Living Senior for Winter 2022

living

S E N I O R

HERITAGE WOODS SMTD CONTINUES TO GROW AZURA MEMORY CARE

A publication of

ROCK VALLEY PUBLISHING LLC

WINTER 2022

Heritage Woods of Rockford is your affordable assisted lifestyle community Welcome to a gracious, affordable assisted lifestyle in your community. At Heritage Woods of Rockford, you’ll enjoy friendly neighbors to share common life experiences and an active community full of choices.

The emphasis is on lifestyle and fun while maintaining your health, wellness, dignity and independence at Heritage Woods of Rockford.

When you need a helping hand or personal attention to do the activities you may no longer be able to do safely on your own, our courteous and caring staff is always ready to assist you. Contact us to learn about current move-in specials!

Welcome to Heritage Woods of Rockford, a place you will be proud to call your new home!

LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

A wonderful alternative

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Heritage Woods of Rockford provides a wonderful residential alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home.

At Heritage Woods of Rockford, residents: Live in the privacy of his/her own apartment, which has been conveniently designed for senior living.

Receive personal assistance and help with medications. Certified staff are on duty 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Support services, such as three daily meals, housekeeping and laundry, are also included.

Enjoy the companionship of friends and neighbors and participate in social and recreational activities.

A full array of amenities and helpful services will make your days fulfilled and comfortable for you and your family.

are enhanced by the values of Love, Compassion & Dignity. The emphasis is on placing residents and their families first and helping each resident achieve and maintain as much independence as possible for as long as possible.

Rockford is located in the heart of Focus on love, Winnebago County in north central Illinois. compassion and dignity Our community is on Show Place Drive, east of I-39/I-90 and north of East State Street.

With a focus on love, compassion and Gardant Management Solutions, the dignity, Heritage Woods of Rockford serves company that manages Heritage Woods of adults 65 and older who need some help to Rockford, is a mission-driven company based maintain their independence.

A financial assistance program is available in Bourbonnais, Ill. The company has made a commitment to those who qualify, making Heritage Woods of Rockford’s lifestyle affordable to all. If you to Touching Lives by providing Dignified or a loved one would benefit from our assisted Lifestyles that are enhanced by the values of lifestyle community, but are concerned about Love, Compassion and Dignity. Intentionally financial arrangements, please do not hesitate co-creating a culture of belonging and equity. ​ to ask our staff about this financial assistance Gardant is the largest provider of assisted living in Illinois. program.

Heritage Woods of Rockford is the most The Supportive Living Program is available sought-after supportive living community in in Illinois for seniors 65 or older who the area, and apartments are renting quickly. need help maintaining their independence regardless of their financial resources. Seniors Call 815-332-3700 today to make Heritage Woods of Rockford your new home. on Medicaid who only receive minimum Social Security income can qualify.

About us The company is dedicated to Touching Lives by providing Dignified Lifestyles that

The emphasis is on lifestyle and fun while maintaining your health, wellness, dignity and independence at Heritage Woods of Rockford.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Living Senior

SMTD continues growing and going strong in 13th year REPORTER

SMTD (Stateline Mass Transit District) bus service has been providing safe, affordable transportation for the past 13 years. Blessings were bestowed upon the lucky day of March 17; St. Patrick’s Day when this valuable community service began. SMTD stands firm in the motto, “We’re here to get you there.”

Under the direction of SMTD Executive Director Sharon Hecox, a Board of Trustees is comprised of seven members who are appointed by local municipalities in Roscoe and Rockton each have two members and South Beloit has three. “Every Trustee is active, responsive and shows a great deal of professionalism and expertise,” Hecox lauds.

“We started with four busses which were received under a grant with the help of Congressman Don Manzullo,” Hecox said. “We currently have eight busses in our fleet which operate daily and are anticipating the delivery of one medium duty and two Super Duty buses. All busses are handicap accessible. “The three new busses are needed to provide additional service needs for an increase in riders.”

