Sami al Jallad and Destiny al Jallad, the husband and wife team who are owners of Turning Leaf, pose in front of the former hospital building in Vicksburg. Their Vicksburg program director, Kathy Sparrow-Dinzik, is on the right.

Kathy Sparrow-Dinzik, program director for Turning Leaf and a lifelong Vicksburg resident, stands beside what was once the nursing desk in the Bronson Vicksburg Hospital.

By Sue Moore

“We want to make our residents feel special,” said Sami Al Jallad, executive director of Turning Leaf Behavioral Health Services, as his company opens its newest programs in Vicksburg. “This [will be] their home. Some will be here a short time but most will be here a while longer. These are people with amazing stories and something to offer. Our vision is to provide the highest quality health care possible for this population.”

Al Jallad and his wife, Destiny, who is director of operations, toured the Bronson Vicksburg Hospital in November 2017. Bronson had not yet closed the hospital at 13326 N. Boulevard Street; but had been hoping to sell the facility. “It had the right feeling,” Destiny Al Jallad said. “It had a safe feeling with a soundness to it.”

That safe feeling is important in their business, headquartered in Lansing. Turning Leaf serves adults diagnosed with mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities aged 18 and over in their Lansing, Muskegon, Holland, Caledonia, Otsego, Pentwater and Scottville locations. In Vicksburg, Turning Leaf expects to serve an older population, aged 50 and older, as they age out of their current residences and need a different level of care. This focus will extend the continuum of care Turning Leaf currently offers. In Vicksburg, residents will be treated for psychiatric, behavioral and medical complexities. “There are not many options around the state for this population similar to what we have planned for Vicksburg,” Sami said.

Currently, Turning Leaf serves approximately 100 residents across the state of Michigan. The Vicksburg programs will add 40 more residents when Birch I and Birch II units open ther in the fall of 2019. The two Adult Foster Care Homes, licensed by the state of Michigan, will be entirely separate facilities with separate staff and a different kind of feel to the living arrangement said Kathy Sparrow-Dinzik, program director and administrator who is a Vicksburg native. By the time both programs are fully staffed, Turning Leaf hopes to employ 80 people at the Vicksburg locations.

“This building is full of personality,” Sparrow-Dinzik quipped. “We are learning all of its quirks as we retrofit each area. The walls have been painted in soothing colors. There is new carpeting and furnishings in the public areas and in the living, dining and gathering rooms. This is a unique setting. There are not a lot of others like it. There is a big need. I’m passionate about helping people build their skills to get them in the least restrictive environment possible. This is their home and we want them to feel like it is their community.”

Amenities in each 20-bed unit include half baths in each room with a larger detached shower room, a living room space with TVs, games and reading areas, wellness room, laundry room, nursing station, kitchen area with dining room attached, serenity room for low stimulation for those who seek quiet and a bit more solitude and a secured courtyard. Many of the old hospital rooms have been converted to two bed living units. Some have been designed as one person rooms for those who need around the clock care. Future plans call for a beauty shop and resident store.

“I know this is my calling,” Sparrow-Dinzik said. She had been working most recently at Heritage in Kalamazoo as assisted living director. She received her training in radiology, having worked in the Vicksburg hospital radiology department after graduating from Kellogg Community College and Vicksburg High School in 1984.

“Kathy found us; she is a godsend.” Destiny declared. “She knows this village, its people and how special the Vicksburg community is. She is as passionate as we are about helping people. You can’t teach someone to have this kind of passion.”

Turning Leaf sprouted from a family business started by Al Jallad’s mother and father who were from Flint. Sami’s mother, Rachel, is a registered nurse with years of inpatient psychiatric experience who saw the need for a holistic style of care. Sami’s father, M. Sami, was employed by General Motors for a number of years and simultaneously launched a real estate investment and management company which ultimately morphed into the healthcare management organization that is now Turning Leaf. Since 2003, when the founders retired, their eldest son, Sami, has assumed the leadership role within the organization and sought to build on its reputation by seeking out program accreditations and to develop new locations throughout Michigan.

“I have a profound respect for what my parents in law started and what my husband Sami has been doing for the entirety of his professional life,” Destiny said. “The behavioral health field is a challenging and fast-moving field. When I joined the company in 2011, it had two locations; we have learned a lot and worked hard to get to the point of opening these Vicksburg programs. We are extremely proud of the programs and offering it to our community mental health stakeholders across the region,” Destiny said. “It’s all about normalizing and destigmatizing the life of these unique individuals. That’s why we go above and beyond. That’s why stakeholders seek us out.”

Open Houses for the community are scheduled on September 5 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., September 11 and 12 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-6 p.m.

