The Springs of Vernon Hills is a beautiful, brand new, warm, and inviting 70-bed community that specializes in memory and respite care for seniors.
Located not far from Hawthorn Shopping Center, the Springs of Vernon Hills is thoroughly equipped to meet the physical, social, mental, and emotional needs of your loved one.
The Springs of Vernon Hills is part of the JEA Senior Living family with communities across the United States and Canada. JEA Senior Living was founded by Jerry Erwin. His dedication to seniors and those with memory loss started when his own mother, Margaret, developed Alzheimer’s disease. She lived with the disease for more than seven years. After she passed, Erwin realized there was a tremendous need for specialized dementia care within high-quality facilities.
In 1993, after months of drawing and redrawing plans and looking at every aspect that he could, the Erwin family built their first dedicated memory care community in Tumwater, Washington. This was the first of a long line of successful developments built with the love and understanding of the dementia care model.
As JEA has grown, one philosophy has stayed the same—that every resident be given the same love and attention that Erwin expected for his mother.
“It’s up to all of us, no matter what our job is here, to provide meaningful moments to our residents,” explains The Springs of Vernon Hills executive director Tina Schachter. “And what makes our community different from others is that everyone involved with our residents, from the top administrator to the dishwasher, has to buy into this concept. And we do.”
Meaningful Moments® is a JEA-specific program that incorporates favorite activities and routines from life before the dementia took hold and weaves them into the daily lives for residents at The Springs of Vernon Hills.
“We ask the families of our residents to fill out a five-page profile about their loved one,” explains Schachter who lives in Lake Forest. “We want families to paint a picture for us. Our residents had big jobs, big careers, full lives before this dreadful disease took hold. We need this information so we can help these people live with purpose, even in their cognitively impaired state. I tell my staff that if they haven’t taken the time to read their resident’s profile, then they’re not taking care of their resident in the way we should be caring for them.” Schachter adds that these profiles are regularly reviewed by The Springs of Vernon Hills’ staff so that the relevant resident information is always top-of-mind.
The Springs of Vernon Hills offers furnished rooms with private bathrooms, as well as rooms that share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. “We want our residents to feel as if they’re at home,” says Schachter.
This story was sponsored by The Springs of Vernon Hills. The Springs of Vernon Hills is located at 350 S. Milwaukee Avenue in Vernon Hills, 8http://jeaseniorliving.com47-230-9707, jeaseniorliving.com.