These were awarded under State of IL. Capital Vehicle Procurement Grant; Grant CVP; through IDOT. “The busses are 100 percent paid for; we receive no local matching funds,” Hecox said. “This will allow us to better service the large volume of students who go to Kids Spot in Roscoe or to the Boys and Girls Club.”

“We have applied for and had a grant awarded through “Rebuild Illinois” grant recovery. This gives us $225,000 for three more busses, including security systems and back up cameras. “SMTD is one of the few in the state to get full apportionment for public

transportation. The districts have received a lesser amount and SMTD is not restricted.”

Service areas covered by SMTD are Roscoe, Rockton, and South Beloit including Roscoe and Rockton Townships. SMTD expands into different towns with a special service for medical needs provided in Rockford, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Beloit and the Town of Beloit.

Additionally they go to 173 and Shirland Ave. to hook up with RMTD and BTS. Prior to COVID SMTD was giving over 2,500 rides per month. “We are still at 40 percent capacity, and we never shut down,” Hecox said. “We wanted to continue with safe, affordable and reliable service to those most at need.”

“Fifteen years ago a question went out to the community if they would support the system,” she said. “Our ridership has massively grown from the original number of 207 rides in the first month.”

“Our start-up money came from both the communities and organizations who generously gave us seed money. Some were municipalities and others were non-profits. We have an Intergovernmental agreement with Rockford Mass Transit for operations.

“Formerly each of these municipalities contracted with an independent contractor to provide transportation for their senior and disabled populations only. With the formation of the Stateline Mass Transit District service was expanded to include anyone in the community,” Hecox said.

In its first year SMTD and the Rockton Lions Club formed a partnership which today equals thousands of shuttle rides during four-day festival.

“We worked with South Beloit in their 100th anniversary and have also participated in the Christmas Walks lighted parades,” Hecox said.

Rockton Township has been integral in the success by working with the SMTD through IGA for Executive Director Services,” Hecox said.

“They have always believed in the Regional necessity for the transportation in the area.

Seniors can feel comfortable getting where they need to go weather shopping or to a Doctor’s appointment. Young adults can grab a ride to work, or anywhere else they may want to go. Teenagers or middle to grade school age children may be picked up at home and taken to recreational facilities, to a swimming pool, to the library or to any number of activities.

Anyone can be picked up at any specific location.

SMTD changes the lives of students and those who cannot get jobs or may have no transportation because of disabilities; some are able to work and to lead productive lives. Rides are given to anyone who wishes to utilize SMTD’s Demand Response service on a registration basis and must be scheduled. “We have adjusted our hours to help riders who work at earlier times to have enough time to get to work,” Hecox said.

New options in addition to paying an exact cash amount to ride include Token Transit App. Purchase fares using no cash, no cards and no personal contact with the driver. Just download the app from either Google Pay or the Apple App Store. Pay online and send

living S E N I O R

a pass to any mobile phone number to get your ticket to ride. Specific guidelines and time allowances need to be followed to ride.

To set up a ride or to schedule an appointment calls 877-561-3330, or email info@ smdt.biz. More information can also be found on the website at www.smtd.biz, on Facebook or call Sharon directly at 815-6247788.

“As Executive Director it my duty to have the hand on the pulse of the needs of the community and to make our service adjustments accordingly,” Hecox said. One example Hecox gives is when COVID-19 hit drivers were considered essential workers.

“Each driver went above and beyond to make sure that every patron or customer arrived safely to their destinations; whether they went to the bank, grocery store or to a medical appointment.”

“SMTD continues to provide a vital service to the community. The relationship with municipalities, state and Federal who all have a hand in supporting the system has all been very positive for the past 13 years. It has been a learning experience to deliver a successful Mass Transit system.

Everyone involved from the drivers, to the staff to the riders who support and lift up the systems growth remain the inspiration behind continued growth moving forward,” Hecox said.

