With the Summer of 2013 set to start here in Illinois shortly after midnight on Friday, I wanted to remind you that high temperatures, especially when combined with high humidity levels, should be of concern to all of us, especially older adults.
Fortunately, the forecast for Friday calls for the high temperature to be right around historical averages unlike last year when we were in the midst of a heat wave as summer arrived.
Whether you are in the Chicago area, central or southern Illinois, temperatures can reach dangerous levels here in Illinois.
Looking at information from the National Weather Service, the highest temperatures on record in Springfield, our State Capital, for June is 104, which happened in 1934; for July is 112 in 1954; and for August is 108 in 1934.
In 1936, the temperature in Moline, home of our Heritage Woods of Moline affordable assisted living community, and in Urbana, home of our Prairie Winds affordable assisted living community, topped 100 degrees on 13 days in July.
In Charleston, home of our Heritage Woods of Charleston affordable assisted living community, and in Danville, home of our Bowman Estates affordable assisted living community, the temperature topped 100 degrees on 15 days in July.
In Decatur, home of our Eagle Ridge affordable assisted living community, the temperature in July of 1936 climbed above 100 degrees on 17 days.
This was the summer of “The Dust Bowl” that hit the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions of our country. Nationally, 5,000 people died from the heat that summer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns us that older adults are more at risk from illness and injury due to the heat for three key reasons:
Older adults do not adjust well to sudden changes in temperature.
Older adults are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that changes normal body responses to heat.
Older adults are more likely to be taking prescription medications that impair the body’s ability to regulate temperature or inhibits perspiration.
Young children and individuals who are sick or overweight also are among those most at risk.
The CDC encourages us to visit at risk older adults at least twice a day and watch for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Other tips for coping with the summer heat and sun include the following:
Drink plenty of water, regardless of activity, even if you are not thirsty. (Be sure to check with your/their doctor if your/their doctor has limited the amount of fluid you/they drink or if you/they are taking water pills.)
Avoid heavy meals and alcohol.
Keep the sunscreen handy and use it. As you age, your skin becomes more sensitive to the sun. Choose a sunscreen that offers a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher. It should also be a broadband UV spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB light. Be sure to apply generously.
Shield your skin and eyes from the harmful rays be wearing protective clothing such as light weight and light color fabrics, hats and sun glasses.
Take cool baths or showers. Sponge baths, ice bags and wet towels also can be helpful.
Visit air-conditioned restaurants and malls.
Air conditioning can do more than help you stay cool; it can be a lifesaver.
During heat emergencies, older adults can contact their local Area Agency on Aging or the Senior HelpLine at 800-252-8966 for assistance in locating buildings that serve as Cooling Centers.
To cool off during heat emergencies, we also invite you to visit a BMA Management community near you. For a map of where our assisted living, senior living and memory care communities are located, go to http://goo.gl/maps/thTfB
One of the included amenities that takes on so much added importance at our communities when heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect is air conditioning. The cost of utilities such as air conditioning is included in the monthly fee.
In addition, in our assisted living and memory care communities, certified nursing assistants are on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Conducting a daily welfare check on each resident is just one of their responsibilities.
An emergency alert system comes standard with each of our assisted living apartments, and three restaurant-style meals are also among the included services. Snacks and beverages are available whenever the dining room is not open.
In particular during the summer season, be sure to watch for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
The symptoms of heat exhaustion can include heavy sweating, rapid breathing and a pulse that is fast and weak. To help overcome heat exhaustion, drink cool non-alcoholic beverages; rest; take a cool shower, bath or sponge bath, seek an air-conditioned environment; and wear light weight clothing.
Heat stroke is a life-threatening Illinois in which a person’s body temperature can rise above 106 degrees in minutes. Symptoms can include red, hot and dry skin (no sweating); a rapid, strong pulse; throbbing headaches; dizziness; nausea; confusion; and unconsciousness.
If you suspect that someone might be experiencing heat stroke, call for medical attention as soon as possible. Until medical help arrives, get the person to a shady area and cool the victim using whatever methods you can such as a cool tub of water, a cool shower, cool water from a garden hose, or a cool sponge bath.
