One of our newest residents has brought not only her belongs and wonderful personality to Peace Village. She has also brought her talent and passion for art! Yvonne Woulfe has begun to share her talent with some of our other residents by teaching an art class. To learn more about Yvonne and her art class click the link below to read the article that was in the Daily Southtown.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/community/chi-ugc-article-peace-village-offers-art-science-classes-tau-2017-08-29-story.html

Click here to read more about Jason.

Oftentimes we fail to even notice music’s constant presence. Within the Courtyard, music is frequently part of our weekly activities.  The Music and Memory program brings music to each individual resident on a more personal level.  Last October, we hosted our first fundraiser, a sold out “Murder Mystery” dinner to raise money for this program to benefit our residents with memory and cognitive issues.

Music and Memory provides a certification course, completed this past January, to further our knowledge of the use of IPods, how to create personalized playlists, when it is most effective to make use of them. The Music and Memory certification course was also helpful in educating staff in engagement of residents during music selection and participation of this entire project.

Music has numerous benefits. It is overwhelmingly linked to emotional memory.  Even in individuals with severe dementia, music can tap into deep emotional memory.  Music therapy has been shown to decrease psychotropic medications, increase participation in activities, decrease eating issues and increase general mood. This program has also been shown to create an activity that connects family and loved one, that might have once felt lost.

While this program is starting in our Memory Care community, the Courtyard, it has the possibility to be community wide. Music is universal.  It translates across abilities, languages, and emotions.  We are so excited to bring this program to the Courtyard.

Brittany Smith M.S.

Life Services Coordinator

For some of us we grew up with technology or we learned it along the way because of a work requirement or even a personal desire. Some of residents here at Peace Village have really stepped out of their comfort zones and have signed up for classes to learn something new and really get a grasp on technology and using it to their benefit! Click the link below and read more about our residents and their journey with technology.

http://patch.com/illinois/palos/technology-links-seniors-past-present-future

On Friday, October 28^th, we hosted our first fundraiser in Prairie Landing, a Murder Mystery dinner to raise money for the Music & Memory program to benefit our residents in memory care. The Music & Memory program will allow Peace Village staff to receive a specialized training in using music to reawaken the spirits of our Memory Care residents.  As a certified site, we will be able to create personalized music playlists on ipods to stimulate deeper memories for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s.

We had a sold-out event with over 60 people in attendance! Everyone was assigned a role prior to the event and arrived dressed like their character.  During the event, a fake murder took place, and everyone had to do some detective work by following certain clues to try and guess who the killer was!  The event was a great success!  Everyone had fun, and we raised $3,500 which will allow us to integrate this program into our Memory Care curriculum.   We hope to host several of these types of fundraising events throughout the year to raise money for other programming needs around Peace Village.

Kim Karwacki

Director of Fund Development

Think Halloween is a holiday just for the kids? Think again!  Seniors love celebrating Halloween!  The residents of Peace Village joined the fun over the weekend as they passed out candy to local trick-or-treaters.  There were witches, and Cubs superfans and burglars, oh my!  And those were just a few of our resident costumes.  As the children trick-or-treated through Prairie Landing, our residents were reminded of the fun they had when their children went trick-or-treating and of the days that hundreds of children came to their homes dressed in costume.  Many residents were able to invite their grandchildren and great-grandchildren to participate in the fun.  Seeing the littlest ones in cute costumes brought a smile to everyone’s faces!  Halloween is a happy holiday; no matter what age you are it’s always fun to dress up as something or someone else.  Halloween is a holiday filled with laughter and fun energy and our Peace Village residents sure know how to have fun!

For 2 months now Peace Village residents have been setting aside time to get together to clip coupons for military families overseas. These coupons provide our troops and their families with additional savings on food and home goods that they purchase on the military bases in other countries. Coupon clipping has become quite an event for some of residents. The enthusiasm is heartwarming. Our residents are having so much fun! They arrive early and prepared; toting scissors, coupons and reading glasses. The room is filled with laughter and lively conversations about new foods, recipes and just life in general. We are all learning more about each other and helping families who support our country in the process. Some of the residents have even suggested we get together earlier next month because “we still have a lot of good work to do.” Stop by Prairie Club on the first Thursday of the month and check out the excitement! Our residents are having a blast!

Susan Schaffrath

Resident Experience Ambassador

Prairie Landing has been something that we have been patiently waiting to become a reality. This new restaurant offers our residents more choices and flexibility. In July, we celebrated the opening of Prairie Landing with a ribbon cutting ceremony. To read more about the ceremony and Prairie Landing click the link below.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/community/chi-ugc-article-prairie-landing-resident-dining-venue-unveile-2016-07-29-story.html

Peace Village residents completed their special project with Saint Xavier University students on April 22nd. The residents who participated in this project met with students in February and March to share stories about their lives. These college students had an opportunity to learn from our residents about growing up in a different time, major life accomplishments and treasured memories, what life is like as an older adult, and how vision loss (or another major health condition) affects them. In return, the students wrote something for the residents, since the participating residents have trouble writing on their own due to visual or physical limitations. The pictures below showcase just some of the special bonds formed as a result of this intergenerational project.