A publication of Rock Valley

Publishing LLC

1102 Ann St., Delavan, WI 53115

(262) 728-3411

EDITOR:...............................................................................Melanie Bradley CREATIVE/PRODUCTION DIRECTOR:............................ Heather Ruenz GRAPHIC DESIGNER:............................................................ Jen DeGroot ADVERTISING DIRECTOR:............................................ Vicki Vanderwerff

FOR ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES: Call (262) 725-7701 ext. 134

LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

By Marianne Mueller

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Beloit Health System offers assisted living facilities for seniors Beloit Health System offers two beautiful assisted living and residential care campuses in the stateline area Riverside Terrace (608.365.7222) in Beloit, Wis. and NorthPointe Terrace (815.525.4800) in Roscoe, Ill. Riverside Terrace, is a Residential Care Apartment Complex (RCAC) and has a private one-and two-bedroom apartments overlooking the scenic Rock River.

Riverside Terrace is designed for those

who want to live independently, but may need some level of residential care in order to do so. Riverside Terrace’s staff is there 24 hours per day to assist in the residents’ needs.

NorthPointe Terrace is surrounded by beautiful prairie landscape and offers incredible views. Residents are able to partake in our NorthPointe, a medicalbased fitness center with a warm-water therapy pool, wellness progam, spa, and

lending libraries. Each staff member is committed to providing a safe, homelike atmosphere for all the residents - an atmosphere where you can do what you want and get the senor care services you need, while being surrounded by friends.

If you’re looking for a level of ongoing care, yet still cherish your privacy and independence, consider making Riverside Terrace or NorthPointe Terrace your new home.

NorthPointe Terrace in Roscoe, Ill., is surrounded by beautiful prairie landscape and offers incredible views.

LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

BELOIT HEALTH SYSTEM PHOTO Living Senior

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New Year - New Adventures Community - Companionship - Confidence

410500

Are you a veteran, dependent or a survivor of a deceased veteran?

Call us with any questions about veterans benefits.

Veterans Assistance Commission of Boone County 130 S. State Street, Suite 212 • Belvidere, IL 815-544-6464 • vacboone@vacbc.org Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

410922

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ocated just south of Janesville, in Beloit, Wis. Azura Memory Care assisted living community provides a loving, homelike environment for those with early to late stage dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

You’ll find a warm, loving and purposely designed home to support those with memory loss. Our compassionate team is specifically trained in dementia care to ensure your loved one receives the utmost care. They’ll also receive personalized management of behavioral expressions related to wandering, incontinence, sundowning, depression, and anxiety.

Our MOSAIC Philosophy is based on the Household Model and Azura’s exclusive education and engagement

system, which trains our team on how to properly approach, communicate and engage those with memory loss.

In addition, our team learns our resident’s personal preferences and histories and weaves those pieces into their care and engagement time.

Azura Memory Care provides daily, life-enriching quality of life programming and emphasizes a holistic approach to care.

You will have peace of mind knowing your loved one is receiving high-quality memory care led by a team of dedicated directors, nurses, caregivers and therapists.

Services included 24-hour dementia and Alzheimer’s care in a secured community

Daily behavioral and medical monitoring Assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming and hygiene Medication management Nutritious meals and snacks Housekeeping and laundry Diabetic management Sit-to-stand and Hoyer lift capable Collaboration with home health, hospice providers and area physicians to assist with higher medical needs

You will have peace of mind knowing your loved one is receiving high-quality memory care led by a team of dedicated directors, nurses, caregivers and therapists at Azura Memory Care.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Living Senior

LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

Azura Memory Care offers safe, caring environment for dementia patients

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How medical technology is helping those with Parkinson’s Disease

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for Hanley -- a self-described social butterfly -- and so was maintaining her desire to be active.

PD is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative condition, affecting more than 1 million people nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While it can’t be cured, medications are often prescribed to help manage symptoms.

Unfortunately, some of these drugs are associated with side effects like involuntary movements and motor fluctuations. And over time, these medications can become less effective.

