Yahaira Ramirez, director of Clinical Operations for Smith Senior Living (from left), Michelle Bailey, CNA; Fredella Perteete, CNA, and Marti Jatis, executive director for Smith Village celebrate the completion of the new CNAs’ completion of classwork and passing the test for certification. (Supplied photo)
Smith Village employees complete CNA program at Moraine Valley Community College
Smith Village, a life plan community in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, teamed-up with educators at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills so employees interested in becoming nurses could participate in a new program designed to attract students new to the field.
“The idea is to fund short- and long-term education programs so people can enter the healthcare field and earn better wages in jobs that are in high demand,” says Debi Savage, director of nursing at Moraine Valley. “At the moment, the nursing shortage makes the need clear.”
MVCC’s funding paid for tuition, books, fees, supplies and a gas card to cover transportation expenses. Smith Village augmented those benefits by paying hourly wages to employees attended class and assigned coworkers to cover their schedules while they were in class. They also guaranteed jobs as CNAs as soon as they earned certification.
Michelle Bailey, who has worked for two years as a housekeeper at Smith Village, dreamed of being a nurse when she was young, so she saw this opportunity as a second chance.
“I thought about the studying, the books and the hard work of school and wondered if I really wanted to go through all of that again,” she says. “But I gathered my courage and decided to go for it.” Now, just three months later, Bailey is working in her new role at a higher salary.
“I always wanted to be a certified nursing assistant,” says Fredella Perteete, who has worked as a server since January of 2022 in Smith Village’s dining rooms. “But I put off going to school because it’s expensive.”
Perteete sees this program as her first step in advancing her career in nursing as she plans to return to school and earn her LPN certification.
“We met each week and really saw a change in both students,” says Karen Jellema, director of human resources at Smith Senior Living. “Their confidence increased. The way they spoke changed. We witnessed them growing into their new role at Smith Village. We are very proud to have two trusted employees join our nursing staff.”
This program offers one solution to the nursing shortage that has challenged senior living, hospitals and clinics nationwide, but it also aligns with Smith Village’s employment policies.
“Smith Village believes in attracting employees who believe in our mission, supporting their education and promoting from within,” says Marti Jatis, executive director at Smith Village. “Our residents will benefit from the expertise of these caring employees. We’re so pleased to see them advance their careers.”
For more information about Smith Village, please call 773-474-7300.
Local News
Palos Golf returns to Tinley Expo despite loss of longtime owner
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva The Tinley Park Golf Expo returned to the village’s convention center last weekend. So did the Palos Golf Shop. But there was someone very important missing. Thomas Thoss, the longtime owner of the Palos Hills business along with his wife, Nancy, died in October after a battle with cancer. His…
Orland Park officials Geeked up over new safety ranking
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva The Geek has spoken. And Orland Park officials liked what it had to say. The MoneyGeek personal finance technology company ranked Orland Park eighth safest out of 952 United States cities between 30,000 and 100,000 residents for 2021. “As crime continues to rise in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, we…
Willow Springs hires three for police department
Spread the loveBy Steve Metsch All three new hires by the Willow Springs Police Department have some experience working in the village. But as of Jan. 27, they are officially members of the police department. The Willow Springs Village Board, at its most recent meeting, hired Andzeliak Bugajski and Anthony Vosicky as part-time officers and…
Argo wrestlers advance to sectionals
Spread the love From staff reports Nine members of the Argo wrestling team qualified for this weekend’s sectional tournament at the IHSA Class 3A regional at Mount Carmel High School last Saturday. Head Wrestling Coach Matthew McMurray said, “It was a great job by all of our wrestlers as they finished in third place. We…
Spartan Educational Foundation presents Rat Pack tribute
Spread the loveBy Kelly White Oak Lawn Community High School’s Spartan Educational Foundation is dedicated to helping students fulfill their dreams. “The Spartan Educational Foundation is continuously looking for opportunities to raise funding to support our student scholarship and staff mini-grant programs,” Michael Riordan, Superintendent at Oak Lawn Community Hight School and Spartan Educational Foundation…
Stickney’s St. Pius X Parish to merge with St. Leonard
