Elgin Easter Seals gets more space, bilingual programs

Article posted: 3/10/2012 11:22 AM

Occupational therapist Julie Woo works with Cassandra Martinez, 5, at the Easter Seals DuPage and Fox Valleys Jayne Shover Rehabilitation Center Tuesday in Elgin. Martinez has a muscle disorder that makes it harder for her to use her right hand, so her therapy includes things like climbing this rock wall to reach toys placed on rocks above. Both Julie and Cassie are from Elgin.

Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer

Occupational therapist Julie Woo works with Cassandra Martinez, 5, at the Easter Seals DuPage and Fox Valleys Jayne Shover Rehabilitation Center Tuesday in Elgin. Using both hands to play with small toys helps Cassie strengthen her right hand, where the muscles arent as developed as in her left.

Christopher Hankins | Staff Photographer

Veronica Martinez, of Elgin, started taking her daughter Cassandra to therapy at Easter Seals shortly after she was born with cerebral palsy and limited use of her right side.

Back then the Elgin office of Easter Seals DuPage and the Fox Valley was a small, dark space. Now Cassandra, 5, runs and plays in bigger rooms with plenty of natural light during her physical and occupational therapy sessions in the agencys new office space.

Leaders held a ribbon cutting Thursday at the facility at 799 S. McLean Blvd. Easter Seals previously occupied a different section of the building and even earlier in the agencys evolution, the entire building but funding flows have changed the size of its programming space in recent decades.

Theresa Forthofer, president and CEO of the regional Easter Seals chapter, said the skylights, big windows and broad hallways have been an important change for the people the agency serves.

Its just a completely different atmosphere when you walk into the building, Forthofer said.

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Elgin Easter Seals gets more space, bilingual programs