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Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Northwest Herald
UV lights disinfect hospitals
“Coming here is like shopping with a girlfriend. We love to offer ideas, and we’ll give an honest opinion about how something looks.” Connie Perez, owner of Aesthetics
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Connie Perez, owner of Aesthetics, poses inside her boutique located in the Fountain Shoppes in McHenry.
A perfect fit An artisan approach to fashion at Aesthetics NORTHWEST HERALD McHENRY – Connie Perez, owner of Aesthetics boutique, will spend her summer beside a picturesque fountain shopping with friends – of course, she’ll be working the entire time. Aesthetics, which specializes in unique women’s fashions, accessories, shoes, gifts, cards and home décor, is the newest tenant in the Fountain Shoppes shopping center, 329 N. Front St., McHenry. “Being on Route 31 makes us easily accessible for people from all over McHenry, Kane and Lake counties. The center has a great collaborative feeling, with other businesses serving women,” Perez said. The shop has expanded for Perez to artistically display her wares and has a private fitting area. “Now my ladies can truly have the personal shopping experience,” said Perez, who opened five years ago in Crystal Lake.
Aesthetics What: A boutique/design studio specializing in unique women’s fashions, accessories, shoes, gifts, cards and home décor, Where: Fountain Shoppes shopping center, 329 N. Front St., McHenry. Information: Call 630-567-2873, or visit aestheticscreations.com Aesthetics’ artisan feel is influenced by Perez’s fashion degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and years of fashion industry experience. She takes a stylist’s approach to selecting merchandise. “I keep my ladies’ needs and requests in mind every time I shop.” Regular and curvy sizes are mixed together and Perez encourages customers to do the same. “It’s less about size, and more about how you want to wear something,” she said. She and her staff enjoy offering cre-
ative suggestions for the perfect outfit. “Coming here is like shopping with a girlfriend. We love to offer ideas, and we’ll give an honest opinion about how something looks. We want everyone to look and feel great when they leave,” Perez said. Aesthetics Creations’ distinctive fashion caught the eye of Suzanne Cannon, owner of the Fountain Shoppes and Steffan’s Jewelers, when she met Perez at a 2012 Centegra benefit. “I fell in love with her clothes. She has items you don’t see everywhere, and such reasonable prices,” Cannon said. Not only did she become a customer, she invited Perez to become Fountain Shoppes tenant, joining Steffan’s Jewelers, Kiera Confections, Tropic Stop Tan and two professional offices. “There is no boutique on this side of McHenry, and with our clientele she’s a great fit. When you have the right mix, everyone can be successful,” Cannon said.
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See LIGHTS, page E2
Rising home, stock prices boost U.S. confidence The Associated Press
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CRYSTAL LAKE – A grant from the Centegra Health System Foundation helped Centegra HospitalMcHenry and Centegra Hospital-Woodstock purchase three new portable ultraviolet light disinfectant systems to be used at the hospitals. The lights help Centegra associates reduce the risk of infections from bacteria such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff), which have become increasingly common and more difficult to treat in hospitals across the country. “These lights have proven to be very effective as part of our associates’ room cleaning process,” said Cindy Schweder, infection prevention and control nurse at Centegra Health System. “We see them as an insurance policy to provide our patients, employees and physicians peace of mind. We are using leading technology to provide the safest possible environment for our patients.” The first lights purchased by Centegra Health System in 2011 were used primarily in isolation rooms, which are used by patients who have infectious diseases during inpatient stays. As more devices were purchased, associates began to use the ultraviolet lights to clean surgical suites and rooms in the intensive care unit. After a patient is discharged from the hospital, an associate from Centegra’s environmental services department sanitizes the bathroom and then places the ultraviolet device in the bathroom and closes the door. The light sanitizes the bathroom as the associate cleans the rest of the patient’s room. Once the rest of the room has been manually cleaned, the associate moves the ultraviolet light into the room and turns it on for 30 minutes. The ultraviolet light kills the rest of the surface germs, viruses and molds.
WASHINGTON – Americans are more confident in the U.S. economy than at any point in the past five years, thanks to surging home values, a brighter job market and record-setting stock prices. Stock averages on Tuesday extended the year’s explosive rally. Further gains in consumer confidence could help the economy withstand the effects of higher taxes and federal spending cuts that kicked in this year. Spending by consumers drives about 70 percent of economic growth. Consumer confidence jumped in May to 76.2, the Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday. That was up from a reading of 69 in April and is the highest level of confidence since February 2008, two months after the Great Recession officially began. A separate report Tuesday showed that U.S. home prices jumped 11 percent in March compared with a year ago, the sharpest 12-month increase since April 2006. Prices rose year over year in all 20 cities in the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price index. The reports helped fuel a powerful rally on Wall Street. Traders were also encouraged by gains in overseas markets, especially in Japan and Europe. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 106 points to close at 15,409 Tuesday, a gain of 0.7 percent and another record high. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index
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Two shoppers are reflected in the mirror at a shopping mall in Costa Mesa, Calif. Consumer confidence jumped in May to 76.2, the Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday. That was up from a reading of 69 in April and is the highest level of confidence since February 2008, two months after the Great Recession officially began. rose 10 points to 1,660, or 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq composite rose 29 points to 3,488, or 0.9 percent. Surging stock prices and steady home-price increases have allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost to the Great Recession. Some economists have said the increase in home prices alone could boost consumer spending enough to offset a Social Security tax increase that’s reduced paychecks for most Americans this year. Thomas Feltmate, an economist with TD Economics, said cheaper gas has also helped consumers
shrug off the higher Social Security tax. And the Conference Board survey said consumers are also more optimistic about the next six months. That should translate into greater consumer spending, substantial growth in hiring and faster economic growth in the second half of 2013, Feltmate said. The economy has added an average of 208,000 jobs a month since November. That’s well above the monthly average of 138,000 during the previous six months. The job growth has helped reduce the unemployment rate to a four-year low of
7.5 percent. Some of the decline in unemployment is due to fewer people looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they’re actively searching for a job. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the JanuaryMarch quarter, up from a rate of just 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter. The fastest expansion in consumer spending in more than two years drove the economy’s growth. Many economists think growth is slowing slightly in the AprilJune quarter to an annual rate between 2 percent and 2.5 percent. But many analysts say growth should strengthen in the second half of this year, boosted by the gains in housing and employment. A key reason the Case Shiller index of home prices jumped in March was that a growing number of buyers were bidding on a tight supply of homes. Prices rose in Phoenix by 22.5 percent over the past 12 months, the biggest gain among cities. It was followed by San Francisco (22.2 percent) and Las Vegas (20.6 percent). “Rising home prices may begin to alleviate a lack of housing inventory ... by encouraging more homeowners to put their properties on the market,” Maninder Sibia, an economist with Economic Advisory Service, said in a research note. “The housing market is clearly improving.”
See CONFIDENCE, page E2