friday, as the Be Well Bus rolls in the St. Tammany Parish Fair parade. That’ll be followed by our participation in a month’s worth of events, from the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival to the 34th annual Monster Mash to all manner of other gatherings.

So keep an eye out for the bus. You can’t miss it; it’s pink and white and, outfitted with leading-edge mammography equipment, it saves lives.

Visit StTammanyUnited.org to read more about our United in Pink campaign, including a calendar of events at which it will be showing up, and keep scrolling for more headlines from St. Tammany Health System.

For Chef David Salazzo of Del Porto Ristorante in Covington, the calculus is pretty simple: fresh equals flavor.

For the folks at Healthier Northshore, fresh also equals healthy.

So it was only natural for Salazzo to be invited to serve as the guest chef Sept. 19 for the inaugural installment of Healthier Northshore’s new quarterly Eat Well, Live Well cooking demonstration series, which is designed to promote healthier food choices by incorporating fresh vegetables from local gardens into delicious dishes.

Click the button below to learn more about the event – and to get Chef Dave’s recipe for Shrimp Ratatouille.