August 2017 Village of Westchester Newsletter

Village of

Westchester August 2017 Newsletter

From the Desk of The President FIRE DEPARTMENT

3

POLICE DEPARTMENT

4

PUBLIC WORKS

8

LIBRARY

10

CALENDAR

17

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

19

PARK DISTRICT

28

Special Spaces, Normandy Builders, and Paul’s Pizza team up to give two terminally ill children the bedroom of their dreams.

As we head into mid-summer you may have seen many streets and alleys being paved.

The Westchester Pub-lic Works Department is pleased to announce a pilot paving project for five of the North/South gravel alleys located on the east side of Mannheim Rd and west of Balmoral. Our in-house paving of the alleys by the Public Works Department saves the village money and allows more streets/alleys to be paved.

The Village of Westchester is allowing residents to use the fountain area for special events. Events such as birthday parties, family celebrations and holiday events are just a few ideas. Anyone with suggestions or ideas for village events should contact Mayor Gattuso at Village Hall.

Westchester Fest Plans to resume a fest at St. Joseph High School are in the developmental stages and

the village will keep you informed as more details becomes available.

For Sale Currently there are 10 acres for sale by CBRE on Cermak Road adjacent to the Hampton Inn. Tentative plans are for a retail area in the front of the property with residential units in the back.

State Legislative Update Finally, Springfield has passed a state budget after a long debate. Be assured that the village of Westchester continues to offer the necessary services to its residents without any disruption.

Fun Science Fact – Total Eclipse On August 21, 2017, people all across the

See PRESIDENT, page 19

Westchester 2

August 2017

in

Pictures

Fire Department August 2017

3

Police Department 4

August 2017

August 2017

5

6

August 2017

Public Works August 2017

7

Public Works 8

August 2017

Chamber

of

Commerce

August 2017

9

Library 10

August 2017

August 2017

11

12

August 2017

St. Joseph August 2017

13

St. Joseph 14

August 2017

Letter

to the

President

August 2017

15

Hi PaulMy husband and I have been Westchester residents for the past 17 years. We have had many happy times, and many difficulties to overcome. In 2009, we had our first child, Colman, who was a blessing, but we quickly realized that he had some medical issues.

He would get sick and not recover and required multiple hospitalizations. When he was 6 months old, he was finally diagnosed with a primary immune deficiency, more specifically, Hypogammaglobinemia.

This means that he was born with a significant part of his immune system was not functioning.

There is no cure for this, and infections, if not treated quickly can lead to a very serious consequence. The easiest way to understand this disease is to say that Colman has the immune system like a person receiving chemotherapy.

A small virus, like the common cold can quickly turn into pneumonia. The only treatment available is to receive monthly infusions of IVIG (Immunoglobulins) which is a blood product. It takes multiple donors to make enough for Colman to receive his monthly treatment.

Colman began his first treatment at Children’s Hospital in May of 2010.

In 2010, we were severely affected by the “great flood”, which resulted in our house flooding to the beginning of our second floor.

During that weekend, Colman became ill and hospitalized again.

While we were at the hospital trying to deal with the sickness at hand, we received a phone call from the Westchester Fire Department that our house was on fire. Apparently, once the flood waters receded, a storage container in our crawl space was shifted during the flood and lodged against a light fixture.

With no one home, and many neighbors staying at hotels because of their own floods, our house burned for many hours. We lost everything inside the house, only the brick shell was left.

This was a very stressful time. Our son had a very serious disease which required the use of a nebulizer 3x a day to keep his lungs healthy, monthly visits to the hospital for infusions, and sometimes 3-4 visits to the pediatrician for infections that would quickly become out of control.

We were out of our house for over 2 years. Just finding a home we could rent that met the doctor’s requirements for Colman was a challenge.

We finally moved back in to our Westchester home, Colman has surgery for his ears, and to repair a hernia. He struggled with swallowing, speech, core strength, over 16 ear infections and as a result some hearing issues. He received amazing services of Occupational therapy and Speech/Feeding therapy.

