By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Perhaps you or a loved one can benefit from the information that Loretta Broomfield shared last week with residents of the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Benton, Illinois.
Loretta talked about a program that is available through the National Library Service that can help many seniors in Illinois and nationwide enjoy books and magazines.
One of the most important things I learned from Loretta is that the “Talking Books” program is not just for those who are blind or who have significant visual impairment.
If you are unable to read standard-size print or if you cannot comfortably hold a book or magazine, you most likely are eligible. The service also is available for those who may need it on a temporary basis for reasons such as cataract surgery or a broken hand, wrist or arm.
Residents of senior living and assisted living communities are eligible if they meet the criteria.
In addition, grandchildren and great grandchildren with conditions such as dyslexia can take advantage of the service.
The program is available at no cost to you so long as you use the mail-order service. The audio books and magazines are delivered to you through the mail at no-cost. The piece of equipment you need to listen to the audio materials is loaned to you at no cost. There is no charge for you to return the materials through the mail.
You can enjoy recorded versions of books found in most local libraries. You can choose from best sellers, fiction, non-fiction, classics, romance novels, poetry, biographies, mysteries and westerns.
The National Library Service produces about 50 new titles a week, Loretta said. Because of the amount of time needed to produce the talking books, you may find that the books on the best sellers lists may not be available to you as quickly through the Talking Books program as are the hard copies in your local library.
Also available through the Talking Books program are cook books; the Bible; a variety of magazines, including Newsweek, People, Consumer Reports and National Geographic; and hundreds of descriptive videos in which a narrator explains things such as facial expressions to someone who has difficulty seeing.
Materials obtained through the mail-order service are loaned to you for six weeks.
You can also select and download books on-line. The only cost is for the initial one-time purchase for the cable and blank cartridge that you will need to download the books. Loretta estimated that the cost for these items at about $15. There is no charge for downloading materials or for the piece of equipment needed to listen to the materials.
The equipment for playing talking materials is designed with large buttons to help make them easier to see and press. You can control the speed at which the materials are being read. A standard version is available for those who routinely read materials from beginning to end. An advanced version allows users to set bookmarks, which can be beneficial for those enjoying cook books or magazines.
The Talking Book program dates back to 1931.
Talking Book services are available through regional or sub-regional libraries.
For instance, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center in East Peoria, Illinois, serves much of the state outside of the Chicago area. <link>
A Talking Book Center is available through the Chicago Public Library. <link>
The Voices of Vision Talking Book Center in Geneva, Illinois, serves Boone, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry and Will Counties and parts of Cook County, Illinois.<link>
For more information, visit any of the links above and the National Library Service website at www.loc.gov/nls or call 1-888-NLS-READ.
Heritage Woods of Benton is the only senior living community in Franklin County, Illinois certified to operate through the Illinois Supportive Living program. The affordable assisted living community serves older adults of all incomes, including those on Medicaid, who need some help to maintain their independence.
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 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.”
By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Looking for something to make you feel good during this first week of 2013. Check out this trailer for an upcoming feature-length film about the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Paraguay, South America.
Orchestra members play instruments that have been crafted from recycled trash.
A cello made from an oil can, wood that was thrown in the garbage, a tool used to
tenderize beef, and a utensil used to make gnocchi.
A saxophone made of spoons and buttons.
A bass made from a can that once held chemical products.
A flute made from a water tube, parts of cutlery and locks, and pieces of garbage.
As someone who works with a company that is dedicated to the mission of touching lives and the values of love, compassion and dignity, I really appreciate how the recycled orchestra is bringing dignity, love and purpose in life to so many in Cateura, Paraguay’s biggest landfill.
What a wonderful illustration of how initiative and creativity can change lives for the better.
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 provider BMA Management, Ltd.
While a time of celebration and joy for many, Winter and the Holiday Season can be a time of SADness for some. They suffer from a kind of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
SAD most commonly occurs during the fall and winter months, Dan Fleeger of ABLE Home Health explained during a presentation earlier this month at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Belvidere, Illinois.
For instance, you can see moods change when you turn back the clocks, he said.
People who live in places that have long winter nights are at a greater risk of developing SAD.
“I am a much happier person when I can be out in the sunlight and the fresh air,” said Dan.
He mentioned some of the symptoms of SAD:
· Less energy and ability to concentrate
· Increased sleep
· Increased appetite with weight gain
· Loss of interest in work or other activities
· Sluggish movements
· Social withdrawal
· Unhappiness and irritability
· Feelings of hopelessness
SAD seems to affect people more who have limited mobility, Dan said.
He provided these tips for managing symptoms of SAD:
· Light Therapy
· Practice good sleep habits; get enough sleep
· Eat a healthy diet
· Take your medications when and as prescribed
· Exercise more often
· Avoid alcohol
· Look for and participate in activities that make you happy
· Try to be around other people who are caring and positive
· Volunteer or get involved in group activities
Light Therapy involves using a special lamp that has a very bright light (10,000 lux) that mimics light from the sun. A common practice is to sit a couple of feet away from the light box for about 30 minutes every day. This is usually done in the early morning to mimic sunrise. Keep your eyes open, but do not look straight into the light source.
A check-up with your eye doctor is recommended before starting Light Therapy, and it is important that you follow your health care provider’s instructions about how to use Light Therapy.
If you a struggling with SAD or any form of depression, talk about how you are feeling with someone you trust.
If you are a resident of Heritage Woods of Belvidere or any of the other senior living communities that BMA manages, you can take advantage of the opportunities that are available to spend time in well-lit community areas; socialize with other residents; and participate in the activities and special events. Staff can provide the assistance you need to make sure that you are taking your medications when and as you should.
Don’t hesitate to talk with staff about any questions or concerns that you might have.
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.”
Perhaps you or a loved one can benefit from the information that Loretta Broomfield shared last week with residents of the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Benton, Illinois.
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. 
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. 
Looking for something to make you feel good during this first week of 2013. Check out this trailer for an upcoming feature-length film about the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Paraguay, South America. 
While a time of celebration and joy for many, Winter and the Holiday Season can be a time of SADness for some. They suffer from a kind of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (
