CU-CitizenAccess.org (https://www.cu-citizenaccess.org/category/health_care/)
Elizabeth Schneider is a marketing program manager at NanoString Technologies and is based in Seattle, Washington. This is a republication of her Facebook post on March 8, 2020.
I had COVID-19 and here is my story. I made this post public out of several requests from my friends who asked me to share. I hope it gives you some good information and peace of mind! First how easily you can get it.
The Illinois legislature is sending a bill to Governor Bruce Rauner that requires the state to screen newborns for a genetic neurological muscle disease because there is a promising new drug to treat the condition. But even if the governor signs the bill, testing for newborns may not start until 2020. The disease, which is known as spinal muscular atrophy, is a sometimes fatal, progressive neuromuscular disease that causes the wasting away or atrophying of muscles over time. Patients suffering from SMA can lose the ability to walk, eat and breathe. SMA can be treated with the drug Spinraza, but for Spinraza to be most effective, early detection of SMA is crucial.
Dustin Fink suffered his first concussion growing up in Lone Tree, Colorado, when he ran into a post on the playground in fourth grade. It was the mid-1980s and the school nurse looked him over, he recalled, sent him back to class and that was that.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association logged 1,217 concussive events in high school athletics throughout Indiana during the fall season.
How many occurred in Illinois? Nobody knows for sure.
Some local tattoo artists are expressing frustration with the cursory inspections of their shops since Illinois took the responsibility of inspections from the Champaign-Urbana health district two years ago.
Since 2011, dozens of central Illinois nursing homes have improved their five-star Medicare rating, some by as much as four stars.
But that improvement, some critics say, is not an accurate representation.
Gerald Warmbier began a medical journey last year that took him to the nursing home Heartland of Champaign.
But instead of helping him recover after medical treatment at Carle Foundation Hospital, the nursing home delivered such poor care that it led to his death, according to a lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Champaign County by his wife.
By Christine Herman/For CU-CitizenAccess.org — “Anne” and “Kate” are licensed home birth providers in Wisconsin but considered criminals in Illinois. They say home birth would be safer in Illinois if the government licensed certified professional midwives like them by helping people distinguish between trained and untrained midwives and reducing the number of unassisted home births. But opponents, who believe hospitals are the safest place for birth, say they will continue to oppose legislation for licensing them. This story was part of Christine Herman’s journalism master’s project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2014.
Visit http://homebirthillinois.com to see more of Herman’s project.
Listen to the third in a 3 part series
By Christine Herman/For CU-CitizenAccess.org — When Cheryl Gioja went into labor, her husband Joshua got down on his knees to “catch the baby” in the living room of their Illinois home. What he did was not a crime. But if a midwife had been there, she would have been breaking the law. Roughly 800 babies in Illinois are born at home each year. Without access to licensed providers, families resort to hiring “underground” midwives, who may or may not have adequate training.
By Christine Herman/For CU-CitizenAccess.org — Home births have increased by more than 50 percent since 2004. But in 22 states, certified professional midwives have to work outside the law to assist women in home birth. Although doctors and nurse midwives can assist home births, very few of them actually do, leaving many women without a single legal home-birth provider. Experts discuss what some activists call a home birth crisis in one such state, Illinois. This story was originally broadcast on Radio Health Journal and was part of Christine Herman’s journalism master’s project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2014. Visit http://homebirthillinois.com to see more of Herman’s project.
Listen to the first in a 3 part series
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By Sean Powers/Illinois Public Media — Many lactation experts say newborns can get their nutrition needs met through formula, but that breast milk is preferred because of the additional health benefits. When mothers can’t produce enough breast milk for their baby or can’t use their breast milk due to medical reasons, donated milk is available — but not enough of it, due to a nationwide shortage of pasteurized breast milk. To combat the shortage, breast milk banks across the country are trying to open more drop off sites to collect donated breast milk, including a site opening soon in Champaign. Beth McKinney has been operating a breast milk bank of sorts in her own freezer. It has only been a few months since McKinney, 26, of Champaign gave birth to her son, Charlie, and she says she produces just enough milk for her son when she’s breastfeeding.
