Health and Medicine

Illinois nurses are calling on state lawmakers to restrict the number of patients under their care.

Neurosurgeon Ann Stroink of Bloomington said she makes a trip to Washington nearly every month. She's a volunteer advocate for her professional groups, not a professional lobbyist.

Dr. Don Arnold’s home office overflows with medical textbooks, old anatomical prints and six pages of a recommendation letter from his first application to medical school - framed and hanging on the wall.

“It says I have very unique and viable talents that would serve me well, but on paper a very poor academic record,” he says. “So this is code. For those who don’t know. Nobody’s going to outwardly tell you not to take a person, but this is how they write it in code.”

A new study by the American Lung Association says Illinois is not doing enough to reduce tobacco use.

OSF Healthcare’s first Bloomington-Normal Urgo retail clinic allows patients to add an urgent care-style visit to their list of errands.

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.