By Ellie Baum, Administrator of Heritage Woods of Chicago
This is the second of two Blogs that we are posting about the senior living communities that recently were honored by BMA Management, Ltd., with 2012 Enriching Lives Awards. Heritage Woods of Chicago received First Place awards and Churchview Supportive Living. Also recognized were John Evans Supportive Living in Pekin, Illinois, and the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living communities in Charleston and Pekin, Illinois. Today’s Blog is about Heritage Woods of Chicago, an affordable assisted living community located on Chicago’s west side.
All too often residents of Heritage Woods of Chicago enter our community from less than ideal conditions. The west side of Chicago is recognized as a high crime area with shootings, gangs, drugs, poverty, and neglect.
Many of these seniors are estranged from family and do not have adequate support systems.
A homeless gentleman moved to our community from a nursing home. When he arrived he was wearing a pair of mismatched socks and had no shoes. We immediately purchased shoes, and provided clothing and apartment furnishings. Shortly after, we discovered that he had a drinking problem and learned he was not alone in his addiction. We secured a volunteer to facilitate an AA group and purchased “Big Books.” We supported him along with our residents in their sobriety. The resident began singing and showed us his true self and sense of humor. He won 2nd place in our Dancing with the Stars competition, joined a regular card group and made friends. He is just one of our success stories.
During Supportive Living Week the residents provided statements about how Supportive Living has made a difference in their lives. One resident stated that Heritage Woods of Chicago restored her self-esteem, while another shared that she regained her independence. The most profound letter stated that Heritage Woods of Chicago is a “place of healing.”
While there are countless stories of our staff’s dedication and commitment, our support extends beyond the walls of Heritage Woods of Chicago.
One gentleman was initially unable to move into our community from a homeless shelter as a result of an unjust criminal charge. The senior previously lived in Michigan and was charged as a sex offender, as a result of his incontinence, making him ineligible for residency. Heritage Woods of Chicago took the initiative to contact an attorney in Michigan who agreed to accept the case pro bono. After several months the attorney was successful in removing the sex offender charge and the resident then became a member of our community.
We are proud to be an active member of the West Side Coalition for Seniors. The Coalition surveyed the seniors to identify the most needed, yet inaccessible, health services for impoverished seniors. Heritage Woods of Chicago chaired the outreach committee for the past two years and pioneered an annual health fair. As a result of the screenings one senior was able to save his vision due to early detection of a serious eye condition. In addition, our employees volunteer their time each year to assist with the Coalition’s annual senior prom. The seniors enjoy dressing in their best attire for a formal banquet at McCormick Hyatt Regency complete with dancing, a full course menu, and the crowning of the royal court. We were excited when one of our residents was honored as Prince of the Prom in 2012.
Heritage Woods of Chicago is more than a community. We are a family that supports our residents with love, compassion, and dignity. It truly starts with love. A professional asked, “How do you do it? How do you help these seniors who bring a host of problems with them?” At Heritage Woods of Chicago “(we) give them love… and see what happens.”
Heritage Woods of Chicago is one of the 36 seniors living communities managed by BMA.
The community serves low-income seniors, including those on Medicaid, who need some help to maintain their independence,
providing a wonderful alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home.
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 Christopher Dale, Administrator of Churchview Supportive Living
This is the first of two Blogs that we are posting about the senior living communities that recently were honored by BMA Management, Ltd., with 2012 Enriching Lives Awards. Churchview Supportive Living and Heritage Woods of Chicago received First Place awards. Also recognized were John Evans Supportive Living in Pekin, Illinois, and the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living communities in Charleston and Pekin, Illinois. Today’s Blog is about Churchview Supportive Living, an affordable assisted living community located on Chicago’s southwest side.
When I think about what Churchview Supportive Living has done in the past year to enrich the lives of seniors, the first thing I am struck by is the compassion of the our staff, who work day in and day out with our residents. Some of our seniors who come to live at Churchview are the poorest of the poor- we have reached out to missions and homeless shelters and have provided sanctuary for seniors who have not had a stable roof over their heads, hot meals or a warm shower in ages. We enrich their lives, but we too are enriched by ministering to the neediest among us.
