Health and Medicine

Last year brought a lot of flu activity across the state and this year health professionals are urging the public to roll up their sleeves and get flu shots early this year. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health said they are trying to prevent an outbreak of Hepatitis A after several neighboring states have experienced their own.

Illinois county officials have about four months to figure out details of the rabies vaccination effort for cats.

Legislation signed into law this month by Gov. Bruce Rauner amended Illinois' Animal Control Act. Beginning in January, cat owners must vaccinate their cats for rabies and keep them updated from the age of 4 months. The second rabies shot must be done within one year of the first vaccination.

Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti was in Bloomington-Normal on Thursday to witness a demonstration of Advocate BroMenn’s telehealth system.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed five laws expanding mental health and addiction-treatment services and Medicaid coverage of them.

Thirteen eye doctors and a spectacle boutique are coming together to create a new $10 million eye center.

The McLean County Board on Tuesday overwhelmingly signed on to recommendations for the county's nursing home developed by a special panel of experts from the community.

The McLean County Nursing Home is at a “tipping point,” according to a blue-ribbon panel of health care leaders that studied the facility.

The League of Women Voters of McLean County has released a study concluding the McLean County Nursing Home is not sustainable under the current business model.

The Town of Normal has a happy surprise on its insurance premiums. Council members Monday will decide whether to approve a premium package 13 percent below last year's rates.

The National Science Foundation is giving Illinois State University Faculty a $317, 000 grant. The money is buying a device that uses lasers to concentrate and filter cells into like batches. It's called a flow cytometer cell sorter.

Faculty and students will use the machine to do research on aging and the immune system, reptiles and turtles, bumblebee parasites, pollen grains, bird blood, and insects.

Students will get training on a device that is common in many health professions.

The feds funded only 16 percent of grant applications in this category.
 

Bloomington Police have arrested a 31-year-old nurse for allegedly ripping painkiller patches off the arms of nursing home patients and stealing them.

Even as McLean County government begins a debate on how to deal with its money-losing nursing home, the facility is gaining recognition as a good place for elders to live.

McLean County Board Chair John McIntyre has named a blue ribbon panel to look at the McLean County Nursing Home.

An organization working to halt the spread of HIV in Illinois wants to have the difficult conversations behind treating the disease.

Children across the country suffering from life-threatening and chronic illnesses risk losing their health insurance unless Congress acts soon.

Drug overdose deaths in McLean County rose more than 150 percent last year.

There is some behind-the-scenes skirmishing over the future of the McLean County Nursing Home, but the County Board has now agreed to hire a consultant to look at the future of the facility.

Chestnut Health Systems has chosen its new CEO.  

Current Chief Clinical Officer Dave Sharar will take over as CEO on Jan. 7 when Russ Hagen retires after several decades with the not-for-profit health agency.

Sharar also has a long tenure at Chestnut. A statement from board Chair Judy Smithson indicates Sharar's experience in many of the lines of business and that the leadership skills he has exhibited over 29 years are valued.

Illinoisans with Blue Cross and Blue Shield PPO health insurance will no longer be able to get in-network care at OSF HealthCare hospitals around the state, including OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.