Cornerstone Special Care

09/08/2025

This week, we honor our incredible Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). 💙

Every day, our DSPs bring patience, compassion, and dedication to supporting individuals with developmental disabilities. They do so much more than provide care — they create joy, dignity, safety, and opportunities for independence.

To our Cornerstone DSP team: thank you for your hard work, your big hearts, and the countless ways you make a difference. You are mentors, advocates, caregivers, and friends — and we couldn’t do this without you.

Please join us in celebrating these amazing professionals who are true everyday heroes!

08/15/2025

🎉 A New Chapter in Caring for Our Community 🎉

After nearly five decades of service, Cornerstone Special Care has officially opened our brand-new 45,000-square-foot, purpose-built campus in Sterling, Illinois! 🏠✨

On Tuesday, we celebrated this milestone with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, heartfelt remarks, and tours of our state-of-the-art home designed specifically for individuals with developmental and medically complex needs.

This $25+ million investment is more than just bricks and mortar — it’s about more room to grow, more opportunities to thrive, and more of what we proudly call home. 💙

From bright sensory spaces to advanced safety features, every detail was designed with our residents’ comfort, dignity, and joy in mind. We can’t wait to welcome our residents into their new home this September.

💬 Drop a comment to congratulate our incredible staff, residents, and supporters who made this dream a reality!

📍 815 W. 23rd Street, Sterling, IL

07/29/2025

Hats off to our incredible team members, here's to July's prize winners!

07/22/2025

07/11/2025

🌟 Heart of Caring Award Recognition 🌟
At HutsonWood, we are proud to celebrate and recognize team members who go above and beyond in demonstrating exceptional performance, service excellence, and an unwavering commitment to our Core Values.

Every day, our employees show why they are truly amazing—and today, we are honored to highlight our Heart of Caring Award recipients:

Dawn DeLeon, Environmental Services – Service Excellence

Rose Starfish, Day Training DSP – Resident Service

Clarence Baker, Maintenance Director – Leadership

Thank you for your dedication, compassion, and outstanding contributions. You inspire us all! 💙

07/02/2025

2025 AHCA/NCAL Bronze National Quality Award

Cornerstone Special Care has been recognized as a 2025 recipient of the Bronze– Commitment to Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) for its commitment to improving the lives of residents through quality care. This distinction is the first of three progressive award levels through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program. The Program honors providers across the nation that have demonstrated their dedication to enhancing the quality of care for our nation’s elders and individuals with disabilities.

“We are incredibly honored to receive the AHCA/NCAL Bronze National Quality Award," said Melissa Francque, Executive Director. "This achievement reflects the unwavering dedication of our entire team to providing compassionate, high-quality care. It marks an important milestone on our journey of continuous improvement and excellence in service to our residents and their families.”

The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program is a rigorous three-level process reviewed and evaluated by trained experts against a set of nationally recognized standards for organizational excellence. The standards of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program help organizations achieve superior performance over time to improve the quality of life and care of long-term care residents.

Providers begin the quality improvement journey at the Bronze level, where they develop an organizational profile detailing among other elements their vision, mission, key customers, and key strengths and challenges. Bronze applicants must demonstrate the use of a performance improvement system. Trained examiners review each application to determine if a center has met the demands of the criteria. As a recipient of the Bronze -Commitment to Quality award, Cornerstone Special Care may now move forward to the Silver- Achievement in Quality award criteria.

The National Quality Awards will be presented during Delivering Solutions 25, the AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo, October 19-22, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 2025 National Quality Award Program is sponsored by AHCA/NCAL Associate Business Members: Health Cap, McKesson, Rosie, Incite Workforce Solutions Powered by Snap Care, and Prevail by First Quality.

07/01/2025

Meet June's prize winners!

05/22/2025

Our sweet, furry friend, Zoey, stopped by yesterday for extra love and treats 🐾🩷. It was a treat for us, too!!

05/12/2025

Congratulations Rose, you're the lucky winner of the gift giveaway!

05/05/2025

Cornerstone is honored to recognize and thank our outstanding nurses during Nursing Week, acknowledging the remarkable care and compassion they provide every day!

04/28/2025

Honoring our Healthcare Heroes at Cornerstone. Thank you for all of your superpowers!!

04/24/2025

What a great time it was to have this band of local talent play string instruments for us! They had us clapping and singing with them!