CHICAGO – White Crane Wellness Center is the recipient of a 2022 Governor’s Engaging Aging Award, presented annually to up to 13 community organizations that have gone above and beyond to make a positive impact in the lives of older adults over the past year.

Founded in 1985, White Crane Wellness Center is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to empower older adults to improve and sustain their health, while serving as a local and national model to achieve healthy aging.

“I couldn’t be prouder to award White Crane Wellness Center with the 2022 Governor’s Engaging Aging Award,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Serving thousands of older adults in Cook, Lake and DuPage counties, White Crane Wellness Center delivers quality, holistic, and inclusive health programs—furthering the wellness, dignity, and autonomy of older adults throughout our communities. To the White Crane Wellness Center team: congratulations on this exceptional accomplishment and thank you for your service to the great state of Illinois.”

“White Crane Wellness Center’s approach to healthy aging is deeply rooted in an ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” said Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) Director Paula Basta. “Their high-quality programs remove barriers to well-being for a diverse set of participants, contributing to positive health outcomes at both the individual and societal level."

Nominated for the Governor’s Engaging Aging Award by AgeGuide Northeastern Illinois, White Crane Wellness Center brings their services into the community through an ever-expanding network of partnerships, serving more than 5,000 older adults throughout diverse communities in Lake and DuPage counties for AgeGuide. White Crane operates an Adult Day Wellness Program and facilitates a portfolio of nationally recognized evidence-based health programs, health education workshops, screenings, assessments, fitness programming and support services.

“White Crane Wellness Center is an exemplary agency on many fronts,” said Alaine Kvedaras, Health Promotion and Education Specialist at AgeGuide. “Their overall program delivery is inviting, welcoming and inclusive. This agency did not sustain staffing issues that hit many social service agencies because of their model of employing professionals to deliver services in the communities in which they live. This leads to ownership and a feeling of responsibility to the community. They enthusiastically accept any request for programming expansion or improvement and rise to the challenge of delivering cohesive health and wellness programming under AgeGuide’s award-winning Community Connections Collaboratives.”

“We, at White Crane Wellness Center, are very grateful to have the opportunity to serve older adults in Illinois – to support healthy aging and to empower individuals with the requisite tools and skills necessary, to improve health and well-being,” said White Crane Wellness Center Executive Director Elizabeth Cagan. “We thank the Illinois Department on Aging and AgeGuide for their exceptional leadership and guidance in providing outstanding and compassionate services for older adults in Illinois.”

AgeGuide and IDoA are hosting an award ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 1:30 p.m. at 5145 N. Glenwood Ave. in Chicago. The ceremony is open to the press.

IDoA serves and advocates for older Illinoisans and their caregivers by administering quality and culturally appropriate programs that promote partnerships and encourage independence, dignity, and quality of life. For information about the Department’s programs and services for older adults and persons with disabilities, visit https://www2.illinois.gov/aging/programs or contact the Senior HelpLine toll-free at 1-800-252-8966, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.