Eye on LSSI, Summer 2007 ( Download PDF of entire publication)

As people age, the ability to grow old gracefully often requires assistance from others. When age-related physical and mental changes create daily challenges, it impacts not only the elderly person — it also impacts their families.

When extra care is needed, seniors and their families may need to consider a sheltered care or long-term care facility. In Rockford, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) offers a variety of living and care options.

“I think we’re the only organization in Rockford that provides all levels of care and living options to seniors in the greater Rockford area,” says Marilyn Elliott, executive director of LSSI’s Senior Services. “We have dedicated staff who are committed to LSSI’s mission and work to provide personalized care to every individual we serve, whether it’s the Legacy Corps respite caregiver who helps people in their homes in the community, to the physical therapists who help people in our rehabilitation program at P.A. Peterson.”

Jeannette: ‘Most of the time, I feel happy and lucky.’

In spite of having to pull up roots several times in her 92 years, Jeannette Muehlemeyer has learned to grow where she is planted. Fourteen years ago she became one of the first residents of Peterson Meadows, a brand new, continuing care retirement home in Rockford. Peterson Meadows, operated by LSSI, is located on 34 acres in a quiet, residential atmosphere on Newburg Road.

“My landlord was selling the duplex I was living in, and I would have had a new landlord, so I thought the time was right to move,” she recalls.

For her first eight years at Peterson Meadows, Jeannette occupied a two-bedroom, two-bath cottages, living more independently and separate from the main building that houses the dining room and access to activities.

But when health problems became an issue, Jeannette opted for yet another change and tucked herself into a comfortable second-floor apartment in the main building where she can always count on someone being nearby in an emergency.

She often uses a walker to navigate and says she can really feel the changes in her body and her life.

“Sometimes you just need a little extra help,” she says.

On a daily basis, Jeannette is receiving just that through LSSI’s Intouch Home Care Services, which is located nearby.

Tiffanie Vatch, a home care assistant and CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant), and a two-year employee of Intouch, helps her get off to a good start about 7:00 a.m. each morning. She spends about a half hour helping Jeannette dress, taking and recording her weight, making her bed, reminding her to take her medication and preparing her for breakfast and the day. Depending on the need, Tiffanie may assist her at different times.

“The residents pay privately for help,” Tiffanie says. “The nice part of the program is that people do not have to commit or pay for someone for a certain amount of hours. I can come and go as needed.”

Like the slow kind of macular degeneration that has affected Jeannette for three years, the transition to this stage of her life has been somewhat gradual. As a 1936 graduate of Rockford College and a seasoned member of a familiar community, Jeannette has cycled through the changes of being a teacher, a wife, a homemaker and a mother of three daughters and a son. She became a widow in 1972, outlived one of her daughters and experienced the sale of her family home and the departure of her other grown children to Colorado, Kansas and Tennessee.

Jeannette found out what it was like to live alone again but was blessed with the ability to choose where it should be. And she has bright and pleasant surroundings to keep many of her possessions, her own furniture and mementoes from her past. A collection of Hummel statues sits neatly on her dresser, and her walls are decorated with beautiful crewel and needlepoint pictures of birds and other art she created herself. Though she is no longer able to pursue that hobby or read as a favorite pastime, she appreciates that she is not going blind quickly.

“Most of the time, I feel happy and lucky,” she says.

She’s a regular patron of the Meadow Mart, a gathering place on the first level where residents and friends can visit and “get good sandwiches for a reasonable price.”

“There are a lot of lovely people with interesting backgrounds. One couple has been married for 70 years. We had one lady who’s a beautiful knitter and a choir director who’s an accomplished musician. Pat Johnson, a resident, teaches ceramics and art and doesn’t charge,” Jeannette says.

She loves the variety and plays bridge twice a week with a regular group.

With a smile she mentions that she bowls on Thursday afternoons in the activity room.

“People ask me how? I show them how I move my arm to throw. The rubber ball is five pounds and the pins are lightweight.” She doesn’t say what her average is.

Shirley: ‘I’m trying to fill my life so full that I won’t miss the things I had.’

Eighty-four-year-old Shirley Lundgren is another senior experiencing dramatic lifestyle changes in her later years.

In February 2007, following a hospital stay for congestive heart failure and a four-month stay at another rehabilitation facility, Shirley became a resident of P.A. Peterson Center for Health in Rockford. P.A. Peterson offers a full continuum of care to its residents from independent apartment living to special programs for people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Shirley has a private room and bath in the sheltered care unit where she receives the support she needs to continue living as independently as possible. In addition to congestive heart failure she has had long-term problems with her legs, restricting her to a wheelchair at home where she received health care services.

Because Shirley had been a board member at P.A. Peterson she was familiar with its programs.

“It’s part home, part hospital. [Residents] are [grouped] according to needs here,” Shirley says. “We all have private rooms in my area, and there’s always a nurse on duty.”

Shirley is a retired nurse who worked for 44 years after graduating from Swedish American Hospital in 1944. She taught basic nursing in a Junior College in Texas for years and delivered many babies working in Chicago.

She thinks her situation is a little ironic now.

“I can’t take my own meds, but I do make my own bed,” she explains. Declining health and other losses are painful experiences for her.

“I’m trying to fill my life so full that I won’t miss the things I had. I don’t know if I could do it anywhere else as well, because of the mental stimulation provided here. We do ‘word of the day’ and discuss current events and politics. We’re provided with the latest books and have vigorous exercises every morning,” she says.

She is on several committees, runs Bible studies and recently completed classes to become a Barnabas Caregiver to learn how to help others at P.A. by providing encouragement through listening.

“Barnabas is an old prophet from the Bible,” she said. “The philosophy is, in order to help people, we have to listen and thereby help ourselves.”

Dr. Chuck Olson, P.A. Peterson’s chaplain, says Shirley recently filled in for him as worship leader at a Sunday service when he was on vacation. “Shirley is a valued leader at P.A.,” he says. “I value her enormously.”

Shirley has two sons, Randy and Mark. She said family is important for her during this adjustment period.

Randy is a financial consultant for Thrivent Financial Services and works with a number of people who have lived or will eventually live at P.A. Peterson.

“I couldn’t be happier with P.A. I give my mother’s nurse four stars,” he says. “I am unstressed now, because she is in a safe place.”