By ROBIN STANTON GERROW
BG Independent News
When you talk to founder and executive director Julie Russian about Jack & Irene’s WISH House, there are a few words that keep coming up: dignity, respect and compassion.
All of those words apply to her vision of the WISH House which stands for Welcoming, Inviting Safe Haven, a small residential care facility for people who can’t live at home safely, but who don’t need the full services of a nursing home.
“I’ve been a nurse for 28 years, and I’ve seen firsthand that healthcare has made incredible advances, but dignity is often missing,” she said. “We’re expected to do more work in less time—more responsibilities, more titles, more phones, more devices—but the patient is still sitting there with needs, and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Russian is seeing her dream come true with the opening of the first Jack & Irene’s WISH House at 325 North Main Street in Bowling Green—the former site of the Lincoln House Inn.
“I’m currently a home care nurse, but I’ve worked in hospitals, rehabilitation, long-term care, vascular access, hospice, and now home care,” Russian said. “Some people have families who truly love them but are very busy. Some people don’t have family at all. Others have elderly parents who can no longer care for them. The people we serve include individuals with Parkinson’s disease, early dementia, multiple sclerosis, people recovering from surgery, or anyone who can’t safely live alone but doesn’t need a skilled nursing facility.”
Jack & Irene’s WISH House fills a gap, not only for patients but for their families as well. The house currently has room for three patients who need accessible rooms, as well as some for patients who can still manage stairs. The upstairs rooms are also available for independent guests and family members who may be visiting or helping family members elsewhere in town.
Patients recovering from short-term illnesses or accidents, or families looking for respite care also have a place at the WISH House.
“There will always be a need for nursing facilities, but there’s also this gap in between,” Russian said. “Where do those people go? I’ve heard so many people say, ‘I don’t want to be a burden.’ When they feel that way, the next option often becomes moving into a nursing facility, even when that’s not really what they need.”
When Russian decided to pursue this dream, she focused on honoring her grandmother, who was also a nurse.
“My grandmother, Irene Beaudry, was a registered nurse in the 1950s and 1960s who advocated with legislators for dignified care,” she said. “Her whole passion was dignity, community, respect and autonomy. Talking to my grandmother about nursing was amazing, but so was hearing how she advocated for legislation to improve care.
“She took care of herself in her own home for as long as she could, but I also watched her struggle,” Russian continued. She reached a point where she couldn’t safely live alone in that house anymore, so she had to sell it and move into a smaller house. Then, eventually, she couldn’t safely live there either, so she had to move again. There really wasn’t anywhere that fit what she needed.”
Seeing how her grandmother advocated for others and knowing the difficulties she had, inspired Russian to create the WISH House.
“About three years ago, I started Irene’s WISH House,” she said. “That was my LLC that I created to open a small residential care home for five to sixteen residents. My original mission was to create a home for people like some of my patients—people who couldn’t safely live alone but didn’t need to be in a nursing facility.”
Then, in an instant, everything changed.
“Last year, my son Jack graduated from high school,” she said. “One day, we were celebrating his graduation. We were excited, so proud of him, looking forward to everything his future held. The very next day, he died. One day you’re celebrating your child’s future, and the next day you’re talking about his legacy.
“This mission gives me purpose,” Russian said. “Jack was supposed to help me build all of this. He would have loved this house. He could build anything and would have been fixing things, helping people, and talking to residents…I think about that every day.”
Russian remembers how Jack always wanted to be helping and couldn’t sit still.
“As I’ve been building all of this, I’ve realized how much Jack and I were alike,” she said. “He used to say, ‘if I’m not helping somebody, I don’t feel like I have a purpose.’ For an 18-year-old to believe that his purpose was helping other people… that’s pretty powerful.”
Jack also inspired the use of a dandelion to represent the WISH House.
“Because of Jack’s injuries, we lost him,” Russian said. “While we were standing outside the room, looking through the glass and crying, a dandelion wish flower floated down from the ceiling vent and landed just above his forehead. When that wish flower landed above Jack’s forehead, I just knew. That’s when Irene’s WISH House became Jack & Irene’s WISH House. From there, everything just continued to grow.”
In addition to the WISH House, Russian also heads the Jack & Irene WISH Haven Foundation, created to help those people with limited resources.
“We created the nonprofit because I kept thinking about Jack’s legacy, his purpose, and everything he believed in,” she said. “At the same time, I was still thinking about all of my patients. People are running out of money. When that happens, many are forced to leave the place they’ve come to call home. Some are even discharged to homeless shelters simply because they no longer have the financial resources to pay for their care.
“Why should someone lose their dignity simply because they ran out of money?” Russian asked. “That’s why we created the Jack & Irene’s WISH Haven Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our goal is to provide grants that help residents remain in their WISH House when they’ve exhausted their financial resources. We’ve calculated what it actually costs to care for someone each month. Residents pay what they are able to through their own income, retirement, savings, long-term care insurance, or other resources. Then, when additional help is needed, the foundation provides grants to help cover the difference whenever possible. We want people to stay in the place they call home.”
Russian said residents have access to communal rooms where various activities are available, as well as a full kitchen if they want to make family meals. The house is also still available to rent for community events and meetings, and there are regular events, such as “An Evening at WISH House,” during the next Firefly Night, 4 to 9:30 p.m., July 24.
When the Lincoln House Inn went up for sale, Russian just knew it was the right place for her dream of honoring her grandmother and son.
“Finding a house that could accommodate five to sixteen residents and eventually become ADA accessible is not an easy task,” she said. “You can’t get the license until you have the house, but you can’t really move forward until you have the license. It’s kind of backwards, and it’s been a long process.”
Russian’s goal is to make the house fully accessible, but that will require a lot of work.
“To make this house fully compliant takes a tremendous amount of money,” she said. “Cedar Creek Church selected us as one of its service day projects, and they’re building an accessible ramp. Eventually, we’ll also need sprinklers, another means of egress, fire-separation doors, and all of the other requirements necessary.”
Russian believes creating Jack & Irene’s WISH House in the home built in 1895 by Dr. J. Lincoln and his wife, Nettie, is a way to honor the Lincolns’ legacy.
“Dr. Lincoln was one of Bowling Green’s early physicians, a Civil War veteran, and a respected community leader who dedicated his life to caring for people,” she said. “Nettie was a teacher, an artist, and a civic leader who welcomed people into their home. When I learned that, I thought, ‘That’s exactly what this mission is.’ We’re welcoming people into a home, we’re caring for people, we’re creating community. Everything they stood for is everything we’re trying to continue.”
She feels that all of the different uses of the house, from family home to fraternity house, have led to this moment.
“Every chapter has added something to its history,” Russian said. “It felt like Lincoln House needed a new mission, and my mission needed a home.
“I feel like we’re honoring Dr. Lincoln’s legacy of caring for people, continuing Irene’s legacy of dignity and compassionate care, continuing Jack’s legacy of living with purpose and helping others, and now carrying all of that forward together,” she continued.
