Measles 101
As measles cases in Chicago remain low and vaccinations increase, here’s what to know about the latest outbreak While her sons played one Sunday evening in early March, Yulia* tried to locate a suitcase. The family was staying at the Pilsen migrant shelter, but they had plans to move north, to reunite with Yulia’s husband, […]
Trash to Treasure
Local residents are taking recycling into their own hands, protecting their health, the health of the planet, and the city’s budget. Do you ever think about what happens to your gnarled toothbrushes, lifeless water filters, or cruddy plastic bags after they plop into your trash bin? Sherry Skalko did. During the pandemic, Skalko, who lives […]
Nurturing Natives
Indigenous gardens bring health, beauty, and culture to Native Americans in Chicago A chain link fence encases a lush, unexpected garden at the corner of Pulaski Road and Wilson Avenue in Chicago. Within the fence, green stalks of corn shoot skyward, bright Indian blanket flowers dot the raised beds, and milkweed lures passing butterflies. Welcome […]
Beyond Bullets
Can changing the way we medically treat gunshot wounds stem gun violence? If you watch local news in Chicago, you can’t escape stories about the city’s gun violence. But the stories don’t often go beyond the shootings themselves — and neither do most medical treatments. As of early December 2022, gun violence has killed 583 […]
Fresh Access
Englewood’s Go Green Fresh Market reimagines food security and prioritizes community engagement At the corner of South Racine and 63rd Streets, just down the street from a boarded-up CTA green line station, Go Green Community Fresh Market has changed what it means to be a convenience store. Fresh Market replaces traditional convenience store items, such […]
Under an Urban Canopy
Chicago’s tree ambassadors teach residents about the crucial role trees play in health and health equity. In North Lawndale, on Chicago’s southwest side, Annamaria Leon will be talking with her neighbors about one thing this fall: not crime, not politics…but trees. As a neighborhood tree ambassador with training from the city, she educates others about […]
Ticks, Lyme Disease, and Climate Change
Local Lyme disease experts warn: Check early and often as climate change ushers in more tick bites The Chicago area has had its share of wild weather extremes recently, from flooding and tornado warnings to deadly heat waves. Now, it’s time to add another threat of nature to your list of concerns: Lyme disease. Spread […]
Moving the Needle on Mental Health
4 organizations offer unexpected, active approaches to mental health therapy in Chicago Sometimes a single experience can change everything, shifting your perspective and opening your mind to possibilities. And many in Chicago are seeking such experiences. From the pandemic to economic uncertainty, climate change to societal unrest, plenty of factors have fueled anxiety, depression, and […]
Chicago’s Healthcare Heroes
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A salute to the inspiring individuals who’ve made a difference during the Covid-19 pandemic Covid-19 may have initially shut down Chicago, but healthcare heroes quickly rose up and sprang into action. They’ve been hard at work ever since. Despite hardships and health risks, they’ve aided patients, guided healthcare teams, researched new therapies, and shown […]
Serving Up Hope
Chicago’s food pantries nourish the whole person The first week Lakeview Pantry opened the doors to its new building in 2016, one of its regular clients walked in to receive food assistance. He looked around the space and slowly took everything in. He began to get teary-eyed, walked up to a staff member and said, […]
Erie Family Health Center
Innovative program trains medical residents; helps community members Luis Rivera, MD, Erie Family Health Center. Photo by James Schnept As a child growing up in South Chicago, Luis Rivera, MD, dreamed of becoming a physician and helping families in underserved communities. Today, Rivera is living that dream as a resident physician at Erie Family Health […]
Local Hospitals Receive A’s in Hospital Safety Scores
By Laura Drucker When it comes to choosing the right hospital for your needs, the factor of patient safety—how well a hospital protects its patients from preventable medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections—should be one of the most important to take into account. Fortunately, The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit program focused on transparency and […]
Above & Beyond: Support
Mile Square Health Center Supports Englewood Children The need for children’s mental health services keeps growing, especially in underserved areas of Chicago. Diagnosing a child with a mental health illness is a challenge since the city ofChicago shuttered half its mental health clinics in 2012 due to budget cuts. To reach these kids, Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation, a statewide […]
Stress In Chicago
Since 2007, the American Psychological Association has conducted a national survey on stress. In 2012, the survey charted stress levels in different cities and found that in Chicago, stress levels were at their lowest since 2008, putting residents on a par with the national average. The survey found that while Chicagoans have the same stressors […]
The Blue Man Group Goes for a Hit with Autism-Friendly Show
By Nancy Maes When some of the staff members of Blue Man Group read a newspaper article about a special performance of the Broadway production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, adapted for people with autism, they decided they wanted to do an autism-friendly version of their wild-and-crazy show that is performed by three mischievous […]
Chicago Bears Tackle Skin Cancer
By David Himmel The Chicago Bears have teamed up with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) to help protect fans from the dangers of skin cancer by offering free skin cancer screenings at the team’s Meijer Family Fest at Soldier Field on Saturday, August 2, from 3 – 7 p.m. The screenings are part of […]
Demystifying Doctor and Hospital Ratings
When looking at online doctor ratings sites, consider the source By Leigh Page With thousands of doctors and more than 100 hospitals in the Chicago area, it can get pretty tricky to choose the best physician for your needs. Healthcare consumers are increasingly turning to online rating sites, but those options are just as dizzying, […]
MERS: What Is It and What It Means for the U.S.
By Carroll Cole Earlier this month, an unfamiliar virus with a name fit for a Hollywood screenplay about a disease-driven apocalypse landed on American shores. The virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS first appeared in Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2012. Since then, it has infected more than 500 people and spread to […]
The Environmental Link to Autism and Intellectual Disability
By Tom Mullaney In the largest environmental study of its kind, scientists from the University of Chicago have found a geographic link between the incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). The seven-member research team, led by Andrey Rzhetsky, MD, at University of Chicago Medicine, analyzed more than 100 million U.S. medical […]
Northwestern and Cadence Announce Intent to Merger
Officials at Cadence Health and Northwestern Memorial HealthCare (NMHC) are in talks to form “an integrated academic healthcare delivery system,” according to an announcement made yesterday. No details are available yet as to when the specific discussions will begin. It is anticipated that, upon merger, the new health system will operate as Northwestern Medicine with […]
Obesity
The Little Known Truth About Being BIG By Alex Lubischer America’s obesity epidemic boils down to this: We do not move our bodies enough, and we eat too much food. Genetics can play a key factor, but at the macro level, the exponential spike in obesity over the past 100 years is far too rapid […]
Above and Beyond: Nutrition
By Megy Karydes Obesity affects approximately 17 percent of children aged 2 to 19 years, and the figure has nearly tripled since 1980. There are many possible reasons why this figure continues to grow including societal changes that promote inactivity and food consumption. One study published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that […]
A Breast Cancer Q&A
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Terri Yablonsky Stat talked to Dr. Nora Hansen, surgical oncologist, Breast Surgery Division at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine about what every woman should know about preventing and treating breast cancer. TYS: What can women do to prevent breast cancer? Dr. Hansen: The biggest thing is being aware […]
Marijuana Medical Clinic Is Good for Business, While Helping Patients Find Relief
Pictured above: Tammi Jacobi’s Good Intentions in Wicker Park has teamed up with licensed physician Dr. Brian Murphy to open the first medical marijuana clinic in Illinois. [spacer style=”3″] By Megy Karydes Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill on August 1 legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes in Illinois that supporters say is […]
Time to Grow Old
Through the good and the bad, it’s by grace that we age We’re all getting older, and fast. By the time you finish this sentence, you’ll be one moment closer to your last. But, you’ll have gained another moment, too. You see, we think of aging in relative terms: “I’m old enough for this.” “I’m […]
Vitamin D Deficiency: How Common Is It?