By the age of 3 he was more on track developmentally, and was about to be a big brother. His brother Finn was born, and appeared from blood work to have a good immune system.

By the age of 2 1/2 Finn began to have all the same symptoms that Colman has and when he was retested, his blood work showed that he too had the same disease.

He began monthly infusions, but he was unable to tolerate them.

He would have severe reactions, aseptic meningitis, which resulted in excruciating headaches, passing out and being very ill. Since he needed the IVIG to live, the doctors tried everything to slow the rate of the infusion, change products, do different pre-medication, but nothing worked. We just did the best we could to treat the symptoms.

He too had weekly doctors’ visits, ear surgery, tonsil and adenoid surgery due to sleep apnea, daily nebulizer treatments and countless rounds of antibiotics.

Due to a blood clot scare this October in his brain, his IVIG treatment was changed to smaller weekly doses at home.

We also experienced a burglary in the early part of 2016. Not only did the boys have to deal with their anxiety about their medical conditions, but now they also had to worry about having their house burglarized.

The persons responsible for the robbery took everything of any value in our house, most importantly jewelry my mother had left me when she died. This was an amazingly difficult time for our family, but we made it out the other side!

Both Colman and Finn continue to receive their treatments monthly for Colman and weekly for Finn.

Primary Immune Deficiency is not something that they will outgrow or will get better with exposure to germs. This is a serious disease that affects them in many ways. They both have more doctors than most people will ever need – pediatrician, immunologist, neurologist, ear nose and throat, audiologists, gastrointestinal, allergist, orthopedic, eye specialist and dermatologist.

In addition, they both receive weekly occupational, speech and social work services. Their team of doctors and therapist are the greatest gift we could ever ask for.

Colman attends St. John of the Cross and needs a full-time nurse in the school building to help facilitate a safe environment. His classmates and parents are educated about Colman’s Primary Immune Deficiency and have been amazing to him.

The teachers and administration have taken an active role to allow for Colman to be in a safe caring place.

Even with all the struggles that the boys have had, you would not know it from looking at them.

They are courageous, resilient, amazing boys who don’t let their disease get in their way. This opportunity to have Special Spaces and Normandy Builders team up to give them their dream rooms is the most amazing gift.

The community has come together to support the boys, Paul Gattuso, owner of Paul’s Pizza and town Mayor has generously donated dinner for the volunteers, family and friends of the family.

Everyone’s generosity has been overwhelming and we are beyond grateful for everything everyone has done for our boys!¬¬

22 16

August2017 2017 August

Calendar August 2017

17

Calendar 18

August 2017

News

and

Notes

August 2017

PRESIDENT Continued from page 1

United States will see— a total eclipse of the Sun. I n a total eclipse The Moon completely blocks the Sun, daytime becomes a deep twilight, and the Sun’s corona shimmers in the darkened sky.

TO WATCH THE PARTIAL STAGES OF THE ECLIPSE, YOU MUST HAVE PROPER EYE PROTECTION. ECLIPSE GLASSES ARE AFFORDABLE AND SAFE. From what locations will the total solar eclipse be visible?

The path of totality for the Aug. 21, 2017, total solar eclipse is about 70 miles wide and stretches from Oregon to South Carolina. It passes through Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

When will the total solar eclipse occur, and how long will it last?

At most, the moon will completely cover the disk of the sun for 2 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s about how long totality will last for observers positioned anywhere along the center of the path of

totality. As you move toward the edge of the path, the duration of totality will decrease handful of cities that lie close to the center of the path.

Do I need any equipment to view the eclipse?

Anyone planning to view the total solar eclipse of 2017 should get a pair of solar viewing glasses. These protec-tive shades make it possible for observers to look directly at the sun before and after totality.

REMEMBER: Looking directly at the sun, even when it is partially covered by the moon, can cause serious eye damage or blindness.

NEVER look at a partial solar eclipse without proper eye protection..

During totality, when the disk of the sun is completely covered by the moon only then is it safe to look up at the sky.

19

20

August 2017

Community Development August 2017

21

22

August 2017

Calendar August 2017

23

Park District 24

August 2017