The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • A4

A4 Monday, March 5, 2018 The 1 LEWIS MARIEN THE PANTAGRAPH a swan admires its reflection while swimming Friday at a lake in the ld Farm Lakes subdivision in Bloomington. SWAN LAKE In 1898, the Danville VA facility was one of the original eight National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, with primary focus on providing care for Civil War veterans. Since its establishment, the Danville VA has offered medical and mental health care, shelter, education, training, employment and recreation to veterans in a planned community. In 1958, VA researchers and physicians invented the implantable cardiac pacemaker. In 1968, VA physicians conducted the first successful liver transplant.

Illiana Danville VA was the first location within the VA to establish the Green House model of skilled nursing care. Since 2011, the Danville facility has opened four Green Homes, each with 10 residents. The homes prioritize the quality of life, providing an atmosphere of security, privacy, dignity and companionship in a real home setting. Each resident has a private bathroom and bedroom, with the bedrooms situated around a hearth area with open kitchen and dining room. Meals are prepared in the kitchen and served at a large single dining table where veterans, families and friends can enjoy a pleasant dining experience.

In October 2016, a 65- unit residential building opened on the Danville campus, managed by Mercy Housing. Each unit is subsidized through the local housing project-based Housing Choice voucher program, specifically for veterans who have experienced homelessness and who have engaged in the VA Supportive Housing case management program. For more information about Illiana VA at Danville, visit https://www.danville. va.gov/about/history.asp. DID YOU KNOW? The cold and flu season is not over.

According to the VA and the Centers for Disease Control, cold and influenza are respiratory illnesses caused by two different viruses. A cold can cause a stuffy or runny nose, cough, scratchy throat and watery eyes. Over-the-counter medications can help alleviate symptoms, and colds generally run their course without severe complications. Influenza also causes a runny or stuffy nose and cough; however, symptoms tend to be more intense. A fever that does not drop with regular use of over- the-counter medication after about two days, accompanied by sudden-onset fever, fatigue, chills, muscle pain, joint pain and body aches can be an indication that you are facing more than a cold.

Older veterans and those suffering from respiratory illnesses such as COPD, or veterans not in great health, are especially vulnerable to complications from influenza. At the VA, it is never too late to be vaccinated for seasonal flu and pneu mococcal pneumonia. However, it takes a full two weeks after vaccination for your body to develop its own immunity to influenza. VETERANS TRANSPORTATION NETWORK As good as VA health care is, if you cannot get to a VA facility for care, its value is zero. The VA Veterans Choice program allows VA-approved local health care from private care providers.

Illiana VA Health Care System is a part of the VA National Transportation Network (VTN). For veterans in Central Illinois, the VA has two vans, available Monday through Friday, that transport veterans to Danville for VA health care. Both originate at the Bob Michel VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Peoria. The morning van is operated with volunteer drivers through the Dis abled American Veterans, with financial support from area Veteran Assistance Commissions. The van arrives at the west side of on Brock Drive, Bloomington, at 7 a.m.

That van leaves Danville to return to Bloomington at 12:30 p.m. The second van is operated and staffed by the VA and stops at the same at 11 a.m. This an returns from Danville when the Indianapolis VA van arrives at Danville, usually around 3:30 p.m. To secure transportation on these vans, call 800320-8387. Dial 0 and an operator will respond.

Request the operator to direct your call to Sharon Green or the transportation desk. Alternatively, call the McLean County Veterans Assistance Commission at 309-8885140. EVENT VFW ost 454 in Bloomington will host a haircut for at the post on Lincoln Street in Bloomington. Paul Mitchell The School students will cut the hair of any veteran (male or female) at the post between 2 to 4 March 11. Veterans orner publishes Monda y.

It is written by the McLean ount Veterans a ssistanc ommission, 200 Front Bloomington, IL 61701; call 309-888-5140. VETERANS CORNER EDWARDSVILLE (AP) Some county officials in southwestern Illinois say crime from St. Louis is trickling into the state. Madison County Sheriff John Lakin recently said the county is starting to feel the effects of being near of the most dangerous cities in the United are bad people, and trying to educate our residents to not become a Lakin said. olent crime does happen in Madison County.

We know got our share of bad people over The comments came after St. Louis resident Tyrone Grady was shot and killed in the rural Illinois village of Glen Carbon on eb. 11. Three St. Louis men have been charged in the death.

point for making that comment is that trying to educate the public on our side of the river that there are bad things happening over Lakin said. Madison County Attorney Tom Gibbons said seen an increase in the number of crimes committed by St. Louis residents, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. Gibbons said as of Feb. 21 eight of the past 30 felony charges in Madison County were filed against people from St.

