Advocate BroMenn Medical Center

When emergency room Dr. Shayla Garrett-Hauser visits schools to talk about her job, kids always ask her to tell them about the grossest thing she’s ever seen.

The Community Health Care Clinic’s new program that connects patients with primary care physicians instead of using hospital emergency rooms for treatment is on pace to save Advocate BroMenn and OSF Healthcare a combined $1 million in its first year.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin called Tuesday for tougher regulations on e-cigarettes, especially the “insidious” marketing of flavored products to children.

A pilot program to improve wellness among people with developmental disabilities in Bloomington-Normal is showing significant benefits.

Here are the top stories we covered this week (Sept. 25-29, 2017) on WGLT and WGLT.org.

The McLean County Heart and Stroke Walk is all about getting fit, staying healthy and fighting back against heart attack and stroke.

If you can't remember where you put your keys or a co-worker's name, you might chalk it up to a "senior" moment. But what if you're only 40 years old?

When a person is experiencing an emotionally difficult period, often the first stop in seeking help is with a pastor or another trusted spiritual adviser.

That's why churches and faith groups across denominations are increasingly focusing on the mental well-being of their congregation members, says Patricia Turner, outreach director for Center for Hope International Ministries, an independent, non-denominational Christian church in Bloomington.

"I'm glad that this is one of the stops people can make," Turner said on GLT's Sound Ideas.

You don't normally expect to hear the words cancer and gift in the same sentence. But that is how Marcia O'Donnell, a Community Cancer Center patient, describes her life since her diagnosis of advanced breast cancer.

O'Donnell is a former mental health professional and mother of two small children.

She credits her positive outlook, in part, to being able to share her questions, fears and sometimes overwhelming emotions with Cancer Center chaplain Cheryl-Peterson Karlan.

Initially, though O'Donnell didn't even want to meet with the chaplain. 

Cheryl Peterson-Karlan, the chaplain at the Community Cancer Center in Normal, says her job is about listening to people, meeting them where they are, and if possible, helping them find hope.

Hospice Chaplain Kerry Egan says she doesn't know if listening to people's life stories as the confront death can make a person wise.

"I do know it can heal your soul. I know this because the stories healed mine."

The holidays are stressful but nothing is apparently more stressful than Christmas day. That's the day when researchers in the American Heart Association's publication Circulation say there are more deadly heart attacks than any other day of the year, followed by Dec. 26 and Jan. 1.  With that in mind, the Illinois Heart and Lung Foundation is pushing area residents to download the free smart phone app Pulse Point.

Workers are feverishly putting the final touches on the thirty five million dollar Center for Integrated Wellness just north of the airport in Bloomington.

The Center combines several services and business entities in one place, a fitness center managed by Advocate BroMenn, METHOD Sports Performance, and McLean County Orthopedics. Such facilities are becoming a trend across the U.S. 

For the first time hospitals in Bloomington Normal, the McLean County Health Department, and other stakeholders are working together on a community health needs assessment.

GLT's Charlie Schlenker talks with Meredith Nelson of OSF Saint Joseph Medical Center and Health Department Assistant Director Cathy Coverston-Anderson about the plan and why hasn't this happened years ago?