- Will you consider this?

We've all heard of Easterseals but what do we really know about all Easterseals has to offer children and their families?

(rousing music) In 1934, a fundraising campaign began through the stamps or the seals we all recognize as Easterseals but have programs ever, ever, ever, ever improved through the years?

Here to share what's up in Central Illinois is Molly Hogeboom the Community Engagement Manager.

That sounds like a really fancy title.

- (chuckles) It is.

I enjoy it a lot.

- Good.

Well, you can explain to me what that is later but tell me, just briefly the story of Easterseals.

- Sure.

So right here in Central Illinois we have our very own Easterseals.

However, we are one of over 75 affiliates across the country but what makes our Easterseals special is that we focus on specialized pediatric therapy and resources.

So we have many different facets of Easterseals.

What we find here in Central Illinois that like you said everyone knows what Easterseals is.

- The Lilly.

- Yes.

- We all picture that Lilly.

- Right, right.

But it is, it's so much more than that now.

They might know on the surface yes, we help kids with developmental delays disabilities, and other special needs but how do we do that?

And there's so many different ways.

Whether it be in our Peoria and Bloomington service centers we also have our Timber Point Outdoor Center which is a recreational camp on Lake Hudson in Bloomington and then we have our Easterseals Learning Academy which is a specialized school in Germantown Hills that has been around for about four or five years now and we're very proud of that.

- We'll get to those.

- Sure.

- I wanna know your story.

How did you come to be involved with Easterseals?

- So, yes.

So I've worked at Easterseals for about five years now but my story and connection with Easterseals goes about 32 years back.

I was born with something called Right Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy.

So it affects the right side of my body.

It's kind of like the right side of my body is mildly paralyzed.

So for that reason, when I was about six months old I started at Easterseals and I received physical and occupational therapy services from there.

And I wouldn't be where I am today without those services.

Obviously I hold a huge passion for the disability community and Easterseals because of what they've done for me.

And what is really a cool story now is that Easterseals helped me back in 1993, in one way and currently, my two and a half year old son, Shay is receiving his own services through early intervention at Easterseals.

And what makes it even more special is his therapist was my therapist.

- Oh, isn't that interesting.

- It is.

It is.

- Wow.

So that shows true dedication from the staff.

- Right.

True dedication and it also shows how big the support matters to Easterseals.

We wouldn't be able to provide the services we do still if we didn't have that awareness in the community that we do.

And so, I'm grateful that we still have this resource and I know a lot of other families are too.

- So pediatricians pick up on certain conditions and they're mostly the referral source for Easterseals?

- Sure.

Yes, and so, birth to three is what we call early intervention services.

And so a pediatrician can refer to Easterseals from that.

But what a lot of people don't know is that you can also self refer to early intervention.

So if you notice something about your kiddo and you want to have them evaluated you can go ahead and do that yourself through the early intervention program.

And what's great, is that assessment or evaluation is completely free of charge.

- So what kinds of things then would a parent or a grandparent what would they look for if it was a self-referral that maybe the doctor missed or they just didn't have enough visits or whatever?

- Sure.

Sure.

So as mom, as a young mom you find online those milestones.

- Hang on a minute.

My mic?

Oh, it's hittin' them.

It's hittin' her necklace.

(off mic chatter) - Okay.

Sure.

That's okay.

- Okay, wait a minute, let's flip your one- - The triangles (both laugh) - Yeah.

- [Christine] (coughs) Okay.

- [Male] If you can say just a few words so I can check levels.

- Test, test, test.

- How's that?

Does that work?

- [Male] Yep.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

- Yep.

- Okay.

- All right, so we can pick up where my question left off?

Okay, so I was asking you about what parents, grandparents, somebody'd look for.

- Sure.

Sure.

And as a young mom and I'm sure a lot of other parents know that you come across those milestone timeline things and if you notice your kiddo maybe isn't following those timelines that's something you might want to consider self-referring or even just mentioning to your pediatrician so they can make the referral.

So that could be, hey, my kiddo's not talking like the rest of his friends or my kiddo's not moving around like the rest of his friends.

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the kiddo.

All kids move at their own pace.

- Right.

- But it doesn't hurt to use this free source to just make sure everything's going like it's supposed to.

- All right.

So when you were there and this is probably what kids are still doing you said you did your physical therapy.

So at six months old what kind of physical therapy is that?

- So that's a really good question.

As a baby, you work on things like reaching and just general mobility.

As someone with cerebral palsy kind of how that can affect someone is my muscles get super duper tight.

So the therapist would work on kind of stretching those muscles.

