STEPHENSON COUNTY, Ill. (WIFR) – Vicki Toepfer describes Alzheimer’s slowly invading her mom’s mind.
Seven years ago, the Freeport native watched the disease’s signs manifest in Jean.
“When my brother was staying with my mom, she would call me and she would be like hiding because she didn’t know where he was,” recounted Vicki. She trusted one facility in the Stephenson County area to safely and affordably protect her mom: the county-owned Stephenson Nursing Center (formerly known as Walnut Acres).
“The only way that we could do anything about it was to put her in a facility,” she asserted. Jean’s stayed at Stephenson ever since and is possibly one of, if not, the longest residents to stay there –going on seven years…