News & Events

Editor’s Note: The following press release was provided by the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Rock County.

One in Four people aged 65 and older has a fall each year! Stepping On participants have a 31% reduced rate of falls!

JANESVILLE— The ADRC of Rock County/ Aging Unit, in partnership with Mercy Health Systems Janesville, is pleased to offer Stepping On, our most popular health and wellness class for those ages 60+ this summer!

Stepping On is a seven week workshop proven to help participants prevent falls. The classes will include strength and balance exercises, home safety check suggestions, expert guest speakers, and a medication review. The workshop is for people who have fallen and for people who fear falling.

A Stepping On workshop will be held at Mercy Health Mall from June 16 – July 30, 2022, on seven Thursday afternoons from 1:30-3:30 pm. Mercy Mall is located at: 1010 N. Washington Street, Janesville, Wisconsin. Masks are required. A suggested donation of $15 is asked to cover the cost of class materials. Scholarships may be available.

For questions, or to register by June 9th, call the ADRC of Rock County/ Aging Unit at: (608) 757-5309 or email: Lisa.messer@co.rock.wi.us

The program was developed by Dr. Lindy Clemson of Sydney, Australia, to help older adults learn ways to prevent falls. It was brought to the United States by Dr. Jane Mahoney, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging, with funding from the CDC and other partners. The research has found that people who complete the workshop have a 31% reduced rate of falls.

Therapy Dog Brings Special Focus to Reading
By: Alison Keenan, Trainer
Intermountain Therapy Animals®/READing Paws

Teachers are tasked with the difficult jobs of educating their students and looking for ways to make that learning fun and creative. Students can be a challenge to engage and keep interested. The goal is always to have a positive effect on academic and social growth. Unique opportunities exist for teachers in a Special Education program because there are students with learning challenges as well as the daily obstacles imposed by a global pandemic, world turmoil and rising crime. Students range in age, attention and capability which adds to the degree of difficulty in engaging them. Four educators in a Whitewater, Wisconsin school system did just that, and they not only captured attention and participation, but they super charged it.

A loveable but highly trained English cream golden retriever named Piper and her owner, Alison Keenan, provided the motivation for a class of mixed level Special Education students. During the middle of the Covid pandemic, four teachers and the dog trainer got together and created a unique opportunity to encourage students to read: a virtual reading session with a Reading Education Assistance Dog®. Their idea was especially challenging because it involved a video session with a dog living in Tennessee interacting with students from Wisconsin.

Piper is not an ordinary friendly golden retriever. She is a graduate of training aimed at assisting students with reading. This program, READing Paws®, is education provided through Intermountain Therapy Animals® and Piper is part of a Registered Team that provides just that: reading assistance. Together with her trainer, Alison, Piper is the center of the reading opportunities. Usually a one-on-one situation, this opportunity was adjusted to meet the needs of several students at a time in a classroom over 500 miles away. Reading to a dog provides a nonthreatening and enjoyable option to the stress of reading out loud. Students become engaged through their connection to the dog and forget about the challenges they may have with reading. They read to her and then explain what they just read which helps expand their comprehension. Research shows that if a student has not mastered the skill of reading before the third grade, he or she will always have challenges with academic achievement.

What were the magic ingredients of this program? Because Piper is not an ordinary dog, and this is not an ordinary story. There is magic than unfolds in this setting.

Piper came from a professional breeder in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, The Golden Choice. She was reserved months before she was born and was the choice of her forever Mom and Dad.

Keenan had been given a second chance at life after receiving a bone marrow transplant for a rare blood disorder that almost claimed her life. She felt a strong sense of needing to give back somehow and envisioned using this especially smart and loveable white dog to help her fulfill that dream.

Keenan and her dog engaged in focused dog training: first basic puppy manners and obedience followed by more intensive Canine Good Citizen training. During her work, Keenan discovered that her special dog suffered from kidney issues: Piper had only one functioning kidney. This became apparent when her endurance was not equal to other young dogs. Veterinary testing determined that Piper would require prescription food and professional oversight. Much like Keenan herself, both dog and trainer had similar kidney lab values. They were in the same stage of renal failure.