And eventually as I got older we worked towards those milestones like standing, and walking, and jumping and running, and going upstairs.

I always tell people, it's so funny when I was little, I was going up therapy stairs at Easterseals with my therapist and now I run up the stairs to my office when I'm running late.

- [Christine] See.

Full circle.

- Full circle.

- All right.

And then, occupational therapy then, same kind of thing?

- Yeah.

- Fine motor skills.

- Yep.

Yep.

Occupational therapy is those tasks of daily living, right?

So for me, yes, it was working on those fine motor skills.

Things like tying my shoes, zipping my coat, cutting paper.

- You have to have the right kind of scissors to cut paper.

I'm sorry, but yeah.

- Exactly.

You do, you do.

- It's difficult.

- Especially when you're lefthanded.

- Oh boy.

- Yeah.

So there's that realm of occupational therapy and then there's kind of the realm where my son has his help and occupational therapy.

His is more of a sensory type thing and learning how to regulate his emotions.

- Okay.

- He has big fun emotions and sometimes he just needs a little extra help on how to fit out how to maintain those.

- So is he an empath?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Yes.

- Something happens and he cries.

- Yes.

- Something happens to somebody else and he cries.

- And he just, his gross motor skills are through the roof but regulating... if I take his toy he might not handle that very well.

So we work on ways in which she can soothe himself to kind of carry on with the task he's doing.

- So, I mean it's interesting that Easterseals addresses all of those types of issues.

- Yes.

Yes.

We actually serve last year I think we served just over 5,000 kiddos in many different ways and that equals about over 36,000 hours of specialized pediatric therapy.

And that includes things like the Timber Point Outdoor Center and things that happen at the learning academy, so.

- Right, so tell me me about The Timber Point Outdoor Center.

- Yeah.

So Timber Point Outdoor Center is a camp.

They're on Lake Hudson in Bloomington.

And what is so cool about camp is every single thing there can be adapted for someone that may have a different ability.

They do not make a program or even a game or an activity that cannot be done unless every single camper can do it.

- All inclusive.

- All inclusive.

So we offer day camps.

We offer overnight camps.

We serve our own Easterseals families through those camps but we also do partner camping with other organizations across Illinois and across the United States that come to Timber Point.

And it's just the coolest place in the world.

One of the neatest things you'll ever see is someone with limited to no mobility shoot across the sky on a zip line all by themselves.

- So somebody who maybe is out of a wheelchair and set up to do that.

- Yep.

Yep.

All by themselves.

- They would never be able to do anything like that.

- Yep, they never hear, no.

- That's awesome.

- That's the place for yes.

For sure.

- All right so, now the Central Illinois Easterseals of Bloomington-Normal, Peoria included and everywhere in between and then how far west do we go how far east of Bloomington-Normal?

- So I think the next affiliate closest to us would be the Chicagoland Rockford area.

And then I believe there's one down closer to Southern Illinois area as well but we encompass quite a bit of area here in Central Illinois.

- And then they can use the Timber Point Outdoor Center too.

- Yes.

- Now how long has Easterseals had that and how, were they gifted with that or how did that come about, do you know?

- I think came from the generous support of donors in that Bloomington-Normal area.

I can't really recall how long exactly Timber Point has been around but I know our Easterseals has been around just over 100 years.

And we just celebrated our hundredth anniversary a few years back.

- All right.

That works.

Okay.

Then you have the Easterseals Learning Academy.

Now what exactly is that, and where is it?

- So the Easterseals Learning Academy is a specialized school in Germantown Hills.

And that school is for children that maybe were not thriving in a regular school setting.

So those children, mostly the population does have autism there.

And we serve kids from preschool, kindergarten all the way up till seniors in high school.

And it is very specialized.

There's right now, I think about 31 students there.

And while they're at the learning academy they get that specialized care they need that one-on-one attention as well as our therapy services that we provide in the center.

So it's kind of a one stop shop for all their needs.

And now the end goal though is not for those kiddos to stay at the learning academy.

Ultimately the goal is to have them transition back into that regular school setting in their home district.

If a kiddo is showing signs like they might need to attend a school like the learning academy that referral is done through their home district.

So it's not necessarily, oh, you can't just say "I wanna go to the learning academy."

That home district would need to recommend it.

So it used to be a word that was used in... so I might be really outdated 'cause I sort of am, but mainstream then.

So they have their specialized ways to learn and to cope and then they can get back in they can mainstream back with the regular school district.

- Right.

Exactly.

Exactly.

- Okay.

Wow.