I am reminded too of a resident we recently moved in, who spent most of the last few years in a nursing home room with four other residents. I spent a lot of time visiting her in the nursing home, getting paperwork done and just getting to know her as a person. She told me enough about her life that I wondered how she had even survived up to this point. All of her belongings could fit in a grocery bag, and her most prized possessions were about dozen stuffed animals that she had managed to hold onto over the years.
While out team approaches everyone with the values of Love, Compassion and Dignity, there are times that your heart strings pull harder and together we worked to get her moved in as quickly as possible, furnished her apartment, found her clothes and a television set so she could watch her “shows”. Most of all though, we collectively put our arms around her – and that is not so much a physical thing – we hug our residents every day, but much more so an attitude that we care about her, that she’s safe here and that’s she around people that she can think of as family. There is hardly a day that goes by that she doesn’t tell me how much she loves living at Churchview and how we “rescued” her from the nursing home.
Sometimes a senior’s life is enriched by something new and different, and this example comes from our computer lab. As part of a federal grant program and in conjunction with a company called Connected Living, we were able to create a computer lab in our 5th floor lounge, teach residents basic computer skills – our oldest student so far is in his upper nineties – and supply them with lap tops. We have graduated 42 residents so far, and they are able to e-mail loved ones, surf the internet, play computer games and use technology that they may not have had access to if they weren’t part of our community. In the second year of the program, we provided outreach computer classes to the community at large, and have had seniors come to the building for classes.
I remarked some time ago, to someone, that for so many of our staff this is not so much a job as it is a calling. Our staff travel dangerous neighborhoods to get to Churchview; our building is in an area that at times is the most violent in the City of Chicago – and yet we’re here day in and day out because we’re committed to our residents. We enrich their lives, because we see this as our purpose in our lives. We reach out, we love and we care for our residents because we simply can’t imagine doing anything else but that. As one resident says, “It’s in our bones.”
Churchview Supportive Living was developed and is owned by the Greater Southwest Development Corp. and is one of the 36 seniors living communities managed by BMA.
The community serves low-income seniors, including those on Medicaid, who need some help to maintain their independence, providing a wonderful alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home.
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.”
In a radio ad airing here in Illinois, three children are out trick-or-treating. Two are dressed in traditional Halloween costumes. The third is dressed as our National Debt, with IOUs pinned all over her clothing. Ghosts and witches are not real, she explains, whereas our national debt is. She talks about her fears of the impact that the national debt will have not only on children, but on all of us.
I heard the ad several times earlier this week as I was driving to our Cambridge Houseaffordable assisted living community in Swansea, Illinois, to hear a presentation on the “History of Halloween.” Our Halloween traditions of dressing up in costumes, carving jack-o-lanterns, building bon-fires and trick-or-treating all have their roots in fear, explained Paul Wreford, the Dean of Liberal Arts at Southwestern Illinois College. People were scared of what they thought were evil spirits and took action.
To watch the presentation on the “History of Halloween,” start the playlist below.
The focus on fear in the radio ad and the discussion of how people took action because of fear in the presentation on the History of Halloween reminded me of the book recently written by David Fisher, M.D., the board-certified Gerontologist who hosted the “House Calls” radio program that BMA Management sponsored. One of the biggest fears among older adults and their adult children is a move to a nursing home. One of the most common comments I hear from the adult children of aging parents is that they cannot bear the thought of Mom or Dad having to move to “one of those places.”
The book written by Dr. Fisher is entitled
“How to Keep Mom (and Yourself) OUT OF a Nursing Home”. What I like best about the book is that it provides practical advice for all those who fear having to move to a nursing home. His recommendations include . . .
Keep Moving – The loss of mobility can be devastating. An increased risk of falling, social isolation and the inability to maintain your home are just some of the consequences. Establishing a regular exercise program is essential. A half hour of aerobic exercise four times a week is an “excellent goal to set.”
Exercise Your Quads Daily – Your quadriceps muscles are the muscles that you primarily use to stand-up and sit-down. They also help with walking and balance. Maintaining strength in you quadriceps is essential to maintaining your independence.
Strengthen Your Bones – Calcium and Vitamin D are two key ingredients in bone health. Be sure you are getting an adequate supply of both. Be sure that your exercise program includes some form of weight bearing exercises.
