In an excellent example of Pathway to Living’s guiding philosophy, “Care to Know and Make Matter,” Jenny Rocco, VIVA! Life Coordinator from Victory Centre of River Woods located in Melrose Park, studied sign language, so she could communicate better with Peggy, a Victory Centre resident who is deaf.

Peggy is a great lip reader, but when people started wearing masks, communicating with others became even more challenging. With Peggy’s help, Jenny began learning the sign language alphabet.

Over three years, Jenny has been picking up more and more sign language. “It can be hard to learn sign language from photos, so I have Peggy physically teach me,” said Jenny, who is learning how to sign words that are frequently used—like good morning, thank you and beautiful—instead of spelling them out.