Well there's a lot going on.

Now you also of a giving circle.

It's called "The Giving Circle."

- Yes.

- This is a new thing.

- Yes, yes.

So the giving circle is a brand new thing this year.

A lot of people might be familiar with the Easterseals Ladies Auxiliary Fashion Show.

I think you yourself are rather familiar.

- I've done a few.

Yes.

- Yes, yes.

- In fact, I think I bought this from one of the booths there, but go ahead.

- Good!

Perfect!

Yeah.

So the fashion show ended last year.

We had our last show and we decided to pivot into this new and exciting way to get involved with Easterseals called "The Giving Circle."

And what it is, is it's kind of a giving group.

You join and you pay one fee to be involved.

And then what's really cool is members of the giving circle get to decide where their gift is going.

So this year we have three initiatives or three different facets that those people in the at group get to hear about.

And then they will ultimately get to vote on which initiative their gift goes to.

- Where they can direct that.

Well that's nice to have a say.

- Right.

Right.

And I think what's really cool is there's probably a naming option- - Opportunity.

- Yep.

- Okay.

So you have you also have a community rally coming up.

What all does that involve?

- Yes.

Yes.

So the community rally it is, we're so excited about it.

And again, we've kind of pivoted as time has gone by.

A lot of people are familiar with our Easterseals telethon.

We love the telethon but we evolved to a new thing called The Community Rally.

Whereas, with the telethon we would celebrate Easterseals for one night and celebrate all of our families and our volunteers.

But with the community rally we actually will celebrate Easterseals a whole entire week.

And that week is actually coming up here pretty quick.

- Okay.

- It will start April 16th in the east Peoria Levee District with our run, walk, and rally 5k and one mile.

And then we will go throughout the week in many different facets and we can talk about other ways the community is involved and then we will conclude again with a run, walk, and rally in Bloomington for our Bloomington market.

And everything needs to be rethought and the whole pause of these health concerns- - Right.

- Has kind of put kind of a spin on everything.

- Right.

- And make everyone's creative juices start to flow.

- Exactly.

Exactly.

So yes, we took that spin of oh we can't sit at the paradise and have all these phones but we can definitely still use this to spread the message of inclusion and awareness and acceptance out in our community all while educating the community about Easterseals but also celebrating the amazing families we serve.

- And so 2022, just in the beginning of it you have full capacity of families?

Can you always be accepting new kids?

- Yeah.

Yep.

As long as those referrals are made like I said, either a self-referral for birth to three or the referral from the pediatrician, that will happen.

And then our service coordinators will navigate how those services will work for that family.

- A service coordinator.

- Yep.

- So that's the initial visit and the service coordinator can establish what needs to be done?

- Yep.

The service coordinator is kind kind of there to hold the family's hand and walk through them with walk with them through their journey of services so I mean, some things are you know what you need as far as with my diagnosis I could, someone could say yes, she will need physical therapy and occupational therapy.

For other kids that have other diagnosis they might have to have several assessments to determine what those needs are and how long those needs will be et cetera, et cetera.

- All right.

So you have staff and then you also work with the hospitals too the doctors at the hospitals.

What is the affiliation there?

- So we do have a clinic in our Easterseals Center and we offer several I guess, clinics, if you will working with those doctors.

Whether it be through our autism diagnosis clinic or we even have a cleft palate clinic for a family that needs to navigate that.

- There are surgeries available though for like a clef palate, correct?

- Yes.

Yep, yep.

And those consultations can be done in the clinic we have upstairs.

- But then the kids need to learn how to talk when everything has been rearranged.

- Yep.

Yep.

- And then Easterseals steps in there.

- Yep.

And provides speech therapy.

And that's, the facet of speech therapy you hear it and you think well, I'm gonna learn how to talk.

Yes, that is part of it but there is so much more to speech therapy than just vocalizing your words.

It can be how to appropriately use your communication as well.

For some of our friends too that are non-verbal they might use a augmented communication device.

I don't know if you've ever- - I've seen them.

Correct.

Yes.

- Yeah.

They look like iPads but that is how they choose to communicate.

So our staff, our speech therapy staff is fully equipped to teach a kiddo how to properly use that device.

- Hmm.

So, okay, your title again is Community- - Community Engagement Manager.

Yes.

- And is this something that they've had before or they just specially created it for you?

- I think they might have named it for all that I do.

I was already doing all stuff but this title was more appropriate.

When I started at Easterseals...

I've worn many hats.

I started as a Development Associate so I had my hands in everything whether it be our events and community awareness but as time went on once an ambassador for Easterseals always an ambassador for Easterseals.

