Judy Buchanan's impact on the health of Bloomington-Normal spans decades.
In the 1980s, when the jail was about the only place many suffering mental illness were sent, Buchanan worked with Sonja Reece and other administrators at BroMenn Hospital to accept and treat those patients.
“She saw the need for that. It had to start with somebody, and that was the person that said we have to have this done,” Reece said.
Reece and Buchanan have remained friends through the years. Reece noticed how Buchanan has always taken an interest in others.
“She is always interested in how she can help you,” Reece said.
Buchanan said her interest in mental health and addressing the stigma surrounding it goes back to her days in high school in Chicago, when she read The Snake Pit, a book about psychiatric care in what was then known as insane asylums.
“I remember sitting down with my dad and saying ‘What’s wrong? These people are sick. They are being treated like animals, like criminals,'" she recalled.
After a long career working in healthcare in Bloomington-Normal, Buchanan turned her attention to Alzheimer's disease. She lost her mom at an early age to Alzheimer’s.
Buchanan became a statewide advocate for Alzheimer's research and treatment. In one instance, she convinced state lawmakers not to pull funding by introducing them to Alzheimer’s patients and putting a face on the condition.
“It just looked like a disease and here’s Judy telling us all about it, but then they are looking across their desk at someone who is about their age who said ‘yes I have Alzheimer’s,’ “ Buchanan said.
Buchanan's interest in public policy led her into politics. She's advised dozens of candidates, including Jim Thompson who -- with Buchanan's help -- was elected governor.
Buchanan said her most common advice for candidates she advised – a majority of which were Republicans – was to get out and talk to people and ask for their vote. But she said appearance mattered too. She wasn’t above taking a candidate shopping for clothes or taking them to the barber shop.
“I always thought it was genuine. I always say, ‘I don’t want you to change who you are because who you are is why I am working for you, but we have to put your best foot forward,'" Buchanan recalled.
Buchanan, whose politically-active husband Rich died in 2021, is still active in the community. She has served on the Connect Transit Board of Trustees since 2009 and until recently served on the McLean County Board of Health.
She continues to find ways to serve because her desire to help others has not diminished.
“I do them because I love them and I hope that I make a difference along the way,” Buchanan said.
