With a combined 37 years of service in law enforcement, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Tom Lillard and Sgt. Tracy Lillard know something about close-knit work environments, where colleagues feel more like family with each passing year. When Tom Lillard…
A few hours into her recent shift at Memorial Medical Center, registered nurse Heather Reiss was caring for two COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit and learned two more patients would be brought to the unit soon and placed…
Technology helped Deborah Leahy cope with the loneliness of a two-week hospital stay during the COVID-19 pandemic. From her sixth-floor bed at Memorial Medical Center, the 67-year-old Springfield resident was able to see her daughter, who lives in Florida, for…
Lincoln’s Roger Marten, 70, had just returned home from a Saturday breakfast with family when he felt sick to his stomach, like he was catching the stomach flu. When the left side of his face started to hurt, he told…
Tim and Lib Granzeau consider the people at Memorial Medical Center (MMC) family. And for good reason. In January, the pair celebrated the one-year anniversary of Tim’s cardiac procedure at MMC, which utilized a nationally groundbreaking stent procedure led by…
Suffering from the flu is a costly and potentially dangerous experience, which is why getting vaccinated against the influenza virus is so important. “Some people think the flu is like a common cold, but really, the flu is a lot…
Tony Smarjesse wasn’t planning on having a heart attack when he got to work last November. The 56-year-old worked out a couple times a week, followed a fairly healthy diet and was on low dose statins to control his high…
Heart pounding? When you feel flutters, pounding sensations or that your heart has skipped a beat – it could be love, but the medical term is heart palpitations. Sometimes heart palpitations are also felt in the neck. “Although it may…
Springfield resident Al Riddley and his wife Lynn won’t soon forget the events of Dec. 22, 2019—a day when a routine workout suddenly became not-so-routine. Al, 67, was riding a stationary bike at the Gus & Flora Kerasotes YMCA that…
Nearly everyone has a family member who has had cancer—it is a common disease affecting 1 in 3 Americans. A common myth is that all cancers are genetic, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes family members have the same…