39236 N. Green Bay Rd. Beach Park IL 60087
Pastor Brian Petrick
CHURCH
Service Times
Sunday:
Sunday School - 9:30 am
Church Service - 10:30 am
Evening Service 5:30 pm
Wednesday:
Prayer and Bible Study
7:00 pm
Saturday:
Soul-winning/outreach/bus visitation - 10:00 am
Sign language available for all services.
Separate services for Spanish speaking in the morning services.
Sunday and Wednesday evening services interpreted for Spanish speaking.
Nursery provided for all services.
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***** UPDATES ON THE HEALTH STATUS OF PASTOR EMERITUS DR. RONALD T PETRICK******
90 years young
(Updates may not happen daily, but we'll do our best)
Sunday 8-17-25 "Papa preacher" fell in his home coming back from the restroom.
No one witnessed his fall and we were concerned his back or hip may have been broken.
He was taken by ambulance to Vista East in Waukegan.
Initial CT scans did not reveal anything to be broken
Heavy pain meds were given and he never left the bed for 7 days.
we were promised more scans,... or MRI,... or total body bone scans every day but nothing happened and communication from this hospital was not good.
(The nurses there were fine and some even exceptional. One nurse even got saved!)
Bowel blockage caused EXTREME pain on saturday 8-23.
This cleared up by the end of the day on Saturday.
He did move to the edge of the bed and stood up briefly, got dizzy and sat back down.
8-24 Sunday afternoon, evening and night into monday morning he had extreme abdominal pain due to UTI or bladder infection (in hindsight,... but was never diagnosed or treated for that at VISTA)
Monday 8-25-25 he was discharged from VISTA and moved by personal car (very risky but proved to be the BEST decision), to Lake Forest Hospital (Northwestern Medical). Lake Forest, IL
Upon arrival he was still in extreme abdominal pain and was given antibiotics ASAP for possible UTI or bladder infection and was comfortable for the first time that day, sometime in the late afternoon or evening. His sodium levels were also extremely low.
He was also given new scans at Lake Forest since VISTA was unable to send over any of thier findings to the new hospital in a timely manner.
Tuesday 8-26 We were given new CT scan results:
No broken bones showed up.
ALSO:
Unreated incidental findings:
Nodules in left lung and in pancreas.
(unsure if cancerous or not)
Enlarged lymph nodes.
Tues. 8-26 he had a reasonably good day. Still way too much lower back pain. But nothing in comparison to his last 3 days from the bowels and bladder pains he had! Sodium levels up,... still too low, but climbing. Was able to stand up twice that day and sit back down.
Side note: His lower back had been in extreme pain also for these 7-8 days, but the bowel pain and the abdominal pain far EXCEEDED his back pain!
8-27 Weds morning started out good, but after physical therapy,... (standing up and sitting down twice) he was weak, very exhausted and dizzy and the abdominal pain stated up again while I was there (Brian). He was thrashing uncontrollably and gritting his teeth in agony. The nurses were scared because they hadn't seen him like that since he had been at Lake Forest. (I had seen him like this at VISTA). The nurses were trying to see if they could give him stronger pain meds. I was asking if he could be sedated. It was awful. This went on for maybe 30 minutes. (At vista it was one hour one day, and an hour the next). On weds it was 30-40 minutes of total agony.
******************* BUT GOD!
I was praying. Dad was praying
It was then I started as fast as possible,...texting everyone in my phone to pray for dad's pain and for him to settle down.
As I "copied and pasted" I texted 10, 20 , 30 ,40 people. Godly people who knew how to pray and loved and cared for my dad. The more I texted, the more he calmed down, little by little. So I kept texting and posting and texting some more. I must have texted over 100 people. Friends, preachers, evangelists, missionaries. Even after he settled dowm I just kept texting until he finally dozed off a little.
I saw the POWER OF PRAYER IN REAL TIME!
The nurse came back in the room after trying her hardest to get approval for more pain meds, and found him completely still and dozing off.
I said "Do you believe in GOD?"
"You see him?"
I told her, "I just texted over 100 people to pray for his pain,... and look at him now!"
