April 2, 2018 – According to the Alzheimer’s Association 2018 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report, there are 590,000 people providing 672,000,000 hours of unpaid care to the 220,000 people living with Alzheimer’s or dementia in Illinois. The level of assistance provided by caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias tends to be extensive. As symptoms worsen and the amount of care needed continues to increase, caregivers report stress, anxiety and even depression at high rates. In honor of National Stress Awareness Month, the Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter offers tips to help manage stress throughout the role of caregiving.

1. Know what community resources are available. 
Adult day programs, in-home assistance, visiting nurses and meal delivery are just some of the services that can help you manage daily tasks. Use our online Community Resource Finder or contact your local Alzheimer’s Association office for assistance in finding Alzheimer’s care resources in your community.

2. Get help and find support.
Our online Care Team Calendar helps you organize friends and family who want to help provide care and support. Our 24/7 Helpline (800.272.3900), ALZConnected online community and local support groups are all good sources for finding comfort and reassurance. If stress becomes overwhelming, seek professional help.

3. Use relaxation techniques.
There are several simple relaxation techniques that can help relieve stress. Try more than one to find which works best for you. Techniques include:

• Visualization (mentally picturing a place or situation that is peaceful and calm)
• Meditation (which can be as simple as dedicating 15 minutes a day to letting go of all stressful thoughts)
• Breathing exercises (slowing your breathing and focusing on taking deep breaths)
• Progressive muscle relaxation (tightening and then relaxing each muscle group, starting at one end of your body and working your way to the other end) 

4. Get moving.
Physical activity — in any form — can help reduce stress and improve overall well-being. Even 10 minutes of exercise a day can help. Take a walk. Do an activity you love, such as gardening or dancing.

5. Find time for yourself. 
Consider taking advantage of respite care so you can spend time doing something you enjoy. Respite care provides caregivers with a temporary rest from caregiving, while the person with Alzheimer’s disease continues to receive care in a safe environment.

6. Become an educated caregiver.
As the disease progresses, new caregiving skills may be necessary. The Alzheimer’s Association offers programs in-person, online and over the phone to help you better understand and cope with the behaviors and personality changes that often accompany Alzheimer’s. You may also find it helpful to talk to other care partners and caregivers about how they are coping with the challenges of the disease and uncertainty about the future.

7. Take care of yourself.
Visit your doctor regularly. Try to eat well, exercise and get plenty of rest. Making sure that you are healthy can help you be a better caregiver.

8. Make legal and financial plans. 
Putting legal and financial plans in place after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is important so that the person with the disease can participate. Having future plans in place can provide comfort to the entire family.

To shed additional light on this information, I would be happy to arrange an interview with a local Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter spokesperson.

For more information on signs of caregiver stress and ways to manage stress, contact the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900 or visit alz.org/care.

About the Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter:

The Alzheimer’s Association® is the world’s leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s research, care and support. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. The Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter covers an 87-county area with offices in Chicago, Joliet, Rockford, Springfield, Bloomington, Peoria, Quincy and Carbondale. Since 1980, the Chapter has provided reliable information and care consultation; created supportive services for families; increased funding for dementia research; and influenced public policy changes. The Illinois Chapter serves more than half a million Illinois residents affected by Alzheimer’s disease, including more than 220,000 Illinois residents living with the disease. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s®. For more information visit www.alz.org/illinois or call our free 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900.

 

 

Chicago – As part of an ongoing effort to streamline government and avoid wasteful spending, Governor Bruce Rauner today issued an executive order abolishing 19 boards and commissions that have been inactive for five years or more.

The move eliminates some entities that were created for a special but temporary purpose which has been fulfilled. Others are being abolished because they are redundant with other units of state government.

Over the years, either by statute or executive order, the state of Illinois has created more than 600 authorities, boards, commissions, councils, task forces, and other similar entities. The action taken by the Governor today is the first step in a plan to eliminate more than 100 such entities in the months ahead.

The order does not invalidate any action undertaken or ratified by the eliminated boards and commissions. In addition, though unlikely, any unexpected balances of appropriations, funds, grants, donations or other moneys available to the units will be transferred to the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) or an appropriate Department and expended for similar purposes.