For more information on heat and older adults and tips on what you can do to protect yourself and others, here are a couple of websites you might want to visit:
The resident of McHenry, Illinois was looking for information for her mother when she attended a caregiver’s conference with her sister earlier this year. She found that – and much more- when she discovered Deer Path of Huntley.
Deer Path is an affordable assisted living community for adults 22 to 64 years of age with physical disabilities that is under construction in Huntley, Illinois. The Village of Huntley is located in the northwest suburban area of metropolitan Chicago.
The community, which will be managed by BMA, is being developed and will operate through the Illinois Supportive Living program so it will be able to serve adults of all incomes, including those on Medicaid. It will combine residential apartment-home living with the availability of personal assistance, help with medications, and a variety of convenience and support services.
Marilyn had no idea what Supportive Living was until she spoke with Gail Williams, the Director of Marketing for Deer Path. Within minutes, she knew that Deer Path was the kind of place where her son, Jeffrey, could thrive.
Deer Path “was the answer to my prayers. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Tears actually started rolling down my checks,” Marilyn recalls.
“I went looking for support for my mom and discovered a treasure for my son,” she says.
Marilyn and Jeff (pictured left), who is 48, made an appointment to visit Deer Path a few weeks later. Jeff was impressed. He loved the place and felt that the community was being built “just for him.”
Jeff is planning to be one of the first residents to move into Deer Path when the community opens for occupancy later this summer. Jeff and his family are excited about the opportunities that await him when he arrives in Huntley.
“We are so looking forward to the move,” Marilyn says, and “feel a whole new world is opening up for him.”
Deer Path of Huntley is being developed on property on Regency Parkway, west of Rte. 47, in Huntley, Illinois. It will be the first affordable assisted living community for adults 22 to 64 with physical disabilities to be located in the northwest Chicago suburban area. For more information, call 847-515-1800 or online at www.deerpath-dslf.com
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living and senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
After spending some time surfing the web for information on National Dairy Month for one of the assisted living communities managed by BMA, I became intrigued by all of the special days, weeks and months we celebrate.
Some are serious, providing the opportunity to focus on health awareness and safety and events of historical significance. Others provide opportunities for fun and enjoyment.
Churchview Supportive Living, an affordable assisted living community that BMA manages on Chicago’s southwest side, is hosting a Corn on the Cob celebration at 1 p.m. on Tue, June 11, 2013.
In the United States of America, June 14 is designated as Flag Day. It’s a day set aside to show respect for our nation’s Flag. Our country’s first flag was made by Betsy Ross, a seamstress who made clothes for George Washington, our first President. There is a special custom for folding the Flag of the United States. For an explanation, we invite you to watch this video of the Flag Folding Ceremony that was conducted at our Prairie Winds of Urbana affordable assisted living community in Champaign County, Illinois:
We celebrate Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. It was recognized as an official national holiday for the first time in 1966 and was made permanent in 1972, nearly 60 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official in 1914.
On average, men have shorter life spans and tend to be less healthy than women. The week leading up to and including Father’s Day is designed to heighten awareness of preventable health problems, promote healthy living and encourage early detection. You are encouraged to wear blue as a reminder of what men can do to improve their health. You can also visit menshealthmonth.org/
More than 50% of Americans are likely to have cataracts by the age of 80. Cataracts the leading cause of blindness in the world. Tips about prevention and treatment are available on the Prevent Blindness America website.
You can enjoy the accordion music of Willana Vogel at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at John Evans Supportive Living, an affordable assisted living community BMA manages in Pekin, Illinois.
Our Heritage Woods of Watseka affordable assisted living community will celebrate National Dairy Month and the start of summer by offering homemade ice cream sandwiches at the community at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26, 2013.
What are your thoughts and comments?
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
BMA Management was honored earlier this month by the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) with a 2013 Best of the Best Award for our Eat Smart, Live Strong Initiative.
ALFA is the largest national association exclusively dedicated to professionally-managed senior living communities and the residents and families they serve.