Now 63, Hanley is a veritable expert on her condition and an advocate for 398955

hen Ann Hanley was 49 years old, she noticed that she had persistent stiffness in her shoulders and her arms weren’t swinging normally when she walked. This became particularly pronounced when it affected her ability to travel to horse races with her husband, who manages a farm, breeding champion racehorses.

After visiting several specialists, a neurologist recognized she had Parkinson’s disease (PD). The diagnosis was a shock, as Hanley had previously viewed PD as a disease that mainly affected older men. Initially the idea of living with a progressive disease was overwhelming

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LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

your lovedone’s one’s shortor or long-term memory care needs. withwith your loved shortlong-term memory care needs. with your your loved loved one’s one’s shortshort- or or long-term long-term memory memory care care needs. needs. with with your loved one’s short- or or long-term long-termmemory memorycare care needs. with your loved one’s shortwith your loved one’s short- or long-term memory careneeds. needs.

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What sets Azura apart?

• High Caregiver to Resident Ratio • Exclusive MOSAIC Connections Training; a required advanced dementia and engagement education system featuring the Virtual Dementia Tour • Personalized Life Engagement Programming; featuring MOSAIC Therapies of Cognitive Stimulation, Creativity, Exercise, Community Participation and more!

• • • • • •

Medication Management Secured Entrance and Exits Incontinence Care Behavioral Expression Management Electric Charting System On-site Beautician, Dental Care, Podiatry, Physician*, Home Health Therapies and Hospice Care • Unique MOSAIC Dreams Program!

Beloit | Clinton • 608-295-2764 • www.azuramemory.com Call today to witness the Azura experience!

other patients. Seven years ago, she began volunteering at the University of Kentucky Hospital, shadowing a leading neurosurgeon who specialized in a PD treatment called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which helps patients manage the motor symptoms of the disease when medication alone is no longer effective.

DBS uses a small medical device implanted in the body and connected to leads that stimulate a portion of the brain to control the motor functions affected by movement disorders, including tremors, slowness and rigidity.

Until recently, physicians have had to rely on older DBS technology. However, the Boston Scientific Vercise Genus DBS System, approved for use in 2021, is designed to customize therapy to match each patient’s specific needs and allow for flexible stimulation therapy delivery as the disease progresses.

This is important, because PD advances over time, and no two people experience progressions the same way.

“Ultimately, with early enough intervention, DBS is a tool that can help people with PD reduce tremors, increase mobility, and even reduce the amount of medication needed -- offering a reprieve from unpleasant side effects,” says

Toynton Sharon Funeral Home

Serving All Faiths Wisconsin & Illinois Funeral Service

210 Baldwin St. Sharon, WI 53585

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Dr. Michele Tagliati, MD, director, Movement Disorders Program, Cedars Sinai (Los Angeles).

“In particular, this therapy is designed with patient comfort and convenience in mind and gives physicians the ability to manage the ever-evolving needs of a patient as their Parkinson’s advances.”

Hanley knew it was time to try DBS herself when her walking had slowed, she was stooped over, her back hurt relentlessly and she was experiencing significant tremor in her right hand and leg. After undergoing the procedure, she was amazed at how DBS had helped her.

“When they turned on the device, I experienced an indescribable moment. My symptoms were suddenly reduced, and I felt more in control of my motion,” says Hanley.

With DBS, Hanley was able to completely come off her PD medications and experienced increased mobility. While results vary for different patients, she’s now able to walk, cycle and swim regularly, and attend every horse race with ease.

Today, Hanley is an advocate for DBS therapy and volunteers support to other patients, assisting during their appointments and even holding their hands during the DBS procedure. She’s also raised $3.5 million dollars through her fundraising efforts to support PD research at the University of Kentucky Hospital.

To learn more, visit DBSandMe.com, a resource developed by Boston Scientific.

If you or a loved one have PD, consider talking to your doctor about the most appropriate treatment, and if DBS could be an option for you.