She said "of course I believe in God". She said "wow, that just gave me chills,... I haven't even given him any more pain meds"
Thank you everyone for bombarding heaven with those prayers, As far as I know, he hasn't had any more of those extreme episodes of pain since weds afternoon when that happened. AND,...It's now thurs. 8-28-25 at 5:10PM as of this update!
Thursday 8-28-25. He is supposed to have an MRI done today to rule out (or to find) if his back is truly fractured. This is because the fall was over a week ago but the pain is still very bad.
If the MRI comes back OK, he could possibly be moved to a care facility as early as tomorrow, where he will stay as long as needed before returning back home.
The short-term care facility will most likely be: ALIYA of Highwood, IL
Follow up appts will have to be made,... outpatient for biopsys of his lung and pancreas, to determine possible future treatment/procedures for those incidental findings. Also the Urologist is monitoring and doing the best to keep infections under control / elimninated.
Please pray for wisdom and direction for us going forward. I will try to update each day if possible. Thank you so much for all the concerns, prayers, calls, texts and visits.
Please limit your calls/texts as it's getting a bit overwhelming. Please refer to this site. - Pastor Brian
*** Newest Update Sat. 8-30-25 ***
Yesterday morning (friday) was VERY rough again for Dad. He had bladder spasms which caused him to writhe in pain for some time. They gave him a medication to relax his bladder and that worked. He was as comfortable (as could be expected) then for the rest of friday, friday night,.. and into this morning saturday he talked on the phone with Lisa and I and we laughed and joked. Such a blessing to hear his sense of humor again.
The MRI did actually take place yesterday (friday) and revealed no fractures or anything out of the ordinary for a 90 year old back. No invasive procedures suggested or planned on his back.
He has not been able to stand for more than a few minutes, and has not even been able to sit in a chair (yet). So pray for his strength to regain . Pray for the transition to go well and for to be well taken care of, and to be happy in this new place. The hospital was so full in Lake Forest (no one trusts waukegan hospital anymore, nor should they) and his UCC room had no windows. So he will be happy to be in a place with windows and I'm sure much better scenery. Please pray the staff here that they will be super and treat him as if he was thier father.
Of course I and my family will our my best to be with him as much as possible in his new location and I will be his advocate, along with my sister, but we do have a big conference coming up too, so please pray for him, and us and BBC.
The place his going today is :ALIYA of Highwood 50 Pleasant Av. Highwood, IL 60040.
Feel free to visit him and call or text him. He does get lonely at times. His sense of time isn't the same or his memory. So sometimes he forgets he's had some visitors and believes no one's coming to see him.
***UPDATED Tues. Sept. 2nd ***
Dad never made it to ALIYA of Highwood on this past Saturday Aug. the 30th. He was scheduled to,... and sounded good to me on the phone that morning, but when we arrived at 11:15 we found him being checked with a heart ultra-sound machine and looked unconscious. He was conscious but very weak. He was sat up in bed earlier which caused his blood pressure to drop and he became light-headed / dizzy. So when we got there they were checking him for heart attack which did not happen. That's why his move to re-hab facility was delayed until further notice. They want to do an MRI of the brain before moving him now, to rule out a stroke. But said that could not happen until monday (labor day - highly unlikely) or tues. Again because of his pacemaker. MRI's are way more difficult. The rest of Sat. was as normal as could be considering. He doesn't eat much. I don't think he was able to get out of bed at all that day because of this episode. We're trying to get him to drink ensure protein drinks and protein ice-cream (he always asks for ice-cream and coffee), because he doesn't seem to get enough protein from the meals because he basically just picks at and eats like a bird. His taste and appetite are not good. Lisa and I spent much of the morning and afternoon with him Sat. and Jolene came later and stayed late with him.
Sunday Aug. 31st was a pretty good day! Lisa and I talked with him on the phone that morning,... joked around and prayed together. For the first time he said he'd had a pretty good night. Later that day Mark Ramona and Jolene came to see him and he was able to get up out of the bed, into a wheel chair and roll out into another place of the hospital and see the sunlight. (No windows in his room is one of his biggest complaints). So this was an ovrall pretty good day with not much else to report.
The dr's and nurses have been exceptional here and very comunicative and clear about whats happening.
