The upcoming Carlinville Area Hospital Auxiliary blood drive will be anything but ordinary. Scheduled for noon until 6pm at the Carlinville Elks Lodge on Wednesday, May 4, this dirve is part is part of a new campaign to present a winner with an automobile.

Central Illinois Community Blood Center, which conducts the Carlinville drives, also has introduced a touch-screen method of completing the health and drug history questionnaire that donors previously had to complete by hand with a paper form and ink pen.

In addition, Star Wars themed tee shirts will be given away at the drive.

The car give-away is a CICBC promotion that runs from May 1 through September 30 and is open to all donors who register for any CICBC blood drive in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Donors simply have to register to donate in order to be eligible for the car.

Walk-in donors are welcome any time from noon to 6pm. Anyone with limited time has the option to call 217-854-7550 to make an appointment.

A new guideline set by CICBC requires re-identification for everyone who registers to donate. That means that donors must present a photo ID each time they register; those who do not will have to be turned away.

The Blackburn College Choir, Blackburn Band and Blackburn Voices will be presenting their annual Spring Fling Concert on May 2 at 7pm. The concert will be held in Bothwell Auditorium located on the Blackburn College campus.

The Blackburn College Choir will perform many different types of songs, from the peaceful "For the Beauty of the Earth" to the using gospel song, "Take Me to the Water". The Blackburn College Band will be performing spring sons from several famous composers, including Robert Sheldon, Tommy Dorsey, R. Vaughn Williams and Leonard Bernstein.

The concert is free and open to the public.

The Spring Into Health Expo will be held on Tuesday, April 26 in Staunton.

The event will be held in the Crystal Ballroom from 9:00am until 1:00pm and is for all ages. There will be free health screenings, demonstration and informational booths.

In addition, the Staunton Lions Club will have the Lions Mobile Eye and Hearing screening units during the event. There will be free diabetic retinopathy and hearing screenings coordinated by the Staunton Lions Club and the Lions of Illinois Foundation.

The public is encouraged to attend.

The expo is sponsored by Celtic-Hospice and Home Health, Home Instead Senior Care and The Glenwood.

For more information contact Leslie at 618-635-4012.

The Memory and Aging Network in Illinois could experience cuts in staff, sites and research if $500,000 is not raised by the end of May. The Memory and Aging Network was created after legislation in 1985 set up Alzheimer's programming in Illinois. The Network conducts research into Alzheimer's and other related disorders, helps evaluate Alzheimer's and dementia patients, offers programs such as art and music therapy and provides caregiver support. There are over 30 local sites throughout the state including in Hillsboro, Effingham and Edwardsville. Dr. Tom Ala is a neurologist and the Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Interim Director at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. He says their current financial crisis is due to more than just the state's budget impasse.

One problem is not really related to the budget impasse and that is, we had been receiving state funds up until June of 2014 and a complicated problem happened with payments from Medicaid and payments to us stopped. Regarding the budget impasse, is more related to this coming fiscal year and thereafter because right now, if a budget is not passed - if the budget does not say anything for Alzheimer's in it - our program would have zero funding starting July 1st of this year and maybe thereafter.

To ensure the Network's continuation for another fiscal year, they need to raise $500,000 by May 31st. Ala says without funding, research projects and educational programs will be cut and many local sites may have to close their doors.

For each of the sites that see patients, we send them reimbursement for seeing the patients and that would completely go to zero - already it's at fifty percent of what we had been giving them in the past. A number of people here would lose their jobs and we would really have to go to bare bones maintenance. We still would be seeing patients here in Springfield, such as myself, because we are reimbursed by Medicaid, Medicare, etc., for seeing the patients, but even that would be cut back because like our social worker would lose her job and her job is very important for hand holding and doing a lot of telephone evaluations. When I see patients in the clinic, a very important part of that evaluation is the social worker input or the psychosocial aspect so I would be missing that, so it would take me longer to see patients and not be as thorough to see patients.

For more information on the Memory and Aging Network or how to donate, go to the SIU School of Medicine website.Thomack 4/6/16

The American Red Cross serving south central Illinois is seeking nominations for the 2016 Heroes of the Heartland Awards. The awards honor individuals and groups in this area, who embody the mission of the Red Cross by showing great bravery, dedication and service to the community.

If you know a local hero, someone who has made an extraordinary contribution by putting their needs aside to help others, complete the Heroes of the Heartland online nomination form at redcross.org/csil and share their story. Nominations are being accepted in eight catagories: civic, community, healthcare, military, public safety, senior, youth and workplace.

The nomination deadline is May 10, 2016.

The 2016 Heroes of the Heartland award recipients will be honored at the annual Heroes of the Heartland Dinner on Thursday, July 14, 2016 at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield.

A Route 66 business in Litchfield celebrates 66 years and the new owners will open for the season tonight. The Sky View Drive-in, one of the last remaining original drive-ins on Route 66, was purchased on March 1st by Mindy Pastrovich and her husband, Nick. Mindy says they decided to purchase the drive-in as a business venture.

Our goal is to keep it going, keep it thriving, make it something that will eventually be profitable. We'd love to continue being a big part of the community and showing our appreciation for the support we've gotten from all of the local people as well as those that come to us because we're on Route 66 by doing that by taking it and making it great.After a month of cleaning, painting and other minor changes, the drive-in is ready for another season of movie goers.

I, personally, am just excited to see it thrive, see it continue to be a memory-making place for our patrons. As a photographer, I definitely plan on putting that to good use and getting some good shots of groups and families that come to see us. I know we've got one group that they spent the night after their wedding there with their family from four or five different states. They try to come back every couple of years to relive that and to be a part of that is something pretty special to me.The drive-in will open tonight at 7:30 and start the show at sunset. Admission is $5 per person. This weekend, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "10 Cloverfield Lane" will be showing. The drive-in will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. After school gets out, their schedule will be Thursdays through Saturdays with special showings and events on Tuesdays and Sundays. For more information, visit their website: Sky View Drive-In.
Thomack 4/1/16