(STATEPOINT)

Whether you’re a Beatlemaniac or a more casual fan, you likely have an opinion about the band’s final days together and their eventual breakup.

However, a brand-new book may challenge everything you thought you knew about the band’s twilight hour.

Already a New York Times bestseller, “The Beatles: Get Back” from Callaway Arts & Entertainment and Apple Corps Ltd., is the first official standalone book to be released by The Beatles in over 20 years. Presenting transcribed conversations drawn from over 120 recorded hours of the band’s studio sessions, along with hundreds of previously unpublished images, including photos by Ethan A. Russell and Linda McCartney, this exclusive, in-their-own-words account of the “Let it Be” recording sessions paints a new portrait of their final days together.

“Legend has it that these sessions were a grim time for a band falling apart, but it becomes clear from the fuller transcripts that John, Paul, George and Ringo were not only productively collaborating on works we still know and love today, they were having fun doing it,” says Nicholas Callaway, publisher, Callaway Arts & Entertainment.

This intimate, riveting book invites readers to travel back to January 1969 as the foursome regrouped in London for a project, initially titled “Get Back.” Over 21 days, first at Twickenham Film Studios and then at their own Apple Studios, with cameras and tape recorders documenting every day’s work, the band rehearsed a huge number of songs in preparation for what proved to be their final concert, which famously took place on the rooftop of their own Apple Corps office building and brought central London to a halt.

These sessions, which generated the “Let It Be” album and 1970 film, represent the only time in The Beatles’ career that they were filmed at such length while in the studio

creating music. While some hold the 1970 film responsible for the collective idea that there was bad blood between the bandmates before they parted ways, the newly-released transcripts and images, as seen in the book, paint an altogether different and fuller picture of this time in the band’s history that might be closer to the truth.

For this reason, “The Beatles: Get Back” is an essential complement to both director Peter Jackson’s documentary film series of the same name, and the 50th anniversary special edition worldwide release of

“Let it Be,” which has been newlyremixed, and features expanded and never released session recordings.

Available globally and in 10 languages, more information about the book can be found by visiting thebeatles.com and callaway.com.

“The Beatles gave my generation their genius and their joy and they changed the world through their art. The creativity and inspiration expressed in these candid, behindthe-scenes moments are as important and relevant today as ever,” says Callaway.

(STATEPOINT)

LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

What you didn’t know about the Beatles’ final days together

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BELVIDERE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION

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• Public transportation offering curb-to-curb service, 7 days a week.

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• Stop in and ask about our ‘Ticket To Ride’ and mobile ticketing programs.

“We’re Here To Get You There”

Phone: 779-771-6778 Ride Scheduling: 877-561-3330 E-Mail: info@smtd.biz Web: www.smtd.biz 410501

Competitively priced Competitively priced Assisted Living in both Beloit Assisted Living priced in both Beloit Competitively and Roscoe. andAssisted Roscoe.

Living in both Beloit and Roscoe.

is the perfect time NowNow is the perfect time to to learn more. learn more.

Now is the perfect time to learn more.

3055 S. Riverside Beloit, 3055 S. Riverside Dr.,Dr., Beloit, WI WI 3055 S. (608) Riverside Dr., Beloit, WI 365-7222

(608) 365-7222 (608) 365-7222 riversideterrace.org riversideterrace.org riversideterrace.org

Jack and Imogene Jack and Imogene Ehle Ehle

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5601 E.Rockton Rockton Rd., Roscoe, 5601 E. E. Rockton Rd., Roscoe, IL IL 5601 Rd., Roscoe, IL

(815) 525-4800 (815) 525-4800 (815) 525-4800 northpointeterrace.org northpointeterrace.org northpointeterrace.org

Affiliated with Beloit Health System Affiliated with Beloit Health System Affiliated with Beloit Health System www.BeloitHealthSystem.org www.BeloitHealthSystem.org www.BeloitHealthSystem.org

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LIVING SENIOR - WINTER 2022

Jack and Imogene Ehle