Before moving to Tennessee, Keenan approached her local library in a small Wisconsin town, Mukwonago. The librarian there allowed Piper and her dog “Mom” to begin reading to children on Thursday afternoons. ‘Paws to Read with Piper’ started with a handful of children and progressed to as many as 12, all waiting for a chance to read to Piper. Laments of “I don’t want to read” quickly changed to “I only got to read three books to Piper today” as the program took off. Piper grew to become very popular as she greeted each child with special focused attention. She loved the ribbon adorned ponytails, lighted sneakers and the promise of leftover food sometimes stuck to children’s shirts. She had a special intuition for knowing the children who needed attention the most, and she laid either in their laps or shared a paw as they read to her. Some did not even know how to read yet, so they told her about bulldozers, kitties, and their favorite superheroes. Piper was mesmerized. The success of these reading sessions encouraged Keenan to write a children’s book about how this special dog with health challenges came to realize her special intention in life to be a Reading Assistance Dog. In the book, Piper Finds Her Special, the story is told about Piper finding the magic of helping readers.

Still focused on a higher calling, Keenan and Piper remained intent on paying it forward, but now their family had relocated from Wisconsin to the state of Tennessee. With a new home, new surroundings, and new friends to be made, they engaged in Therapy Dog training. After intense training and guidance with specialized evaluators, Keenan and Piper successfully became a Registered Therapy Animal Team, and the magic started.

Keenan and Piper relocated to Tennessee but maintained a friendship with their dog sitter, Jill Rausch. Jill was a teacher in the Special Education program at Whitewater High School. Piper and Jill bonded together, as Piper was not left with just any dog sitter. This valuable dog needed someone who connected with her when her ‘Mom’ was away, and Jill did just that. Jill saw the magic and knew of the reading miracles that Keenan often spoke about, and the seeds were sown. Raush and three other teachers, Lauren Moll, Martha Ngabo, and Amy Houwers brainstormed together to see how to capture some of this magic for their students.

With the challenges of Covid impacting everyone and everything, it also affected the students and carried over into their mental health and wellbeing. Rausch and her colleagues saw the potential for a new way of reaching their students. They approached Keenan with an idea: how about a virtual dog reading session? This would be a group of students paired together instead of the usual one-on-one format, but it was worth a try. It began with two students at a time, reading to Piper, and blossomed.

The first year, a total of eight students read each week to Piper. They chose their favorite book or Keenan chose a book. They read to each other. To make it more challenging, they prepared a pretend presentation to the school principal about the benefits of allowing a Reading Education Dog in the classroom. They created a contest and competed amongst themselves by writing a poem or story or creating a T-shirt design involving a Therapy Dog. The items were submitted to the teacher and then mailed to Keenan. A video was made showcasing each entry that was placed on the floor with a treat on it. Piper chose the ‘winners’ by taking a treat from each of the entries. The project was a wonderful success, so this team is now engaging in another semester with new students and two students from last year reading to Piper. Even though some might be a bit older, they are eager to spend time with Piper every week. They have chosen a book and they all take turns reading to Piper, talking about what they have read, relating their experiences or just discussing dog related things. They are reading, they are engaging, and they are having fun! There are no barriers: no distance, Covid or turmoil. All that matters is that this is special, and they have all found their own ‘special’ in this unique program. After all, the definition of ‘special’ is better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual. This is, indeed, Special.

Editor’s note: WHS teacher Lauren Moll told the Banner, “Alison donated her time to us. This is the second year we have done the program and she has been so wonderful!”

Editor’s note: The following announcement was received from Ripon College.

Every year, Ripon College holds an award convocation to recognize students and faculty with outstanding merit and achievements. On April 20, 2022, Ripon College brought back in-person celebrations and hosted an evening for the College’s community and award recipients’ guests.

