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The Women's Treatment Center
                   
breaking the cycle of addiction
mending the bonds between women and their children!
March 2011 - Issue 6
In This Issue
Join us - Breakfast with the Stars
Bringing health and wellbeing to children: Pediatric Nurse program at TWTC
Staff enriches life at TWTC
Bridging Communities: Ensuring a smooth transition for ex-offenders
Join us: Sinfonietta concert benefiting TWTC
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Kids in Daycare
From the desk of the Executive Director

 

Thanks to everyone who contacted their Illinois legislators to urge them stop the drastic cuts to the state's General Revenue Funding (GRF) for substance abuse treatment centers. We have been given a brief reprieve: no funds will be cut for fiscal year 2011. So the services funded through GRF - our Detox unit, our unit for women without income and insurance, and our Outpatient program - have been spared through June 30. Governor Quinn's fiscal year 2012 budget, however, still includes deep and disproportionate cuts to human services, including substance abuse treatment. So it's important to keep the pressure on. Call or write now to:

  • Governor Quinn in Springfield: 217-782-0244 OR Chicago: 312-814-212, and
  • DHS Director Michelle Saddler in Springfield: 217-557-1601 OR Chicago: 312-793-1547
  • Tell them to stop dismantling the community-based human services infrastructure.
  • Tell them to stop the unwise and unfair practices of placing the largest burden on those least able to bear it.

We can't afford shifting state costs from wise investments in services like substance abuse to far more expensive alternatives like emergency rooms and prisons. Speak up - call or write today!

 

 

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Jewell Oates, Ph.D
Executive Director



Upcoming Events

TWTC's Annual Friendraiser/Fundraiser

Breakfast With the Stars
Join us
to witness the promise of recovery and the power of treatment on May 11 when the "Stars" of TWTC - women with long-term sobriety - personally share their stories at our annual friendraiser/fundraiser "Breakfast with the Stars." We guarantee you'll be inspired by their triumphs on the journey of recovery.

When: Wednesday, May 11 from 8:00AM to 9AM

Networking over coffee and tea: 7:30AM

Where: In the beautiful Stock Exchange Trading Room at The Art Institute of Chicago -  

111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

Refreshments: A hot breakfast and beverages will be served.

Admission to the Breakfast is free. And it is a fundraiser, too. Guests will be asked to consider making a contribution to support TWTC. There is no minimum (and no maximum!) gift.

     If you would like to share your passion for TWTC's mission with your friends, family and colleagues, you're invited to serve as a table host and recruit 9 guests to join you at the breakfast. Interested in being a table host or attending the event? Email Development Director Patricia Broughton or call 312-633-4366. 

Thanking Big 

Bringing health and wellbeing to children: Pediatric Nurse program at TWTC

Our youngest residents will continThank you many times!ue to receive vital medical services, thanks to the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation. The Foundation recently renewed its support for our crucial Pediatric Nurse program with a two-year, $70,000 grant.
    Close to 200 children benefit from the expertise of TWTC's Pediatric Nurse, at no cost to the families. The Nurse monitors the health of all children living with their mothers in residential treatment units at TWTC. She makes sure they have had immunizations as well as lead and dental screenings. She also provides prenatal, postnatal, toddler health, and asthma management classes to the mothers.
    Since the launch of the Program in 2007, the mothers have demonstrated better understanding and confidence in managing their children's health needs, and deciding which needs deserve emergency attention. The result? The number of children's unscheduled ER visits has dramatically decreased from 115 in FY06 to only 46 in FY10.
    The medically-reassuring presence of the Pediatric Nurse brings not only quality care to the children and increased knowledge to the mothers, but also considerable savings to the larger community and public. Many thanks to not only the Fry Foundation, but also the Chicago Blackhawks Community Fund; a fund of the McCormick Foundation; the Grant HealthCare Foundation; and the Polk Brothers Foundation for their continued support of the Pediatric Nurse program.

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Staff enriches life at TWTC   
    TWTC staff soundly demonstrated their creativity, compassion and commitment to bringing hope, help and healing to women and children at TWTC during the organization's first ever staff campaign. Including a generous $5,330 match by TWTC board members, staff raised $12,642 in the I Care, You Care, We All Care: Staff Campaign to Enrich Life at TWTC.
    Funds raised through the campaign are designated for staff-identified needs that are not included in TWTC's lean budget. First quarter grants to six programs are paying for five highchairs for infants in our Daycare, two computers for the Parenting staff, a bookcase for one of the residential units for women and children, art supplies for the toddlers in Daycare, and a wall mounted TV for the children cared for in our 24-hour Crisis Nursery.
    Many, many thanks to all the staff who showed their belief in the power of treatment by digging deep and giving generously. Thanks, too, to the board, for its bighearted support of TWTC's first staff campaign.
Community Impact
BCORP brochure 2011 - front Bridging Communities: Ensuring a smooth transition for ex-offenders 
  "I'm a first-time mom so I didn't really know how to enter back into my daughter's life because she had grown up."
     Women like these, struggling to fit back into their families and their communities after serving a prison sentence, are finding help through TWTC's new program: Bridging Communities - Offender Reentry Program (BCORP).  This unique program builds on TWTC's lengthy experience in helping women succeed in their transition from prison to the community. The Program provides recovery tools, counseling and case management, along with substance abuse treatment where needed, with a goal of reducing reincarceration related to substance abuse. 
    Funded through a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the program will help 150 incarcerated women over the next 3 years for a period of 6 months to a year each. Clients choose from an array of case management services that include substance abuse treatment, help to find housing and /or employment, family counseling, education and financial management, domestic violence and trauma counseling, and HIV/AIDS services.
    The program received an overwhelming response from incarcerated women at Decatur and Lincoln Correctional facilities. TWTC has begun serving those with the closest parole date.  
    Credit: The BCORP brochure pictured was designed by Melisa, a client in TWTC's Alternative Sentencing Program. Melisa is completing her college degree in Game Design from the International Academy of Design and Technology while living at TWTC with her 8 month old daughter. 

Partnerships 

Join us at Chicago Sinfonietta for a celebratory concert honoring women in classical music

    Friends of TWTC who appreciate classical music have a special opportunity to support TWTC while enjoying a concert, "Women in Classical Music." On May 23, guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen will join Maestro Paul Freeman as he conducts his final concert with the Chicago Sinfonietta.  TWTC is offering tickets for this celebratory occasion. Fully 50% of the proceeds from tickets purchased through TWTC will be donated back to us.   Women in Classical Music

When: Monday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave

Prices: $50 for A-level, $40 for B-level and $26 for C-level seats

        Conductor: Paul Freeman, Guest Conductor: Mei-Ann Chen

Tickets can be bought on Chicago Sinfonietta's website. They can also be purchased by calling the Box Office at (312) 236-3681.
NOTE: Please enter PAC1 in the promotional code field when you purchase your tickets. Only tickets purchased with this code will benefit TWTC with 50% of the proceeds.


   Another opportunity:  We would love for some of our residential clients to be able to enjoy the concert. If you wish to donate one or a block of tickets, simply email Sadia Qureshi.

 

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Your feedback is important to us. Please send us your suggestions, questions and comments related to our work at [email protected] or call 312.850.0050 at any time.

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