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
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“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.”
Strokes do not just strike seniors. Anyone of any age, race or gender can have a stroke.
Many of the risk factors for stroke are controllable. These include alcohol use, atherosclerosis (the build-up of plaque in the walls of your arteries), diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, physical inactivity, and the use of tobacco and smoking.
With strokes, every minute counts so it is vital for you to think FAST. The most effective treatments for stroke are only available within the first three hours of experiencing the first symptoms of a stroke.
The following are common symptoms of a stroke:
SUDDEN numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body.
SUDDEN confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
SUDDEN trouble seeing in one of both eyes.
SUDDEN trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, loss of coordination.
SUDDEN severe headache with no known cause.
To help you remember how to recognize the warning signs of a stroke and how you should respond, the National Stroke Association recommends that you think FAST.
F
Face
Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A
Arms
Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one side drift downward?
S
Speech
Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?
T
Time
If you observe any of the signs of a stroke, call 9-1-1 immediately.
To help you remember how to Think FAST, the National Stroke Association has provided a FAST Wallet Card that you can download and print to carry with you. Click the link to the right to view the Fast Wallet Card http://goo.gl/dHYcs
The National Stroke Association also urges you to note the time you first experienced the first symptom of a stroke. The information is important to health care providers and can affect treatment decisions.
For more information about how you can become a Stroke Champion by helping raise stroke awareness during the month of May and throughout the year, visit theStroke Awareness Resource Center.
Post ScriptHeritage Woods of Flora, a BMA affordable assisted living community in Flora, Illinois, is hosting a Stroke Awareness Mother-Daughter Tea in partnership with Clay County Hospital at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22, 2013.
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.”