Lydia Wiley Deal, class of 2022 with majors in Music Education and Physics and a minor in Mathematics, was recognized. Wiley Deal of Whitewater, Wisconsin received the Alumni Association Senior Award and Student Organization Leadership Award.

Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts and sciences curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. In recognition of its academic excellence, the college was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1953, placing it among a select group of the nation’s top colleges. Visit ripon.edu.

Due to the Memorial Day holiday, trash collection will be delayed by one day this week. In the city that means you should put your toter(s) out on Thursday evening (or very early in Friday morning).

Editor’s note: Yes, we are aware that the image on the homepage does not depict John’s toters! Image by Jarrod Blamey from Pixabay

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched on Friday, May 27 at 6:30 a.m. to a one vehicle crash with two occupants on Twinkling Star Road, south of Highway 12 in the town of Koshkonong.

Preliminary investigation at the scene showed that the vehicle, for which no details were given, was northbound on Twinkling Star Road when it left the roadway and struck a tree. The driver and passenger were transported to a local hospital with critical injuries. The passenger was pronounced deceased at the hospital.

The sheriff’s office personnel were assisted at the scene by Whitewater Fire/EMS, Jefferson paramedic and the Jefferson County medical examiner.

The incident is still being investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, according to the release, but speed is a contributing factor.

Remembering Those Who Gave All

By State Representative Don Vruwink

Stephen E. Ambrose, one of Wisconsin’s most famous authors, was raised in Whitewater and graduated from Whitewater High School. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, played for the Badger football team for three years, and earned his doctorate at UW in 1963.

While at the University of Wisconsin, Ambrose was a member of the Navy and Army ROTC. His interest in war history was inspired in part by his father, who served as a physician in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The younger Ambrose was a history professor from 1960 until his retirement in 1995. His early works centered around the American Civil War. He later focused on World War II. His book on President Eisenhower’s war years, “The Supreme Commander,” was published in 1970. He went on to write Band of Brothers, D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, and – breaking from war stories – Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis & Clark expedition.

As this Memorial Day approaches, we remember all of those who gave their lives during our nation’s wars. In the American Revolution, colonial settlers battled the British Army while ill-clothed and undernourished.

The Civil War brought our democracy to its greatest test. Both the North and South believed it would be a short war, but that was not to be. Antietam, with 23,000 casualties and an ambulance train 20 miles long, is still the worst one-day battle in U.S. history. Gettysburg, where President Lincoln would later dedicate the battlefield, is the overall bloodiest battle site, with 50,000 casualties over three days.

The United States entered the first World War to support our British and French allies. It cost 110,000 American lives, with 43,000 deaths coming from what was then called the Spanish Flu.

World War II stands starkly in our history, with 40-50 million worldwide deaths. One out of every 10 Americans was involved in the war, by serving in the military, working in factories, maintaining victory gardens, and other war efforts.

The Greatest Generation saw America attacked at Pearl Harbor, witnessed the Holocaust, survived or died through D-Day, and island-hopped in the Pacific. The world breathed a great sigh of relief at the Japanese surrender.

During the Korean War, fought from 1950-53, more than 36,000 U.S. troops died. The demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is still the most fortified place in the world.

The Vietnam War, fought by my generation, many of them not yet 20 years old, ended with more than 58,000 American casualties. It was a war that divided our nation, with unprecedented protests on streets and college campuses.

Thousands of American troops died in our most recent wars, from Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm to the war in Afghanistan.

Although he died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 66, Stephen Ambrose’s delve into American military history lives on in his words and writings. He gave half a million dollars to the University of Wisconsin to assist future military history scholars. His books have been the inspiration for movies and documentaries. I’m sure his work will continue to inspire others.

Thankfully, American troops are not involved in fighting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but let’s remember the Ukrainian soldiers and citizens who have already died in the fight and keep in our prayers those who continue to defend the freedom of their nation.

On Memorial Day and every day, let’s thank those who continue to serve our country, and remember those who gave all.