Autumn Bohac of Effingham was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was 16 years old. Now a 29-year-old mother of four, her health care journey reveals the everyday anxiety and pain that rural patients feel. Autumn lives just a few blocks away from her town’s hospital. However, specialty care teams she has needed to manage her diabetes and four high-risk pregnancies have always been almost two hours away. With her first two pregnancies, seeing a specialist required 1.5 hours of travel. However, during her 3rd and 4th pregnancies, she was able to use telehealth for appointments with SIU

Instead of renting a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, driving two hours and risking exposure to COVID-19, the Hall family from Tuscola, Illinois jumped at the chance to have a telehealth visit with an SIU Medicine surgeon. Suffering from multiple sclerosis, Vicki Hall often makes the painful trip to see her various doctors in Central Illinois, including the trek to Springfield to see several of her SIU Medicine doctors. In January 2018, she was also diagnosed with esophageal cancer. After radiation treatments, her cancer is now in remission, but she struggles to swallow. To see if she’s a

An international medical education organization has selected Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to receive one of its inaugural awards for institutional excellence. The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) will present the ASPIRE Stellar Award to the SIU School of Medicine in recognition of its commitment to excellence in a range of educational areas. AMEE promotes international excellence in education in the healthcare professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. It has members in more than 90 countries and across five

An international medical education organization has selected Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to receive one of its inaugural awards for institutional excellence. The Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) will present the ASPIRE Stellar Award to the SIU School of Medicine in recognition of its commitment to excellence in a range of educational areas. AMEE promotes international excellence in education in the healthcare professions across the continuum of undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. It has members in more than 90 countries and across five

Seventy-four medical students from the Class of 2024 have begun their academic medical training at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The students are starting four years of intensive education to become physicians. The first weeks on the Carbondale campus include orientation, classes, clinical simulations and meetings with faculty. SIU students spend their first year in Carbondale and relocate to Springfield for years 2 – 4. SIU School of Medicine was founded in 1970 to help populate central and southern Illinois with new physicians, a need that is still critical. “The United

SPRINGFIELD – Local healthcare organizations on Friday emphasized that anyone visiting a hospital or clinic must wear a mask at all times , saying that the public’s compliance is critical to reduce the community spread of COVID-19. All visitors must wear masks for the entire duration of their visit, including at all times while in a patient’s room. Visitors who refuse to wear a mask will not be allowed to enter or will be asked to leave the facility if they do not comply. “We realize there are times when it is beneficial to a patient to have a loved one physically present,” said Dr. David