Good News!! Misericordia has already held one COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic for residents on 11/9, and there are 2 more scheduled for 11/16 and 12/6. (You can still get your resident vaccinated/boosted on your own, if you do not want to wait.) Staff will also be able to receive boosters at these clinics.
We need volunteers to help Misericordia distribute turkeys to our Misericordia Staff.
Misericordia Staff Turkey Giveaway Day Thursday, November 17th - 6:00 am until 4:00 pm Misericordia Campus
ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST BE VACCINATED AND BE MASKED WHEN ON CAMPUS. Click here to volunteer sign-up link and see the 5 different 2 hour time slots available. Some volunteer positions require strength and agility as you will need to be able to lift turkeys.
Artist in All - November 16, 2022 - Art Institute of Chicago
We are live and ready to take your bids! Please visit 2022 Artist in All to check out the fabulous artwork and place your bids. Searching for your resident artist’s piece? Click view items and in the search box put their first name and last initial. Don’t forget to bid often!
If you have not had a chance to purchase your tickets to the event, please go to the Artist in All website. Hope to see you there!
Each week the CDC publishes the Covid Community Transmission Level for every county in the country. The level is used to describe the amount of spread within the community and healthcare providers use this to determine appropriate infection control measures.
Each week this information will be posted throughout Misericordia and will be shared in Mis Biz so that you are prepared when coming to the campus and planning visits with your family member.
by James Lee
On a warm August morning, we received a call informing us that Jason and Sean would be moving into the Rosemary Connelly Home at Misericordia on November 7, 2016.
It was one of the hardest challenges that we had had to face in almost 20 years! Jason being three years older than Sean, gave us such a hard time. He knew exactly what was happening. We were breaking his daily routine. Our boys are non-verbal and non-ambulatory, but both understood everything that was going on.
Several years earlier they were diagnosed with BCAP-31, a very rare genetic disorder.
Thank you to all who attended the MFA Meeting and Party! We felt all the good old vibes being together again. And, many thanks to those who worked behind the scenes to make our gathering happen. The next MFA meeting will be VIRTUAL and is scheduled for January 15, 2023. Click here to watch the recording of the October 2022 MFA General Meeting. (Please excuse the poor audio quality of the recording.)
Important takeaways from the meeting ->
by Diane Carpenter
When our daughter Beth was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 ½ and the severity of her disability became apparent, the never-ending worry began of who would take care of her when I no longer could.
As she got older, the realization that she would need to live in a residential facility someday was too heart breaking to contemplate, so it got pushed back to the “I’ll think about that later” part of my brain.
23 years ago when Beth was 14, Rob, a friend of ours whose daughter lives at Misericordia, told us all about Mis. He and his wife took us for lunch at the Greenhouse Inn and arranged for us to go on a tour to see what Mis was all about. We were quite impressed. I picked up an application which sat on my desk for 6 years because I wasn’t mentally ready to fill it out. Rob then gently reminded us that we should at least get the application in. So, I called Mis and got an updated one, and it sat on my desk for another 6 years.
This is a signup list of on-campus volunteer opportunities at Misericordia. MFA families and friends can signup for spots working at our on-campus events and the Sunday brunches, working in the kitchens prepping food on Saturdays, helping decorate the campus with Christmas decorations, working shifts at the Harlem Irving Park Giving Tree, distributing turkeys to staff, etc.
We are also looking for volunteers to help with sales at our on campus events. There are three separate areas needing volunteers - our Christmas Cottage, our Gift Shop and our table that sells resident-made artwork and crafts. Sign up to work with the Heartstrings Gift Shop and Christmas Cottage, which are in operation when we have on-campus events.
Click here for Holiday Sales Volunteer Opportunities
After two quiet years, the Misericordia Hearts and Flour Bakery is once again planning on having individual and group volunteer opportunities this holiday season! If you, your friends, or family members are interested in volunteering, please read more about the updated requirements for this and sign up at one of these links:
Click here for December Bakery Volunteer Opportunities
by Judy Wall
Christy was our first child and first grandchild for my family. Joy and excitement were ours during her early weeks and months. I began to get my feet under me as a mom, Jim adjusted to the newness of being someone’s dad, and Christy, well Christy was a happy, healthy, beautiful, bright infant full of smiles and coos. In December of 1977 Christy turned 5 months old, her seizures began, and life as we knew it ended. Any simple assumptions we had about the road ahead were erased, although we did not yet know this. The first seizure lasted 2 hours, brought an ambulance ride, a hospitalization, tests, and anticonvulsants. As well as the hope that terrible experience would never recur. Of course, within a few weeks another seizure came, and now through her 45 years they have never stopped coming. They sneaked around every anticonvulsant and treatment and continued to cause damage. As the years have gone on, they have robbed my precious daughter of so much. But those of you who know Christy see a happy, smiling, joking girl who has boundless love to give.
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