Pay Attention to Your Heart and Blood Vessels – Monitor your blood pressure and cholesterol; incorporate fiber and add walnuts, almonds or pecans into your diet; eat tuna or salmon twice a week; & be sure you get seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
Dr. Fisher also highlights the importance of social interaction and maintaining a strong connection to the outside world. I am delighted that there are steps that you and I can take to help reduce the risk of needing nursing home care, and I agree with Dr. Fisher’s suggestion that we focus our time and resources on those activities that are mostly likely to have the greatest impact.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Robert Kampf is a big NASCAR fan. Back in the day, he drove stock cars on the track at O’Hare Stadium, which was located across from O’Hare Airport on the southwest corner of Mannheim and Irving Park Roads in Schiller Park, Illinois. The native of Melrose Park also attended the stock car races at the Santa Fe Speedway in Willowbrook for many years.
Today, a poster of Jeff Gordon, his favorite driver, decorates his apartment at his new home at Heritage Woods in Bolingbrook in Bolingbrook, Illinois
His story was heartbreaking , says Laura Kelly, Administrator. Ten years ago at the age of 57, he went to the hospital for a routine procedure. While recovering from the surgery, he suffered a severe stroke. For ten years, he was bounced from nursing home to nursing home and was forced into a secured dementia care unit on the second floor of one facility because there were no long-term Medicaid-beds available.
Robert’s son, who lives in Aurora, Illinois, learned about Heritage Woods and thought it would be perfect for his father.
Fortunately, Robert had made sufficient progress in his recovery to qualify for residency, and he moved into his apartment on the third floor at Heritage Woods on August 17, 2010.
“Sure enough, I like it,” says Robert. “It is much better than the nursing home.”
“The people here are very nice.” He especially enjoys the freedom to once again do whatever he wants to do.
The kicker, says Kelly, is that he is living back where he started the Police Department and served as the first police officer.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at BMA Management
Leonard Hawk told me that he did not waste any time making the decision that he and his wife, Marilyn, should move to the Lighthouse at Silvis when the community opened for occupancy several years ago.
The native of Moline, Illinois, explained that he was a graduate of Moline High School and that he had attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, on the GI Bill after serving in the Infantry in World War II. While on leave from the Army in 1943, he married Marilyn, his high school sweetheart. She also was from Moline. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in 2008.
Leonard talked about being a singer in high school, about continuing to study music at Augustana and about trying out in Chicago for a part in Brigadoon before going to work selling ads in the Yellow Pages. When the company wanted him to transfer to a territory near St. Louis, he declined. Instead, he started the A1 Rental Company from scratch and became the first President of the American Rental Association. Founded in 1955 and based in Moline, the American Rental Association has grown into an international trade association.
Leonard explained that his decision to move to the Lighthouse was based on years of experience with Alzheimer’s disease, first with his mother-in-law for 14 years and then with Marilyn for seven years.
Marilyn had been in and out of the best nursing homes in the area, Leonard said. What the Lighthouse had to offer and the atmosphere was so different from a nursing home.
Being in good health, Leonard moved into one of the senior living apartments at the Lighthouse and Marilyn moved into The Harbor, a specialized neighborhood of apartments for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
The Lighthouse was brand new, said Leonard. The cost for Marilyn was a $1,000 a month less than in a nursing home, and she had a private room rather than having to share a room with another resident. She had staff who treated her like family.
Leonard, who considers himself a pretty good cook, said that he especially appreciates the nice kitchen that is in his apartment. He had thought that Marilyn might like to enjoy a meal that he prepared in his apartment but found that she much preferred staying in The Harbor.
The Harbor and The Pointe, the specialized neighborhoods for memory care, are two of the biggest assets of the Lighthouse, Leonard noted. This is the place that anybody with Alzheimer’s should be.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
This is the second of two Blogs that we are posting about the senior living communities that recently were honored by BMA Management, Ltd., with 2012 Enriching Lives Awards. Heritage Woods of Chicago received First Place awards and Churchview Supportive Living. Also recognized were John Evans Supportive Living in Pekin, Illinois, and the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living communities in Charleston and Pekin, Illinois. Today’s Blog is about Heritage Woods of Chicago, an affordable assisted living community located on Chicago’s west side.
This is the first of two Blogs that we are posting about the senior living communities that recently were honored by BMA Management, Ltd., with 2012 Enriching Lives Awards. 