By Karen Schwartz These dark and dreary winter months have many Chicagoans longing for warmer climates. But hot rays and relaxing days are not all that Chicagoans may miss by living in a colder and less sunny locale. Living in Chicago may predispose numerous Chicago residents to having a vitamin D deficiency. In fact, about […]
Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative announces major changes in Chicago
By Riley Andersen First lady Michelle Obama is kicking off the third year of her Let’s Move! initiative this week with a two-day national tour that includes a stop at McCormick place in Chicago on Thursday. The tour will promote the progress of the last two years and announce new ways to battle childhood obesity. […]
The Flu Outbreak
Why it broke and whether it’s fixed By David Himmel It begins with an ache. Then a chill. And before you can reach Walgreens, you find yourself in the grip of an influenza outbreak. The final days of last December brought holiday cheer and the third biggest flu season since 2002. After New Year’s Day, […]
Living Too Large
A Look at the Chicago Childhood Obesity Epidemic By Morgan Lord When it comes to childhood obesity in Chicago, there’s good news, and there’s an overwhelming amount of bad news. Here’s the bad news first. “Childhood obesity is definitely becoming a bigger issue in Chicago,” says Dr. Mary Westerholm, a physician at Central DuPage Hospital […]
More than Bridge and Bingo
Retirement communities are no longer homes for the old folks By Karen Schwartz Walk into the independent living apartments of The Admiral at the Lake continuing care retirement community (CCRC) on the North Side of Chicago, and you’ll see beautifully appointed one-, two- and three-bedroom units, some with an expansive view of Lake Michigan. The […]
Immediate Care Clinics
Some maladies might not need the services (or the cost) of a hospital emergency room. The list below is compiled from sources and references cited in our “Access to Care” cover story along with a few others we have become aware of. The list is not exhaustive, but may be helpful in giving you some […]
Halloween Safety Tips From Loyola University Health System
Halloween can be a wonderful time for families. But with all of the excitement that the holiday brings, it can be easy to let safety take a back seat. Dr. Bridget Boyd, a pediatric safety expert and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, has compiled […]
The Cost of Nutrition
School and community efforts help kids eat well on a budget For many families with school-aged children, the dreadful question during mealtime is chicken fingers or hot dogs? French fries or chips? What do you pack for lunch that will guarantee that your child will eat something so he or she isn’t starving by the […]
Long Live Some of Us
Life expectancy in Cook County is a function of geography; access to grocery stores The health and longevity of Cook County residents varies dramatically, based on where they live, according to a report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Cook County Place Matters. The study titled, Place Matters for Health in […]
Their Kind of Town
National medical institutions are coming to Chicago The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, provides world-class healthcare, just a hop, skip and a jump away from the internationally respected institutions here at home. The resources at Mayo are often just what patients like Kevin Lue are looking for, and thousands of other Chicagoans make the pilgrimage […]
A Cleaner Lake
Chicago Park District improves monitoring of Lake Michigan As Memorial Day weekend rang in this year’s swim season, the Chicago Park District (CPD) began its summer monitoring of lakefront water quality, ensuring that our city’s 26-mile stretch of Lake Michigan stays safe for swimmers. Many new bacteria-detection and -prevention measures are in place, thanks to […]
Crucial Cool
Staying hydrated and managing your body temp is necessary for Chicago summers Cheryl Carl, 33, never suspected that her tendency to overheat would land her in the hospital. A financial specialist in the nursing home industry and an otherwise healthy Chicagoan, Carl was on a Second City walking tour with her husband Ziggy when a […]
The Diabetic Misconception
Being young and thin is not a free pass from diabetes There’s an assumption that diabetes is only for the old and overweight. It’s not true. Today, the young and thin are being diagnosed with more convoluted versions of the disease. November is American Diabetes Month. Designed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to bring […]
Researchers Develop New Potential Solutions to Concussions
A group of researchers has developed the first potential solution to reducing sports-related concussions that doesn’t involve helmets—a simple collar worn by athletes that compresses vessels in the neck to increase cranial blood volume, thereby reducing internal movement of the brain. The medical community has known for a while that helmets do not offer total […]
Cancer’s Target
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest forms of cancer and most difficult to treat The announcement that Steve Jobs had died of pancreatic cancer last week brought surprise and shock to many. After being diagnosed in 2004, he underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy, also known as a Whipple procedure that removed the tumor. And although he […]
Fighting Young
When it comes to pediatric cancer, there are many uncertainties. But clinical trials are quickly saving more and more lives and letting kids, like Abigail Mendoza, live. Abigail Mendoza sat at the dinner table chewing alternating bites of homemade pizza and ranch- drenched carrot sticks. Her grin was constant. A toothy mash-up. A cross between […]
When Help Is Needed
Assisted living offers much more than care—it offers a life When Chicagoan Laura Kimmel started looking at retirement communities in the city for her parents, Saul and Simmie Liberman, they weren’t interested in making the move. The octogenarians were adamant about staying in the house in Lincolnshire they had called home for more than 30 […]
Critical Choices: Which Hospital and Physician is Best for You?
When you want to buy a car, you can test-drive a variety of vehicles before you make your choice. When you need a new pair of jeans, you can try on styles by various designers in pursuit of that perfect fit. But when you have a health problem that cannot be ignored, you can’t give […]