And I'm very passionate about educating the community about Easterseals.

So this title is kind of fitting for what I do.

I do many different programs that are a part of the Easterseals Community Rally and that includes our ability Awareness Program.

Right now we have a great partnership with District 150 in that we have this program that teaches kids about our friends that may have different abilities.

- And how to be accepting.

- And how to be accepting, and how to be kind and proper etiquette.

And again, it's a completely free program that any school can choose to have.

And it's a really important program and something I really enjoy teaching about as someone with my own unique needs.

Another program we have, and this is kind of new is the Easterseals 101.

So a lot of people may be familiar with how we used to have luncheons for the telethon where we would educate about Easterseals.

well we decided, with the pandemic let's bring that to businesses so they don't have to come to us.

So it's a 20 to 30 minute presentation all about Easterseals.

Like I said, so many people know who we are maybe the, just the general of what we do but with those presentations we really take a deep dive on those critical services that we provide.

- Open eyes and minds.

- Yep.

Exactly.

- And how many presentations do you make?

And do you contact the businesses or do they find you?

- A mixture of both.

- Okay.

- A mixture of both.

The hope is, by having a committee that serves for the community rally is they make those suggestions for us.

Sometimes we find a family receives Easterseal services and that family wants hey, this is where dad works.

Can you kind of tell him a little bit more about Easterseals and what you do and why it's so important to us?

And yes, we will always do that.

And we, my goal is to just educate, educate, educate about Easterseals as much as I can.

- Well you know it from the bare bones.

You know if from, really from the ground up.

- Right, right.

It is definitely an extension of who I am.

- You're in a very unique position.

- Yes.

- All right.

What is your favorite, favorite thing about your affiliation with Easterseals?

- My favorite thing...

So one of my other hats that I get to wear- - Ah, well you gotta start picking up some hats- - I know.

I know.

I should've worn a hat today.

(both laugh) is I get to be the lead connector if you will with our Easterseals ambassador families.

So as an ambassador family your role is to choose to tell your Easterseal story in a public setting.

And that could be public speaking that could be in writing that can be in pictures, et cetera.

What's so neat about it for me is I get to meet these families and walk alongside them and hear their stories, and advocate for them.

But I think it might be a little meaningful for them as well in that, at one time I was that three year old.

At one time, my mom was that mom that didn't know what was- - What to do and where to go.

- What to do, where to go.

- What my future will hold.

And if families can see what I did it's a little bit of a comfort for them.

And I've gotten so close to many of them.

And that's another reason why I'm so passionate about what I do is because when I go out into the community they are the first thing in my mind.

I am paving the way for them.

So as that kiddo leaves the door the doors of Easterseals that parent doesn't have to worry about educating, or teaching inclusion or kindness it's already been done for them.

- What a great story.

And then the program, then through District 150 you've seen some good results.

What's the most refreshing the most rewarding thing that you've heard from some of the kids who have participated?

- Sure.

What's really neat about that program is I think it gives these little ones their minds are so ready to be molded with everything.

And they're just more so curious more than anything.

At one part, when I give an assembly I show them my hands.

My hands look different because my right hand is smaller than my left.

And it's always up like, "Wow!

Oh!"

And I kind of compare myself to "Finding Nemo."

He's one of my favorite characters 'cause Nemo has a little fin doesn't he?

- He does.

- But he still wants to be included with everyone else.

But when I tell those stories and talk about myself and teach these things at the end of the assembly sometimes you'll have one or two kids raise their hand and say, "Oh, I go to Easterseals.

Well, why do you go to Easterseals?"

And then they tell and their friends all hear and you can just see right then and there that was their opportunity to- - To be accepted.

- Yep.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- Ah, well that is very refreshing.

And I've known you since you were a single girl.

- Yeah.

(laughing) At Peoria Notre Dame.

Now you're married, two kids.

- Yeah.

- A successful, successful career and you're making quite a difference.

So, for more information about Easterseals where do people find you?

- They can go to Eastersealsci.com.

- All right, and that stands for Easterseals Central Illinois.

- Yep.

- All right.

- And you gotta put a www in front of that, right?

- Yep.

You got it.

- Okay.

Well thanks for your refreshing story, Molly.

And for sharing all of this information.

- Of course.

- And we'll have you back and see if we can see at the community rally a week long deal.

- Yes.

Yes.

You better be there.

- A lot of fun.

Okay.

Thanks so much for being with you.

I hope you've been enlightened about Easterseals.

Thanks for joining us, and stay safe and healthy.