Mon. Sept. 1st . started out BAD. He woke up with extreme back pain again and was hollering for help. Not sure if he could not find the call button or if he just was in so much pain he couldn't wait. They gave him more Narco which we were hoping to wean him off of. But apparently he needed it. He has not had any more bowel blockages since VISTA, but in fact the opposite. It's better than being blocked up,... but a challenge too. After he settled down he was sleeping HARD. Something I've rarely seen (when I'm there) since hes been hospitalized. Ted and Nancy came to see him and he was sleeping SO HARD, they decided to go and come back. They came back and I was there and we had good talks, fun memeories recalled and talked football a little. Jolene came later and stayed late with him again. An overall pretty good day though it started kinda bad. We've been seeing dad witness to eveyone, give them billion-dollar tracts,... and joke with the nurses when he's feeling even just a little ok and that has been very special. NO brain MRI today. (and wasnt really expected because of the holiday)
Tues. Sept. 2nd. Though I havent been to the hospital yet today, as of this update. (I do plan to go right after this update), I did talk to the Dr. this morning. He said he woke up with leg pain most likely from spasms due to restless legs, and was given meds for that which settled them down. Brain MRI is now scheduled for tomorrow (Weds). and maybe ??? will be transferred to ALIYA of Highwood?? (50 Pleasant Av. Highwood, IL 60040). But we shall see. That might not happen until Thursday. We just dont know. There was a medication (tamsulosin) for his enlarged prostate that was stopped now because it is the suspected culprit that may have caused his episode on saturday morning and what causes him to feel light-headed and dizzy every time he stands. They stopped it. And later he was able to stand and sit without his blood pressure doing anything weird.
Will update again when able. Thanks again for prayers and concerns. Keep those prayers coming for dad and for all the family. THANK YOU
Again,...He's still at Lake Forest Hospital until further notice.
Weds. Sept. 3rd. MRI did take place. As far as I know he had a pretty good day. Talked by phone a few times and sounded ok.
Thurs. Sept. 4th
Results came back with no problems detected. He is glad to get out and move to a room with windows! He is scheduled to move to:
ALIYA of Highwood 50 Pleasant Av. Highwood, IL 60040.
...and be there around 4pm today.
It's 1:10 now as of this update.
So hopefully it will actually happen this time. Will update again ASAP.
Friday Sept. 5th update
Yesterday's move to Highwood short-term care facility (address above in red), did indeed happen.
He did seem to have a bit of an anxiety attack in the hospital when they announced he would be moving out. (I wasn't there yet) They got his breathing under control (somewhat hyper-ventilating), and checked his heart and vital signs and determined it was brought on by anxiety and nothing else. Other than that,...It went rather smoothly. They gave him some pain meds just before the move and an air matress to help with the bumps on the road. I rode in the ambulance with him and we joked around on the ride. He got settled in the room, and my sister was there too to help settle him in. Later that evening,...I brought him one of his favorites. A chocolate shake.
Now (actual) friday sept. 5th,... He woke up and called me and said he wanted to come home. He had physical therapy today which still revealed he is still too weak to come home. Every time he sits up on the edge of the bed he gets dizzy and says everything is whirling around. He did sort of stand (not all the way up). They did exercises with his hands and arms some. They determined he does need to eat more to get more strength. He doesn't eat much of his food at all, but does drink the ensure protein drinks. But he does need to snack more often. We had a good time talking, joking and listening to psalms together. He is getting along fine with Rob (his roomate) who is an amputee, given him a billion dollar tract and witnessing to him. Rob is very much a conservative who likes football. Also today was pretty much pain free. I was there from 10 am to 6pm. Bethany came later with Gwen so I'm sure he LOVED that!
Sat. Sept. 6th,... Lisa was there from about 10am - 2:30pm.He was basically Comfortable. Not really much pain. Not eating much, but drinking ensures. Litchfield's attempted to visit him after Lisa left but he was out like a light sleeping. They waited for quite some time to see if he would wake up. But had to leave him sleep. I'm glad to hear they attempted to come, (and glad they let him sleep) but sorry they didn't get to visit with him. Please pray.
Still at : ALIYA of Highwood 50 Pleasant Av. Highwood, IL 60040
**For Health Updates on Pastor Emeritus Dr. Ronald Petrick, please scroll to the bottom of this page**
