Henry County Mental Health Alliance offers 'Protecting Hope' event

According to the CDC, more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness, one in five U.S. youth (ages 13-18) either currently have or at some point had a serious debilitating mental illness, and one in 25 U.S. adults live with a serious mental health illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression.

In our community, the Geneseo Police Department’s IMPACT (Integrated Model Police and Crisis Team) Task Force and the Henry County Mental Health Alliance are working together, with assistance from Hammond-Henry Hospital (HHH) to best address this alarming and increasing health crisis.

Most recently, the Henry County Mental Health Alliance organized and conducted its “2023 Mental Health Conference: Protecting Hope,” held May 24 at the Black Hawk College East Campus, Galva, of which both Hammond-Henry Hospital and Geneseo Police Department’s IMPACT Task Force participated. HHH’s Treena Adams, APRN, MSN, FNP-C, and Sarah Keutzer, RN, participated in the event’s Resource Fair, and Geneseo Police Department Detective Jamie Shoemaker presented a workshop on GPD’s Integrated Model Police and Crisis Team.

Jessica Schultz, Ph.D., a counseling psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Augustana College, served as the keynote speaker. Other workshops included “Ditching Diets: A Critical Look at Diet Culture”, “Exploring Inpatient and Outpatient Therapeutic Treatment Options for Schizophrenia Disorders and Bipolar Disorders”, the Illinois Lyme Association’s “Is it Really a Mental Health Disorder? Tick-Borne Disease in Illinois”, “Alternative MH Intervention – Taking my Brain to the Gym”, the SIU School of Medicine Farm Family Resource Initiative, and Freedom House’s “Intersection of Sexual Violence and Mental Health,” to name just a few.

Organizers also prioritized self-care and offered free chair massages, the petting of therapy dogs, planting flowers, self-discovery through poetry, music, and other de-stressors for the more than 135 attendees at the event.

In addition to this, the Geneseo Police Department's IMPACT Task Force, headed by Detective Jamie Shoemaker, is hosting its own Mental Health Seminar on July 28 at Augustana College, Rock Island. More details about this event and a possible expansion of mental health services at Hammond-Henry Hospital will be announced soon.

“Having mental and behavioral health services at Hammond-Henry Hospital is essential as a critical access hospital. Whether it is in the ER for acute crisis situations or being screened for depression or ADHD as a primary care patient, our providers are more than capable of caring for your mental health concerns,” said Adams.  “We promote a holistic approach including self-care, seeking out therapy, and can prescribe for a variety of conditions. Living a happy, healthy life includes caring for mental health concerns which are often set aside as they are not visible or diagnosed with tests. 

“We hope, as an organization, to expand on these services in the future as we see the need in the community and know that our patients would benefit,” she added. “Our organization values being a leader in caring for our patients. We hope to continue this in caring for their mental health.”

2023 'Free2Play'

fun in the sun

The 'Free2Play' summer movement camp, presented by the Hammond-Henry Hospital Rehab Department and the Geneseo Park District, empowers every child to be an athlete regardless of his or her lifestyle and station in life.

“Free2Play really is just that, giving kids the chance to play and have fun with one another," said Greg Janicki, Rehab Services Manager. "We had a great group and hope to continue it again next year."

Event sponsors included All in Stitches, Central Bank, Emerick Pest Control, Inc., Geneseo Communications, Geneseo Pizza Hut, Hanford Insurance, Hazelwood Homes Inc., Sam's LaRoma Pizza, Springfield Armory, Timberlyn Lighting Management, Inc., Vandemore Funeral Homes, Wisdom Financial Services LLC, and Wyffels Hybrids.

Recently, five Hammond-Henry Hospital Rehab Services employees volunteered two hours of their time to assemble and fit an adaptive Mississippi Bend Tryke for one of our physical therapy patients with special needs that, otherwise, would not be safe on a typical bike.

Among the the volunteers helping Andy were Tess Peters, Sarah Weber, John Davis, Mindy Brown, and Kelcey Zanfes.

The tryke funds were donated by the Sea Foam Company to make the tryke available at no cost to Andy's family.

HHH Foundation raises more than $4,100

On Saturday, June 4, eighty-four Pickleball players competed in the Hammond-Henry Hospital Foundation Pickleball Play Day at Richmond Hill. Over $4,100 was raised. These funds will go to purchase a Nu-Step for the Long Term Care Living Center. First, second, and third place medals were awarded for each round-robin group.

PHOTOS OF WINNERS IN THEIR DIVISIONS

HHH Auxiliary Community Education group offers health and hygiene tips

Deb Deener (left), Betty Minteer, Carol Johnson, and Nancy Stover (right), HHH Auxiliary Community Education Chairperson, are shown teaching health and hygiene tips to the kindergarten classes at Northside Elementary School in Geneseo.

There was a total of 16 puppeteers on this year's squad, who presented 17 shows in 20 school days to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes in Geneseo, Annawan, and Cambridge, reaching a total of 391 students. The pre-kindergarten show deals with poison awareness, and