By Sue Moore

A beautiful handmade rocking horse will be featured in a raffle at the Vicksburg Historical Society’s annual Harvest Festival. It takes place on Sunday, September 29 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on the grounds of the Historic Village.

The creator is Glen Blinn, who serves as a docent for the garage in the Historic Village. He is a crafty guy who delights visitors with his stories about gasoline engines as they tour the building. He has grown fond of the Model A that is a big feature of the garage display, which takes people from the horse and buggy days of transportation to the 1920s-era gas station.

He conceived and built the rocking horse and donated it to the Historical Society to raffle because he wanted to donate money to refinish the interior of the Model A. “The inside has greatly deteriorated over the years. I love to tell people who ask if I can drive it, that I could but I don’t have a key. It needs to get out on the road with a nice new updated interior because the outside is in perfect shape,” he explained.

The rocking horse fits right in with the agricultural theme of the Harvest Festival, said Charlie Church, this year’s chairman of the event. “We will have lots of activities for children, food to eat on the grounds, a pie baking contest, a pumpkin decorating contest, a sawmill demonstration and lots of vendors displaying their fall wares,” he said.

Blinn, in his fourth year as a volunteer at the Historic Village, spent his career as a science teacher in the Harper Creek schools, retiring in 1990. The first day he volunteered he was assigned to the garage to meet people. “What do you say to them?” he asked April Bryan about his duties. “I didn’t get much of an answer so that night I researched the subject online and had a spiel ready to go. Ted Vliek, former president of the Society, came in to listen and right away I was assigned to talk at the Harvest Festival.“

Because Blinn loves to fix and make things, he has been a frequent contributor to the displays in the Historic Village. He and his wife, Carla, a member of the Stafinski family in Vicksburg, had been living in Battle Creek for many years. They moved to her home town, where she opened a quilt and craft shop next to the Munn Agency called the Loose Goose.

“I had a pattern for the rocking horse but modified it a lot. The mane is made of macramé to resemble horse hair. I had to undo it and brush it out with a wire brush, which took hours. That’s the reason I would never make another rocking horse,” Blinn exclaimed.

“I actually made two rocking horses, one for my two grandsons in Arizona and this one to raise money for the raffle. They love to ride it and their parents send pictures of them to me.” Tickets will be for sale at the Harvest Festival for $5 each or $20 for six, at the Church Agency and the Vicksburg Farmers’ Market on Fridays.

Blinn also volunteers his time in the winter with the Salvation Army. He starts to assemble gift baskets in October. “It’s a humbling experience. I often think my life isn’t that bad no matter what I’ve experienced after seeing the children’s reaction upon receiving the baskets at Christmas time,” he said.

By Sue Moore

The village of Vicksburg began with a grist mill and whiskey still. Now developers are planning an entertainment venue and the Village Council is making major improvements to infrastructure in 2020. In between is a story of shifted buildings, self-supported hospitals, fires, trains, lotus lilies, ice harvesting, pickles and a little scandal.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Western Michigan University is again coming to Vicksburg with a deep immersion into the village’s interesting story. The class is titled “Vicksburg Then and Now – From Whiskey to Lilies to Beer.” Kristina Powers Aubry will be teaching the three-session class beginning September 10, with subsequent classes on September 17 and 24, from 1-3:30 p.m. at various sites. Even long-time Vicksburg area residents will find new and interesting stories from the treasure trove that Powers Aubry has been digging into.

Each class will begin with informative stories followed by a walking tour. The first class will look at early years of the Village with a tour of the Vicksburg Historic Village. The second will look at middle years, with a tour of the central business district and important residences. The last class will look at years leading to the present with a tour of The Mill at Vicksburg as it is under development. Enrollees are cautioned to wear comfortable walking attire appropriate for the weather.

“So many history classes are a litany of dates and events, without considering the personality or character of the people and locations,” said Powers Aubry. “Things are so much easier to remember and appreciate when they are presented as stories with humor and personality. That’s what this class is planned to do. – make the Vicksburg history we are familiar with come alive with stories rather than data.” She has been delving into the nooks and crannies of the Historical Society to plan the class presentations. She has served as president of the Historical Society and the Historic Village Committee.

Powers Aubry worked as an educational media specialist at Kalamazoo Valley Intermediate District. A 30-year member of the Vicksburg Historical Society and several other historical associations, she has spent years studying and researching many historical periods, specializing in eighteenth-century American history. She has given many presentations on varying topics across the state. She and her husband, David, taught a Revolutionary War class for OLLI in 2016 at the Vicksburg District Library.

The class numbers were capped at 30 with 19 already signed up. To register for the class, contact the OLLI Institute at 269-387-4200. Cost is $38 for members; $76 for non-members.