Louis city or county. Illinois sheriff: Crime spreading from St. Louis TUESDAY Capone and the 1933 author presentation; 6:30 p.m. ues day, Bloomington Public Library ommunity oom; a uthor William azelgrove; books for sale and signing after program. Distinguished Lecture for the College of Arts and Sciences; 7 p.m.

Tuesday, ld Main oom, Bone Studen enter, Illinois State University, ormal; speaker: Laura Vogel, professor of immunology, on a fan tastic voyage: cells, the unsung heroes of the immune AREA CALENDAR SPRINGFIELD (AP) The state of Illinois is looking for gardeners interested in planting at the Illinois State Fair Grandstand race community garden this season. The Illinois Department of Agriculture says there are 200 garden plots avail able at the Springfield site, including 100 for organic gardening and 100 for non-organic gardening. Plots cost $20. State fair community garden set to open MICHELE LEHMAN Woodford County Journal EUREKA Mary Kerr enjoys sharing stories from days gone by with children. The retired teacher from Washington encourages an interest in the past by taking historical artifacts into schools through the Time Travels in Trunks program sponsored by the Washington Historical Society.

During one of school visits, students became especially fascinated with information about Wor ld War II German prisoners of war who worked at local canning factories. That sent Kerr on a course of research that resulted in two books about the local experiences and how the war affected local everyday lives. Kerr will share research from her first book, the self-published 2016 Home front and the at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Eureka Public Library. She will discuss the role of POWs who were used by regional industries, including Libby, McNeill Libby canneries in Washington, Morton and Eureka.

To register to attend the free presentation, call 309-467-2922. The 250 POWs who worked in the area from summer 1944 to fall 1945 had formerly been imprisoned at Camp Ellis in Fult on County, where more than 2,000 German prisoners were housed, according to Kerr. Most of them lived at Libby canning factories in Morton and Washington, and some lived at Eureka College to be closer to Eureka plant. The prisoners worked 12-hour shifts, Kerr noted, helping to cover the wartime labor shortage and the demand for canned foods to feed U.S. troops.

The prisoners also helped at area farms, Kerr said. The Eureka plant, which opened in 1898 as the Dickinson Co. cannery, closed in 1960, ending the claim to fame as Pumpkin Capital of the World. Portions of the building recently were refurbished for use as an event center appropriately named The Cannery. Today, only the Morton Libby plant remains open.

Among those whom Kerr interviewed was Annette Dickinson, 91, a longtime rural Congerville resident who now lives at Maple Lawn Homes in Eureka. Dickinson, a Eureka College freshman in fall 1944, recalled how 50 POWs living in Pritchard Gymnasium on campus would go outside in the mornings to their before setting off to work in the canning factory downtown. The U.S. Army guard usually would be leaning against a tree, his rifle on the ground nearby, Dickinson recalled. She remembered the tantalizing smell of bacon and other meats emanating daily from the POW kitchen, which upset the college students.

While wartime rationing limited meat to Wednesdays and Sundays for students, the POWs were served the same meals as the U.S. military per international POW rules, Kerr said. Robert Knapp, 85, of Eureka recalled working with several POWs who helped his father, Fred Knapp, on his farm north of Congerville, and the local children found the Germans and American soldiers Despite the war, the POWs and locals had any hard Knapp said. ones who I was around like the war any more than us kids Historian traces story of POWs ASSOCIATES FREECONSULTATION 827-3030 TOLLFREE844-593-4203 Base 60,000 9I ch7 700 www.mykeystonehomes.com FREEREMODELINGCONSULTATION(309)275-0836 WEREMODELDREAMSINT HOMES INTEGRITY QUALITY COMMUNICATION BOBBRAD BROKER PRESIDENT BUILDER Forfurtherinformationcontact: RickKendall BranchManager 309-662-8575 rick.kendall@wfadvisors.com ForImmediateRelease AboutWellsFargoAdvisors AboutWellsFargo -WellsFargoAdvisors ispleasedtoannouncethefollowingFinancialService Professionalearnedatitlepromotionfor2018: investorsthroughlocationsinall50statesandtheDistrict ofColumbia.WellsFargoAdvisorsisthetradenameused byWellsFargoClearingServicesLLCandWellsFargo registeredbroker-dealersandnon-bankaffiliatesofWells community-basedfinancialservicescompanywith financially.Foundedin1852andheadquarteredin (wellsfargo.com)andmobilebanking,andhasofficesin 42countriesandterritoriestosupportcustomers whoconductbusinessintheglobaleconomy.With oneinthreehouseholdsintheUnitedStates.WellsFargo perspectivesfromWellsFargoarealsoavailableatWells FargoStories. WellsFargoAdvisorsisatradenameusedbyWellsFargo FINANCIALSERVICE PROFESSIONALEARNS TITLEPROMOTION MAYLoseValue NOBankGuarantee IceCream IceCream 1019S.Main Bloomington 829-6022 Spring IsHere NowOpen! Spring IsHere!.