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Posts Tagged ‘supportive living community’

Enriching the Lives of Seniors: “We Give Them Love”

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

By Ellie Baum, Administrator of Heritage Woods of Chicago

Heritage Woods of Chicago exteriorThis 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.”

                                                         

          

Enriching Lives of Seniors: “It’s In Our Bones”

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

By Christopher Dale, Administrator of Churchview Supportive Living

Churchview Supportive Living ExteriorThis 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.”

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Continued Concerns Over Proposed Medicaid Rule Changes

Friday, May 6th, 2011

By Rod Burkett, President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC)

In my Blog posted on Wednesday, I talked about how the proposed 6% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates for Supportive Living in Illinois did not make sense. Today, I look at rule changes to the Medicaid program that the State has proposed and their potential impact on low income older adults.

Some of the proposed changes are required by the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Illinois and California are the last two states to finally be getting around to making the changes and are viewed as delinquent.

We appreciate that when the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) submitted its draft of proposed changes to the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (JCAR) this past fall that those of us in the senior living industry and our colleagues in elder law were given the opportunity to review the changes and present our comments to JCAR.

JCAR is a bipartisan legislative oversight committee created by the Illinois General Assembly (ILGA) in 1977 to review proposed rule changes by state agencies.

The primary intent of the proposed rules changes are to protect the State from individuals who blatantly and purposely try to dispose of their assets with the intent of getting Medicaid to pay for their health care needs.

Through the JCAR process, our focus has been on helping the State see some of the real life difficulties that some of their proposed changes would have on older adults and to protect the ability of low income older adults to access the care and services they need.

Our focus was on these areas of concern:

Transfer of Assets

Our concern was that the State was proposing that each and every “gift” would be considered an inappropriate “Transfer of Assets” that could result in a period of time (penalty period) that the older adult would be ineligible for Medicaid coverage. This included putting a $25 check in the collection basket every week at church, giving a grandchild or great grandchild a birthday or wedding present, or helping a son who was out of work with their rent or mortgage payment.

We appreciate that Healthcare and Family Services has looked at this issue logically and will not consider gifts to charity or patterned gifts as inappropriate transfers of assets.

Retroactivity

We are hoping that at the next meeting of JCAR, members vote to eliminate the idea that the rule changes should be retroactive. The next meeting of JCAR is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10, 2011.

We feel that it would be very unfair and inappropriate to penalize someone today or tomorrow for doing something yesterday that was allowed under the Medicaid rules that were in effect at that time.

Clear Guidelines

In their proposed rule changes, HFS is relying on two provisions to provide a “safety net” for Medicaid applicants who may find themselves ineligible for Medicaid because of the rule changes but do not have the personal funds necessary to pay for the care that is needed. One provision is the “hardship waiver” and second is the “no intent” clause.

We feel strongly that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services needs to clarify and develop clear and specific guidelines when it comes to the “hardship waiver” and the “no intent” clause rather than have these ideas open to the individual interpretation of the Medicaid case workers in each County.

The “hardship waiver” gives HFS the authority to override a required penalty period and allow an individual to move into Supportive Living as a Medicaid resident in a situation considered to be a “hardship.” The proposed language indicates that if not receiving Medicaid coverage would prevent an individual from obtaining the main necessities of life such as food, water and shelter, then a hardship waiver can be granted. But HFS has not clarified the criteria to be followed to make this determination. Our desire is to prevent real world disasters from occurring because individuals have to wait on bureaucratic clarifications from government officials.

The “no intent” clause applies to the “Transfer of Assets.” Our hope is that the language is clear. If a transfer of an asset is not made with the intent to qualify for Medicaid that the transfer will be considered appropriate and no penalty period will apply.

Leaving the “hardship waiver” and “no intent” clause open to individual interpretation will place a huge burden on the County Medicaid workers as well as potentially lead to significant inconsistencies from County to County. HFS needs to clarify the process for these two items as soon as possible.

We highly appreciate the willingness of the members and staff of JCAR and of HFS to listen to our concerns.

We certainly understand the need to address the changes required by the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA).

