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JUNE 9, 2020 – SPRINGFIELD - Sheltering at home has created problems among some of Springfield’s more vulnerable residents and families who are struggling to maintain their physical and mental health during the pandemic. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and SIU School of Medicine have established a new Pandemic Health Worker Program to support the specific needs of these individuals during the COVID-19 outbreak. The new program is designed to remove barriers affecting health and well-being, and improve access to social services for those at risk. Pandemic Health

Last March, Vidya Sundareshan, MD, was on her first family vacation in more than a year, traveling to San Antonio, Tx., to attend her brother’s wedding. Sundareshan had been named co-chief of the SIU Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases (with colleague Vidhya Prakash, MD) on March 1. The trip was a welcome break and an opportunity to tend to her own needs as a busy physician. However, her vibrating phone kept reminding her that multiple health care systems were preparing for the inevitable. The coronavirus outbreak that had been an overseas occurrence before the

“Co nnecting Caregivers,” a panel discussion featuring psychologists, caregivers and the loved ones they care for, will be held at 5 p.m., Monday, June 5, at Simmons Cancer Institute at Southern Illinois University, 315 W. Carpenter in Springfield. Individuals caring for a loved one experiencing a health issue are invited to the free event. Michelle Gates, PhD, and Patricia Fank, PsyD, both assistant professors of psychiatry at SIU Medicine, will participate in the panel. Other panelists include a cancer survivor, an Alzheimer’s patient and their spouses. “This is an opportunity for someone

Federal grant to fund SIU Medicine-SSM Good Samaritan partnership

Residents of Montgomery County are invited to participate in a focus group about colorectal cancer sponsored by Simmons Cancer Institute (SCI) at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The event will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 17, at the United Methodist Church, 537 Rountree St., in Hillsboro. Sabha Ganai, MD, PhD, assistant professor at SIU School of Medicine and director of gastrointestinal oncology, is conducting a study of community perspectives of colorectal cancer. Montgomery County, as well as several other groups throughout central and southern Illinois, are

Nearly every industry in our community has felt the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The farming and agriculture industry in Illinois is certainly no exception. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the lockdowns and closures in response to COVID-19 are pushing many farm owners to their financial limits as commodity prices, food demands and biofuel demands drop. In an industry that has already faced years of challenging production and market conditions, these financial difficulties are cutting even deeper into farmers' already-thin margins. And for many farm

Internal Medicine Presentations Pasteurella Canis: A Rare Cause of Chronic Brochitits in a Patient with Intralobar Pulmonay Sequestration. Authors: Sartawi, T, Al-Bast, B, Sreedhar, R. Poster Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Amercian Thoracic Society. May 19, 2019/ Dallas, Texas. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2019.199…

As part of our continuing mission to provide exceptional patient experience at SIU and in tandem with Dr. Lausen’s colleague recognition program we are back with another month of positive patient experience highlights. Our May 2019 celebrated patient experience highlight comes from the Division of General/Trauma Surgery and goes to Maretta Sullivan. In the aftermath of a traumatic event, speed of care is key and an efficient, well-run clinic is vital in getting our patients on the road to recovery. Ensuring that their needs are met during times like these takes an enormous amount of work

Our April 2019 celebrated patient experience highlight comes from the Quincy Center for Family Medicine and goes to the clinic’s laboratory team for the outstanding value they provide to the clinic and to our patients. Running a high complexity laboratory requires an immense level of knowledge and expertise for monitoring test values, lab equipment, and helping our providers apply those results in direct patient care. The lab team also teaches providers how to determine what tests to order with emphasis on meeting each patient’s needs and also keeping clinic costs down. In so doing, the Quincy

As part of our continuing mission to provide exceptional patient experience at SIU Medicine, and in tandem with our Forward Together colleague recognition program, we are sharing positive patient experience highlights. Our September 2019 Patient Experience Highlight comes from the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Surgery, Colorectal Division for creating access and delivering fantastic patient care. Christopher McDowell, MD, saw a patient who was stable on Sept. 17. In collaboration with colorectal surgery, this patient was able to be seen by Prasad Poola, MD, the very