A new mental health crisis center has opened in downtown Bloomington with limited hours because of a staffing shortage. The McLean County Center for Human Services runs the crisis center. CEO Joan Hartman says the goal is to make it a 24/7 facility.

A Bloomington pediatrician says new new aggressive guidelines for child obesity go beyond diet and exercise. Dr. David Milligan with the Carle BroMenn Outpatient Center says treatments and interventions for childhood obesity vary for each patient for many reasons.

The convenience and popularity of wireless headphones is contributing to hearing loss, according to audiologist Dr. Natalie McKee of Bloomington-Normal Audiology.

Twin Cities native Hilary Pacha started One Hope Project after her professional experiences in the nonprofit sector and her personal experiences seeking help for disordered eating.

Hospitals are facing a capacity crunch just in time for the holidays. That's due to respiratory viruses, but COVID-19 isn't the biggest driver of hospitalizations this winter. Instead, medical officials say an earlier-than-usual onset of RSV, coupled with an influenza wave, are packing emergency departments to capacity.

Too often, the conversation turns too quickly to whether an aging parent should move into a long-term care facility, said Susan Real, executive director of the Bloomington-based East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging.

Chestnut Health Systems and the McLean County Center for Human Services plan to coordinate care for their clients by placing staff at each other's facilities and sharing electronic medical records.

In Illinois, the average price for a Thanksgiving meal for 10 is expected to jump 13% this year, to $65.53, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s latest Thanksgiving Cost Survey.

About 1 in 6 McLean County residents smokes. Public health administrators challenge smokers to try to kick the habit for at least one day.

RSV is not uncommon and health care authorities say most children will have gotten a cases of the virus before they're 2 years old, but a Bloomington-Normal pediatrician said the trend has been toward older children having more serious issues with the virus.