In our opinion, however, the original draft of proposed changes swung the pendulum too far in the effort to try and catch the very small percentage of individuals who try to pull a fast one by divesting sizable assets to qualify for Medicaid.

Some of the proposed changes would greatly impact in a very negative way the vast majority of people who just outlived their financial resources after years of paying taxes, raising children, and supporting their church and community organizations and are in need of the Medicaid safety net.

Follow AALC twitter.com/AALC

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.”

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Slashing Supportive Living Rates Does Not Make Sense

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

By Rod Burkett, President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition

I certainly understand the need for the State of Illinois to get a grip on its budget and take significant steps to control expenses. I just don’t understand the approach being proposed by the Governor for across-the-board cuts that include a 6% reduction in the reimbursement rates for Medicaid residents in Supportive Living communities.

Of course, I am biased. I am President of BMA Management, Ltd., the largest provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois. We manage 31 of the 127 Supportive Living communities that are now in operation in 73 Counties here in Illinois. I also serve as President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC), the organization that represents Supportive Living communities.

Here is what I don’t understand about the proposed cuts:

A 6% Cut Does Not Equal 6% in Savings

Because of the “federal match” when it comes to the Medicaid program for Supportive Living, a 6% reduction in the reimbursement rate will not result in savings of anywhere near 6% for the State. For every dollar that the State pays to Supportive Living communities to help cover the cost of Medicaid residents, the federal government reimburses the State more than 50¢.

As a result, the actual impact to the State budget will be a savings of less than 3%.

Supportive Living communities, however, will have 6% less revenue to use to maintain the quality lifestyle that is available; to upkeep services and property; and, most importantly, to recruit, hire and retain quality staff. Staff will be asked to do more with less.

Across-the Board is not Across-the-Board

The Supportive Living Program is the only Community-based Program targeted for the 6% cut. No other community-based options such as the Home Services Program or Community Care are being targeted.

Community-based programs are designed to keep people out of much more costly institutional forms of care.

Supportive Living offers several big advantages over programs such as Home Care.

Staff is on-duty in Supportive Living communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide residents with the help and personal assistance they need. Help is not just available for a few hours a day a few days of the week.

Staff in Supportive Living communities is able to keep a watchful eye over residents. They often will notice subtle changes in a resident and can take steps to address the situation early on before it becomes a major problem.

Research shows the negative impact of social isolation and loneliness on a person’s emotional, physical and mental state of health and the value of social interaction and engagement. Supportive Living communities provide a wealth of opportunities for residents to be socially engaged, whether it is dining with other residents, participating in activities or special events, or gathering to talk with neighbors.

Supportive Living Already Saves the State Significant Dollars

The Supportive Living program already provides huge financial benefits to the State of Illinois.

On average, 60% of the residents in Supportive Living communities are on Medicaid. If not for Supportive Living, the State would be obligated to care for these residents in nursing homes. The additional annual cost to the State would be $93 million, if these individuals were cared for in nursing homes, as compared to Supportive Living communities.

Financially, there also is a benefit that is much more difficult to measure. Residents in Supportive Living communities are much more likely to be eating properly and taking their medications when and as they should. They are living in a physical environment that is much more conducive to their needs. They are much more likely to be socially engaged and active.

This should mean less risk of nursing home care; fewer visits to the emergency room and doctor’s office; and few hospital stays.

Meeting the Governor

Last month, the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition hosted a “Meet the Governor Day,” that provided the opportunity for residents and staff of Supportive Living communities from throughout the State to come to the State Capitol and meet with Governor Patrick Quinn.

Gov. Quinn graciously greeted those in attendance and listened to their concerns about the proposed cuts to Supportive Living. He responded by saying that “I have heard your call.” He emphasized the need to keep the “living” in Supportive Living and to expand the program.

Cutting reimbursement rates certainly will make it a challenge to “keep the living” in Supportive Living and to entice service providers to expand.

The Illinois Supportive Living program has been called the best affordable assisted living program in the country. We all should be proud that our State Government in Springfield had the foresight to develop a program that benefits so many older and disabled adults, their families as well the State.