Spread the loveBy Bob Bong St. Pius X Parish in Stickney will merge with St. Leonard Parish in Berwyn this summer, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, announced last month. The merger is part of the archdiocese’s ongoing Renew My Church initiative and will take effect on July 1. The new parish will have one…
La Grange twins are Chick Evans scholars
Spread the loveBy Steve Metsch Long hours spent in the La Grange Country Club’s caddie shack – killing time by reading books or playing cards as they wait to be called to duty – have paid off for a brother and sister. Through the past four years, Caroline and Casey Hart honed their skills, learned…
Fun from above
Spread the love While some folks see heavy snowfall and curse the skies, children in Clearing and Garfield Ridge seemed thrilled with last week’s winter windfall. Schools cancelled classes, and kids like Garfield Ridge sisters Makayla, 10, and 6-year-old Mia Hernandez grabbed their plastic sleds and rode ripples of white all afternoon on a large…
Brother Rice’s 11-game win streak ends with loss to Leo
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer In seemingly a blink of an eye, Brother Rice picked up as many losses as it had all season. The Crusaders headed into last weekend’s action with a 21-2 record and was 10-0 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue. But Friday night, they suffered a 56-50 setback to…
Neighbors
Advocates say SCOTUS ruling paves way for law ensuring abusers have guns confiscated
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com After the U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld a federal law that bars those under domestic violence-related restraining orders from owning guns, victim advocates say Illinois lawmakers should pass a measure to ensure firearms are actually confiscated in those situations. The legislation has been stalled for more than…
Communities, commission push Pritzker admin for more prison plan details
By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com Jimmy Soto spent more than 42 years wrongfully imprisoned in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. In 2020, he was moved to the “F-House” at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, a condemned unit, not because he was being punished, but because it was where the facility was housing individuals…
Elections board urged to dismiss complaint that Bailey illegally coordinated in 2022 campaign
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A hearing officer is recommending the Illinois State Board of Elections dismiss a complaint that alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor. Proft, a one-time gubernatorial candidate himself, is behind an…
State highway shootings decline as critics sue over ‘dragnet surveillance’
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois State Police say an automated license plate reader program has helped the agency identify witnesses or suspects in 82 percent of highway shooting cases this year, including all eight that resulted in a death. But as the state looks to further expand its network of more than…
Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on Wednesday announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in…
As Illinois session ends, lawmakers’ attempt to reinstate wetland protections fails
by JENNIFER BAMBERG Investigate Midwest jennifer.bamberg@investigatemidwest.org In 2006, 19-year-old Jessica Whinston inherited 20 acres of land that her grandparents once farmed in Quincy, Illinois. The land had sat dormant since the 1980s and was overgrown, but Whinston and her husband Bradley worked to turn it into a productive farm. The couple were eventually able to…
Elections board dismisses illegal campaign coordination complaint, declines to clarify law
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – State elections officials on Tuesday indicated they were unlikely to step in to clarify what constitutes illegal campaign coordination after voting to dismiss a complaint alleging such coordination in the 2022 campaign for governor. At their monthly meeting in Chicago, Illinois State Board of Elections members…
Illinois’ ban on ‘bump stocks’ remains in place despite U.S. Supreme Court decision
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois law banning the sale and use of “bump stocks” and other devices that increase the firing power of semiautomatic weapons remains in place, at least for now, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday striking down a federal ban on such items. “Illinois law…
Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan
By HANNAH MEISEL & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – For the last two decades, each time a governor has moved to close a large state-run facility like a prison or mental health center, a legislative oversight panel has voted on the plan. That changed on Friday – at least for now –…
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com LINCOLN – On the eve of a scheduled vote to advise Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on plans to close and rebuild a pair of dilapidated state prisons, hundreds filed into a junior high school gymnasium Thursday evening clad in matching green T-shirts. Printed on the shirts was a…