Skilled Nursing Hero: Apsara Rosario
Alden Terrace of McHenry Apsara Rosario, assistant director of nursing at Alden Terrace of McHenry, which provides short-term rehab and skilled nursing services, was 13 when she immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti. After high school, she found herself living in San Diego, a military wife and mother of three. When her family returned to Chicago, […]
Patient Hero: Paul Richard
Advocate Trinity Hospital Paul Richard had such a hard time breathing in April that he felt like he had an elephant sitting on his chest. At the emergency department at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago’s Calumet Heights neighborhood, he tested positive for Covid-19. The Chicago-resident, 69 at the time, vividly remembers the visions he experienced while […]
Emergency Room Hero: Scott Samlan, MD
Mount Sinai Hospital “I deal with gunshots every day, trauma, and crazy stuff, and this is the only thing that scares me,” says Scott Samlan, MD, an emergency room physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, describing the toll that Covid-19 had taken on patients and medical providers. Samlan’s impassioned description of conditions in the […]
Research Hero: Richard Novak, MD
University of Illinois at Chicago Covid-19 is not the first pandemic go-around for Richard Novak, MD. For more than 30 years, he has worked closely with HIV-positive patients. Today, as head of infectious diseases at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he has been running several research studies trying to find a drug to treat […]
Nurse Heroes: Linda Michna, RN, and the Old Dolls
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Three decades ago, a group of nurses at Northwestern Memorial Hospital became known as the Old Dolls, even though they were only in their 30s. One of them, critical care nurse Linda Michna, RN, says a male nurse gave them the patronizing moniker when he told new nurses in their early 20s […]
Testing Hero: Greg Bowman, RN
Rush University Medical Center In the early days of the pandemic, Covid-19 testing was sparse in Chicago. When Rush University Medical Center set up its drive-thru testing clinic in mid-March, Greg Bowman, RN, a registered nurse in the neurosurgery department, jumped into action. For four weeks, the Indiana native swabbed hundreds of patients in a […]
Mask Hero: Evelyn Figueroa, MD
Figueroa Wu Family Foundation The day Illinois’ stay-at-home order was announced, Evelyn Figueroa, MD, a family physician and professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), made a beeline to the craft store. “I ran to Joann [Fabrics], and I basically bought any fabric I thought would be good,” she says. […]
Home Care Hero: BreAnna Kruyer
Right at Home For many residents of long-term care facilities, the coronavirus pandemic has increased their loneliness, anxiety, and fear. Families can’t visit, and residents are confined to their rooms to stop the spread of Covid-19. Trusted caregivers don disguising personal protective equipment from head to toe, which can be scary and confusing for those […]
Public Health Hero: Allison Arwady, MD, MPH
Chicago Department of Public Health Armed with a straightforward attitude and reams of data, Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, answers the public’s coronavirus questions every Tuesday and Thursday during a livestreamed Q&A session. The immediacy of the real-time interactions enables Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), to communicate directly with Chicagoans and […]
Food Hero: Kellie O’Connell
Lakeview Pantry When the stay-at-home order went into effect, Lakeview Pantry realized its services would be needed more than ever, but food and social services would have to be delivered in new, socially distanced ways. Thanks to creative thinking, online technology, and the Chicago Cubs, Lakeview Pantry was able to provide food to a population […]
Infectious Disease Hero: Emily Landon, MD
UChicago Medicine Emily Landon, MD, executive medical director of infection prevention and control at UChicago Medicine, started out as a voice major at Augustana College in Rock Island until she realized that practicing music alone in a studio wasn’t how she wanted to spend her life. “I decided in college that I didn’t want to be a […]
State Hero: Ngozi Ezike, MD
Illinois Department of Public Health From early on, Ngozi Ezike, MD, seemed destined to be a doctor. Her father, an immigrant from Nigeria who settled in Los Angeles, dreamed his firstborn would become a physician. Ezike realized that aspiration, going into medicine and eventually becoming director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Ezike thrived […]
Community Hero: Pastor Chris Harris
Bright Star Community Outreach When Covid-19 first appeared in Chicago, Pastor Chris Harris suspected it would hit his community on the South Side hard. “Historically, whenever other communities get a cold, it’s like stage 4 cancer to the Black community because of health disparities and lack of access or affordability of healthcare,” says Harris, who is pastor of Bronzeville’s Bright Star Church […]
Paramedic Hero: Norah Power
ATI Ambulance Norah Power has worked in various emergency medical services (EMS) roles — from leadership to education — for nearly 30 years. As a critical care paramedic with ATI Ambulance and as the company’s chief diversity officer, Power has also taught at Malcolm X College for the past 12 years, mentoring the new generation […]
7 Anti-Inflammatory Foods for Anxiety
One-third of Americans will experience prolonged anxiety at some point in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. While treatment once largely focused on medication and therapy, research suggests food and nutrients should play a role too. This is because inflammation is often a root cause or underlying contributor to anxiety. Chronic […]
