W E D N E S D A Y
August 11, 2021 Vol. 42, No. 2 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
New website shows vaccine rates at area senior facilities
Only 26% of staffers at Oak Park Oasis are vaccinated, according to the state data By MICHAEL ROMAIN Equity Editor
State officials recently released a new website showing the percentage of residents and staffers who are vaccinated at Medicare and Medicaidcertified long-term care facilities in Illinois. But the vaccination numbers of some Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities are missing and what data exists show that vaccination rates among staffers at Oak Park facilities vary widely — from a low of 26% of staffers at one facility to a high of 85% at another. Officials with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), which administers the online database and is one of several agencies responsible for regulating long-term care facilities in the state, let the public know about the COVID-19 database on Aug. 4. As of Aug. 9, the most current data was available through July 25, IDPH officials said. Oak Park has five long-term care facilities that are regulated by IDPH. These facilities are required to report vaccinations of residents and staff to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is where the IDPH data comes from. Among the five local facilities, data for Belmont Village Oak Park, 1035 Madison St., and Rush Oak Park Hospital, 520 S. Maple Ave., is missing from See VACCINATIONS on page 14
PROVIDED
LEGACY: The late Sabina Ott continues to live up to her title, “Art Mother.”
Sabina Ott still nurtures the next artist Collection of ‘Art Mother of Chicago’ goes to Columbia College Chicago
By MICHELLE DYBAL Arts Editor
A significant artist, especially recognized on the West Coast and in Chicago, Sabina Ott was tireless in nurturing the next artistic generation. She did it when she would see a young artist’s work, unfurling her roll of $20s and buying a piece instead of just saying she liked it. She did it by launching Terrain Exhibitions, which in 10 years’ time, has become an
international neighborhood art showcase. She did it by not agreeing to show her art unless it included an up-and-coming artist. She did it by bringing her heart and soul to Columbia College Chicago, becoming the first full professor of art there. And even posthumously, Ott will be able to nurture young artists at the school on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and beyond. More than 100 of Ott’s works have been donated by her husband, John Paulette, and have been eagerly accepted into their
archives to be preserved and used in the Columbia College curriculum. “She has had a profound and lasting impact upon the way we educate young artists and the way painting, both materially and conceptually, is enmeshed in our curriculum,” said Duncan MacKenzie, Columbia College’s Chair of Art and Art History and a colleague of Ott’s for more than a decade. “In seeking to locate this See OTT on page 19