Shouldn’t Illinois protect the programs that are working so well during this fiscal crisis rather than taking the across-the board everybody needs to share the pain approach?

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.”

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Saluting Supportive Living as Model for Affordable Assisted Living

Friday, April 29th, 2011

By Wayne Smallwood, Executive Director of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition

This week, the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC) along with Supportive Living communities throughout the State of Illinois joined together to celebrate Supportive Living Week 2011.

Our 4th Annual Supportive Living Week celebration provides a special opportunity to tell people the good news about Supportive Living.

The program is the best program for affordable assisted living in the country and should be a model for other states to follow.

The program is designed to serve older adults and disabled adults of all incomes who need some help to maintain their independence but do not require nursing home care. It especially benefits those who cannot afford private pay assisted living. Personal choice, dignity, privacy and individuality are emphasized.

Residents and their families as well as the State of Illinois benefit from the program.

Residents enjoy the opportunity to live in a wonderful residential environment while receiving the help with medications and personal assistance they need.

The State benefits because the cost of a resident with Medicaid support living in a Supportive Living community is 40% less than what it would cost the State for the person to live in a nursing home.

Since the first Supportive Living community began operating in the fall of 1999, the program has grown significantly. Today, there are 126 communities, housing more than 9,800 apartments, operating in 73 Counties in the State.

To help celebrate Supportive Living Week this year, the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition sponsored four major programs.

Art is Ageless

Many residents in Supportive Living communities have artistic talents that they have honed over the years and others have skill sets that they developed while living in our communities. This year, we created the “Art is Ageless” Contest as part our the celebration of Supportive Living Week as an opportunity for all artists – writers, crafters and visual artists alike – to share their passion for the arts.

Participants from throughout the state created and submitted 06 entries in the categories of prose, soft crafts, hard crafts and visual arts.

One of the artists noted that she started painting at 71 and still likes dabbling at it at 99. One of the winners took up wood carving when he was 92 and created his award-winning work at 96.

A panel of judges selected the winners. A complete list can be found below.

Winners were honored at our Awards Luncheon held earlier this week at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center in Springfield.

Scrapbooking

Communities throughout the state created scrapbooks about the engaging lifestyle that Supportive Living communities offer. With paper, photos and stickers, the scrapbooks depicted the “Care, Community and Comfort” that this affordable senior housing model offers.

A complete list of Scrapbook Award winners can be found below.

Wii Bowling

This year, we sponsored our second annual Wii Bowling Competition. Sixty teams of residents in Supportive Living communities throughout Illinois participated.

The competition culminated earlier this week with the “Final Four” in Springfield.

All four teams that rolled their way into the Final Four won their respective divisions during the seven-week regular season and won their divisional playoffs.

In the semi-finals on Tuesday afternoon, the Glenhaven Gardeners from Glenhaven Gardens in Alton, topped the Springfield Splitters from Springfield Supportive Living, and Wii Bowl Better from Eden Supportive Living in North Aurora out bowled the championship team from last year – the Silver Sliders from Cambridge House of Maryville.

On Wednesday morning, the Springfield Splitters won the battle for third place, with Jim Nyberg thrilling those in attendance and those watching on the Internet by bowling a 300 game.

Then, the Glenhaven Gardeners, which took home the third place trophy last year, topped Wii Bowl Better to take home the First Place Trophy.

Meet the Governor Day

AALC held our annual “Meet the Governor Day” at the State Capitol in Springfield on April 12, 2011. More than One hundred & fifty residents and staff members from Supportive Living communities traveled to the Capitol to meet Governor Patrick Quinn.

Many also were able to meet with their local State Senator and Representative.
We had on display all of the winning artwork and scrapbooks.

This year, they especially wanted to express concern about the Governor’s proposed 6% cut in state funding for the Supportive Living program.

After greeting residents at the Capitol, Gov. Quinn stated that “I have heard your call.”