The list of abolished entities is below:

Board or Commission	Last Known Action
Board of Aeronautical Advisors	None
Agrichemical Facility Response Action Program Board	Report 2003
Air Service Commission I-FLY	None
Commission on Children and Youth	Report 2010
Children’s Hearing Services Advisory Committee	None
Children’s Saving Account Task Force	Report 2010
Children’s Vision Services Advisory Committee	Met 2009
Revenue Commission for Community Services	Report 2010
Cord Blood Stem Cell Banks Advisory Committee	None
Electronic Health Records Task Force	Report 2006
Family Practice Residencies Advisory Committee	None
Food Systems Policy Council, Illinois	Report 2007
Grape and Wine Resources Council	Met 2004
Interagency Coordinating Committee on Transportation	Report 2006
Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force, Illinois	Replaced 2009
Manufactured Home Quality Assurance Board	Met 2005
Newborn Eye Pathology Advisory Committee	None
Offshore Wind Energy Economic Development Task Force	None
Sorry Works! Pilot Program Committee	None

The flu season may be winding down, but parents of young children have reason to remain watchful.

Here’s the link to the story in the Southern Illinoisan.

Two of Southern Illinois’ longest and most recognizable coaches were fired Thursday night, during action at the West Frankfort High School board meeting.

Here’s the link at the Southern Illinoisan.http://thesouthern.com/sports/high-school/basketball/prep-basketball-west-frankfort-dismisses-coaches-matt-hampleman-and-kevin/article_6e4cbe6a-355f-5693-8cad-14ef2be384ab.html#tracking-source=home-top-stories

Doctors have been warning about the dangers of spice, K2, and all other kinds of synthetic marijuana since the psychoactive substances first hit the streets years ago.

Here’s the link at Illinois News Network.

 

Women’s History Month celebration part of statewide Fairness and Equality Campaign

EAST PEORIA – Gov. Bruce Rauner, the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) and the Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce today hosted “A Celebration of Trailblazing Women,” honoring the accomplishments of five Peoria-area women in celebration of Women’s History Month. The event was held as part of IDHR’s Fairness and Equality Campaign in recognition of the Illinois Bicentennial.

“The women honored today are shining trailblazers who have made incredible impacts on the Peoria community and in the State of Illinois,” said Gov. Rauner. “Their accomplishments light the way for all Illinoisans and remind us of the strong foundations that women have laid for us. We are proud to honor them during this Bicentennial year.”

“Today is a time to not only celebrate the positive impacts women have made in Illinois,” said IDHR Acting Director Janice Glenn. “It’s also a time to reflect on our challenges, and how we can continue to promote fairness and equality for women and fight discrimination.”

“The Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce is proud to be honoring and celebrating the great contribution of Women in the region,” said President and CEO of Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce Larry Ivory.

Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey, the first female president of Illinois Central College and a trailblazer in her own right, served as keynote speaker for the event.

Five women were honored with IDHR’s Trailblazer Award for their work in education, women’s health and business.

• Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, Peoria Public Schools
• Cori Rutherford, Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino
• Karen Cotton, Illinois American Water
• Angela Henry, Traveler Weekly Newspaper
• Jimena Lopez, Whole Women’s Health

IDHR’s 2018 Fairness and Equality Campaign is part of Illinois’ Bicentennial Celebration. As part of the campaign, IDHR is asking 200 municipalities across Illinois to pledge their support for the Department’s core values of fairness, equality, inclusion and non-discrimination.

Those interested in learning more about IDHR’s Fairness and Equality Campaign can contact IDHR at IDHR.Webmail@illinois.gov. Units of local government interested in the campaign can submit an online interest form at www.surveymonkey.com/r/FairEqual.

ABOUT ILLINOIS BICENTENNIAL

Illinois became the 21st state in the union on Dec. 3, 1818. The Illinois Bicentennial is a yearlong celebration of what has been BORN, BUILT & GROWN in the state and a reminder of why we are #IllinoisProud. 

For a schedule of events held across the state for the Illinois Bicentennial, or to get details on how to become a partner, go to: https://illinois200.com/.

In an effort to bring some relief to Illinoisians dealing with health care cost burdens, lawmakers are targeting generic drug companies accused of price gouging.

 

Here’s  link to the story at Illinois News Network.

Illinois’ regional superintendents are back under the microscope at the Illinois Capitol. And they are, once again, worrying about their future.

Here’s the link at Illinois News Network.

 

 

Execs release new report, urge policymakers to bolster child care assistance

Carterville – A strong Illinois child care program is key to the well-being of not only kids and their working parents, but the state’s business productivity and economy – both today, and into the future.

That’s the thrust of a new report from the ReadyNation network of business leaders, released Tuesday in Carterville with the help of several southern Illinois executives.

