Senior Services of Central Illinois in Springfield, IL is a top-notch Senior Center!

As part of our series to highlight senior centers that are close to Peoria, this month we bring to your consideration the Senior Services of Central Illinois, located in Springfield, Il.  By providing education on the services provided by other centers, Graceland Center hopes to continue to gather support to create a 5-day-a-week center for older adults here in Peoria! Just look at the tremendous services this center offers to persons in Sangamon County!

The Executive Director, Carol Harms, presented an overview of programming provided through the center at our April 2023 Silver Summit. Barb Hipsher, Program Director, shared this photo of one of their evidence-based programs that is provided through the Illinois Department on Aging: Bingocize!

Bingocize strategically combines the game of bingo, exercise, and/or health education. Trained lay leaders may select between three separate 10-week units that focus on exercise-only, exercise and falls prevention, or exercise and nutrition

Each unit includes a leader’s script for each session and participants’ materials.  Groups of participants play Bingocize® twice per week, with each session running between 45-60 minutes.

The exercises incorporated during Bingocize consist of range of motion, balance, muscle strengthening, and endurance exercises. The program can be delivered using a traditional bingo game along with printed curriculum lay leader and participants’ materials or lay leaders and participants can use a web-based app to play Bingocize® in-person or remotely.   

From their website: Senior Services of Central Illinois (centralilseniors.org), here is a summary of their mission and purpose:

Our Mission: Senior Services of Central Illinois (SSCI) is a not-for-profit organization supporting and serving seniors with non-medical services to promote independent living and enrich quality of life.

Our Vision: For over 50 years, Senior Services of Central Illinois has supported seniors living independently. Through offerings to support basic needs, encourage healthy living and enriching lives with socialization, the agency offers the convenience of meeting multiple needs in one agency. The work of Senior Services is important to the community and often crucial to the individuals it supports and serves.

Those served: We focus on serving seniors, recognizing this population has diverse needs and desires. We prioritize the use of resources to meet those diversities through: Basic physical and life needs; healthy lifestyle promotion; and life enrichment through activities, socialization and lifelong learning. Although primary focus is to serve seniors we recognize the regulatory and funding source requirements which necessitate expanding service to other populations and support service expansion when it allows the agency to fulfill its mission and does not impede its ability to serve and support seniors.

People Resources: Qualified and engaged staff is essential for the agency to fulfill its mission. Acknowledging limitations of fiscal resources, we commit to providing a comprehensive reward package including financial, environmental and career elements.

Financial Resources: Sustained, unrestricted funding is vital for SSCI to respond to the needs of those served. We will establish and implement a plan to grow the availability of unrestricted funds.

Technical Resources: The continued expansion of technology provides an added opportunity to serve and support seniors and increase the efficiency of current offerings. We will use technology to provide greater access to on-line information and services for clients.

Marketing: We will create and implement a communication strategy to share the message about services provided to seniors.

Won’t it be a grand day when we can cut a ribbon and open up our very own senior center for Peoria? Let’s DO this!!