Art is Ageless Awards

Hard Crafts

First Place
Rolland Hoehn
Cambridge House of Swansea
For his wood carving of “The Skibber Gee”

Second Place
Manny Shellist
Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook
For his wood carving of “Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address”

Third Place
Ruth Aquilina
Plum Creek Supportive Living
For her sculpture “Witch Doctor”

Honorable Mention
Marie French
Heritage Woods of Flora
For her “Hand-Woven Basket”

Honorable Mention
Vera Gunter
Heritage Woods of Benton
For her “Christmas Tree” made from old jewelry and Christmas lights

Prose
First Place
Elizabeth Rappa
Plum Creek Supportive Living
For “The Artist”

Second Place
Raymond Skelton
Heritage Woods of Moline
For “This is My Life More or Less”

Third Place
Oran Miller
John M. Evans Supportive Living
For “Ode to My Lovely Wife”

Honorable Mention
DeLois Nance
Victory Centre of River Oaks
For “Be Yourself”

Honorable Mention
Mary Jane Stanhouse
Supportive Living of Wabash
For “Will School Experience”

Honorable Mention
Betty Vock
Heritage Woods of Batavia
For “Heritage Woods Women”

Honorable Mention
Carolyn Chastain
Supportive Living of Wabash
For “SLOW”

Honorable Mention
Donna West
Heritage Woods of McLeansboro
For “Midnight Call”

Soft Crafts

First Place
Pat Culp
Cambridge House of Maryville
For “A June Day on an Amish Farm” (counted cross stitch)

Second Place
Patricia Tempel
Maple Point Supportive Living in Monticello
For “Patterns of My Past” (quilt)

Third Place
Elizabeth Montgomery
Manor at Mason Woods in Pinckneyville
For her “Crocheted Doily”

Honorable Mention
Marilyn Schultze
Heritage Woods of Batavia
For “Miss Hathaway’s Garden”

Honorable Mention
Mary Zada
Heritage Woods of Bolingbrook
For “Embroidery”

Visual Arts

First Place
Erladine Kanavos
Greenview Place in Chicago
For “Aunt Electa”

Second Place
George Hnatt
Alexian Village of Elk Grove
For “Waterfront”

Third Place
Millie Prange
Glenhaven Gardens of Alton
For “Stop Awhile”

Honorable Mention
David Full
Eden Supportive Living of Chicago
For “Springtime”

Honorable Mention
Justine Garner
Heritage Woods of Benton
For “Farmstead”

Honorable Mention
Norma Simone
Victory Centre of Bartlett
For “Downtown”

Honorable Mention
Rudolph Briggs
Dorchester Senior Living in Dalton
For “Moonbird”

Honorable Mention
Mary Jane Stanhouse
Supportive Living of Wabash
For “Grandpa’s House”

Scrapbooking Awards

First Place
Alexian Village of Elk Grove Village

Second Place
Heritage Woods of Flora

Third Place
Heritage Woods of DeKalb

Honorable Mention
Heritage Woods of Benton
Heritage Woods of Ottawa
Manor at Craig Farm in Chester
Cambridge House of O’Fallon
Heritage Woods of Aledo
Manor at Mason Woods in Pinckneyville

Wii Bowling Final Four

First Place
Glenhaven Gardeners from Glenhaven Gardens of Alton

Team Members
Peggy “Uptown” Brown • Carol “Shorty” Kuhlman • Sharon Reneau
Edna “The Enforcer” Mobley • Mille “The Hurricane” Prange

Second Place
Wii Bowl Better from Eden Supportive Living in North Aurora

Team Members:
Warren “Trouble” Yedlinski • Mike “Poker Face” Pennington
Art “Big Daddy” Auldmeyer • David “The Hunk” Kapp

Third Place
Springfield Splitters from Springfield Supportive Living

Team Members:
Freda Herman • Pearl Baker • Jim Nyberg
Matt Dolinar • Sharon Roberts • Rocky Horrighs

Fourth Place
Silver Sliders from Cambridge House of Maryville

Team Members:
Alla “Granny” Boyer • Lynda Leggett • P.J. Weihl
Chris “Skunkie” Garden • Rita Young • Arline White

AALC - 2011 SLW - Web Banner


What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.

          

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