“Affordable, reliable, high-quality child care helps to keep parents earning, their children learning, and businesses buzzing with productivity,” said Woody Thorne, Vice President of Community Affairs at Carbondale-based Southern Illinois Healthcare. He was one of several business leaders to speak at a news event held at the Child Care Resource & Referral Agency on the campus of John A. Logan College.

Accordingly, business leaders are encouraging policymakers to continue investing wisely in Illinois’ Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) – avoiding proposed cuts while stepping-up outreach efforts to ensure low-income, working parents know about the services for which they are eligible.

The ReadyNation report cites findings from a national survey in which one out of seven respondents noted that – during the previous year –  child care problems prompted someone in their family to either quit a job, forego taking a job, or change a job. Another national study found that parents struggling with child care issues wind-up taking an average of five to nine days off work annually to deal with those challenges.

“The results are not only employee absenteeism, but ‘presentee-ism’ – employees who are on the job, but distracted and not fully engaged in their work,” said Jonathon Hallberg, Executive Director of the Jefferson County Development Corporation in Mt. Vernon. In all, the associated costs of lost productivity, hiring and training new workers come to more than $3 billion for American employers.

Moreover, in addition to their current-day value to working parents and business productivity, high-quality child care represents long-lasting benefits for development of a skilled workforce for the future.

Child care programs form an essential component of Illinois’ early learning system, according to the ReadyNation report. They fit together with preschool and birth-to-3 services to help kids during a crucial stage of their brain growth: the first five years of life, when more than 1 million neural connections are forming every second and foundations are laid for further cognitive, health, and behavioral development.

A recent study of more than 200 youngsters found that high-quality, full-day child care had a positive impact on their language development at age 2. Plus, compared with their non-program peers, the participants enjoyed more positive parent-child relationships – and their parents reported fewer child behavior problems.

It’s important to recognize that parents are children’s first and best caregivers, the business leaders said. But in trying to find and maintain work, struggling mothers and fathers often need and seek the kind of assistance offered by the state’s child care program.

“In Illinois, 70 percent of young children – up to age 5 – live in households where all available parents are participating in the workforce,” said Samantha Loucks, Regional Manager at the Marion office of the HireLevel staffing firm. “That’s true of both single-parent and two-parent families, and it represents about 627,000 young children.”

CCAP currently helps the low-income, working families of about 120,000 children – up to age 13 – cover the costs of care while parents are on the job. For this subsidy help, participating parents are charged only “co-pay” fees, assessed on a sliding scale that reflects family size and income. Families are eligible if they earn less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of three, such as a single mother raising two kids, that income-eligibility ceiling is about $38,400.

Such assistance is critical to the pocketbooks of low-income households, according to the ReadyNation report: In Illinois, the annual cost of center-based care – for children up to age 4 – can rival the average cost of in-state college tuition, which tops $13,600.
However, the state’s child care program has been navigating significant challenges in recent years. In mid-2015, the Administration sharply reduced income-eligibility levels for assistance and eliminated help for working parents involved in education and job-training efforts. This left thousands of parents scrambling for other options – including decisions about whether to quit their jobs or reduce work hours.

ReadyNation’s business leaders joined the push to restore those eligibility guidelines, a bipartisan effort that succeeded last August. However, today’s child care caseloads still remain about 30,000 children below their previous levels. That’s one reason the Governor has proposed cutting program appropriations by nearly $100 million in the coming year; ReadyNation urges policymakers to avoid such cuts.

“Even after last year’s eligibility restorations, thousands of working families are likely going without the child care services for which they qualify,” said Sean Noble, Illinois State Director for ReadyNation. “The problem is, too many parents don’t know this – or, they know but are understandably wary of turning to a program that had suffered through so much turmoil in recent years.”
Maintaining strong child care funding, and increasing the state’s communications-and-outreach efforts, could help bridge some of those gaps and aid working parents in finding their way to this valuable program, he said. Noble added that ReadyNation will be helping to spread the word of eligibility restoration to working families via outreach to local chambers of commerce and other business executives.

ReadyNation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan network of more than 2,000 business leaders across the country – including 220 in Illinois – who focus on strengthening our workforce and economy through research-proven investments in kids. It is part of the Council for a Strong America, a national, bipartisan nonprofit that unites five organizations (comprising business executives, law-enforcement leaders, retired military leaders, pastors, and prominent coaches and athletes) to promote solutions ensuring the citizen-readiness of children.

On March 26, 2018 Benton Police arrested Dustin R. Odum, age 23, of Benton for driving while license suspended.  Odum was transported to the Franklin County Jail for further processing.