The association’s Best of the Best awards program is designed to recognize outstanding business practices in the senior living industry. BMA won the “A Taste of the Future: The Next Generation Dining Menu” category.
The award was presented to Rod Burkett, President and CEO of BMA Management, and Rachel Hawn, a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University at ALFA’s 2013 Conference & Expo that was held May 6 – 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
For the Eat Smart, Live Strong Initiative, we partnered up with Eastern Illinois University (EIU) to see if a program that was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for seniors 60 to 74 years of age could improve the health and nutritional habits of older seniors in assisted living communities.
The average age of residents in assisted living communities is 83.
EIU was interested in studying whether the program would successfully motivate assisted living residents to eat at least 3.5 cups of fruits and vegetables each day and to get at least 30 minutes of daily exercise.
The graduate gerontology program at EIU and the university’s kinesiology and nutrition programs were involved in the project. Jacquelyn Frank, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Gerontology program directed the university’s participation.
We viewed the collaborate project as an opportunity to refine and enhance our Wellness programs offered at our communities. We operate 36 assisted living, senior living and memory care communities throughout the State of Illinois.
Our focus was on how we could help residents make lifestyle changes that would contribute to a longer and more independent life. We also used the initiative as an opportunity to incorporate the dining experience into our Wellness program.
Based on the results of the pilot project, we are expanding the initiative to all of the communities that BMA manages.
From what we learned in the collaborative effort with EIU and feedback provided by the residents, we made a number of enhancements to our dining and wellness programs.
We changed our menu to offer more choices of fresh fruits and vegetables and have taken steps to insure residents of all physical abilities can participate in the exercise programs available at the communities.
We also learned the value of showing residents what a cup of fruit or vegetables looks like and promoting friendly competition to get and keep residents involved. People are a lot more willing to participate if they have a peer or buddy who is willing to do it with them.
Other initiations that are being tried as part of this effort are to develop resident vegetable gardens and to combine healthy snacks with activities such as serving smoothies after an exercise program or hosting a Pizza Party in the Park, which involved a 30-minute walk in the park followed by a picnic of homemade vegetable pizza.
(Left to Right) Mark Ohlendorf – Immediate Past Board Chairman of ALFA Rachel Hawn – Graduate student from Eastern Illinois University Rod Burkett – President & CEO of BMA Management, Ltd. Richard Grimes – President and CEO of ALFA
This was the second time BMA has been recognized by ALFA with a Best of the Best award. In 2010, we were presented with a Best of the Best award for the our Leading the Way leadership training program.
This year, ALFA also spotlighted our WoW Program in the “Encouraging New Resident Engagement in the First 90 Days” category.
The WoW Program is based on the first 72 hours being the key to helping residents adjust faster to the move to assisted living. The program focuses on staff and residents delivering special personalized attention to engage new residents during their first 72 hours of residency.
Both the Eat Smart, Live Strong Initiative and the WoW Program are driven by our focus of providing residents with the love, compassion and dignity that they deserve and emphasis on helping each resident to achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
A special Birthday Party was held last week at Heritage Woods of Ottawa for Dorothy Love, a resident of the affordable assisted living community in Ottawa, Illinois.
Sudsy, the Ottawa Township High School (OTHS) mascot, was on hand to lead the cheers, and Ottawa Mayor Robert Eschbach presented Dorothy with a Key to the City. Also in attendance along with residents and staff members were Dorothy’s daughter, Joan Gunther, and granddaughter, Gretchen Granville.
They were all there to wish Dorothy the best as she celebrated her 100th Birthday.
Dorothy is a retired teacher and the wife of legendary OTHS Basketball Coach Gil Love. In 2011, Dorothy joined her husband in the OTHS Hall of Fame. She also is in the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a friend of basketball. She has attended virtually every varsity boy’s basketball game at OTHS since 1944.
In 1992, Dorothy and her family established the Gil Love Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of Gil.
She taught school at the Waltham Elementary School District (WESD) in Utica, Illinois.
When asked about her longevity, she attributed it to the lifestyle she enjoys at Heritage Woods.
“I am thankful for all of the love and attention you have given me,” she said.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
