Vikki Ortiz Healy – Page 16

Recent nursing graduate Kelly Procek, left, and her instructor, registered nurse Debra Crivellone, look over patient information Sept. 1, 2016, at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn.

Flight nurse’s kind gesture after man’s death inspires daughter’s career

June 12, 2018 at 6:14 a.m.

On the hot Saturday night of Labor Day weekend in 2002, Jon Hagen was working his regular evening shift as a flight nurse on a medical helicopter in Wisconsin when...

While decades ago parents may have been inclined to keep secrets from children and steer away from discussions of death and dying, child psychology and hospice experts believe being honest about how life and death work is a healthier approach.

When teaching kids about death, be honest

May 23, 2019 at 4:00 a.m.

It started off as one of the more grim moments in the final days of my dad's long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. A hospice chaplain and a funeral home director...

Asian mother epiphany: Our daughters won’t feel same alienation we did

May 23, 2019 at 4:00 a.m.

My dear friend, Mei-Ling Hopgood, sent me the text knowing I'd have the same reaction she did. My girls just did one of those Chinese, Japanese pull-eyes-back rhymes, the text...

Teens showing signs of ‘text neck’

June 10, 2018 at 9:56 a.m.

Think your kid's posture is starting to suffer from always looking down at a cellphone? It is, according to a national chain of physical therapy clinics, which reports that more...

There currently are no rules that specifically address whether juveniles should be detained in shackles in Illinois courtrooms.

Youth advocates seek to limit use of shackles for juveniles in court

May 22, 2019 at 10:16 p.m.

In courtrooms across the state, some juveniles are ordered to wear shackles around their wrists and ankles while appearing before a judge, even when they are charged with low-level crimes...

Strangers donate air conditioners to those in need

June 11, 2018 at 9:29 p.m.

Several Chicago residents without air conditioning will soon feel relief after donations from strangers. "It really touches me," said Omar Shareef, a west Englewood community leader who has been fielding...

Patricia Benford, who has no air conditioning, sits in the kitchen of her Chicago home trying to keep cool on July 21, 2016.

Facing the heat without air conditioning, by circumstance or choice

May 22, 2019 at 10:13 p.m.

As sweat-covered residents across the Chicago area anxiously wait for high temperatures to subside, many of them can seek refuge in the cool indoors. That's not the case for Patricia...

Children play in the water from a fire hydrant in the 600 block of North Saint Louis Avenue July 21, 2016, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Chicago braces for intense heat wave not seen since 2013

May 22, 2019 at 10:12 p.m.

Scorching temperatures and muggy air will make the Chicago area feel like a giant sauna over the next several days, sending emergency responders into high alert while prompting pop-up community...

A billboard on Interstate 55 by the Association of Pakistani Americans of Bolingbrook urges Muslims to speak up if they see other Muslims engaging in suspicious activity.

Muslim group erects billboards designed to fight terrorism, Islamophobia

June 10, 2018 at 10:57 a.m.

A suburban Chicago Muslim group hopes two giant billboards hanging over busy Chicago highways will help to fight terrorism while also combating Islamophobia. The billboards — which read "Muslims to...

The state budget impasse has affected programs that help people such as Edith Cordova, center, and her son, Alejandro Campa, 11, who has autism. Alejandro's sister Vanessa is at left.

Autism advocates hope new budget will restore services

June 10, 2018 at 12:34 p.m.

It wasn't easy taking her 11-year-old son who has autism on Chicago public transportation each week for support groups and workshops. But Edith Cordova managed her son's sensitivity to noise...

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