By James Fuller
9/10/2010
A program designed to lower Kane County's health insurance costs is also seeing taxpayers help foot the bill for government employees who want to get a massage, join a golf league and hire personal trainers.
Lowering health insurance costs is a major focus of the county every time it hits the negotiating table with its employee unions. Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay recently told members of the Human Services Committee (which oversees the health insurance plan and wellness program) that unions want more of a buy-in to a wellness program that would give employees a break on health insurance premiums if they exercise. Right now, the county's wellness program gives employees $50 of taxpayer money every time they commit to some sort of healthy activity.
Through July, taxpayers have shelled out nearly $4,000 for county employees to join Weight Watchers, enter a soccer league and learn yoga as well as join various gyms.
County board member Mark Davoust, chairman of the Human Services Committee, raised an eyebrow when asked if massages and golf are the type of activities the wellness program should reward.
"We will certainly have to take a close look at which things qualify," Davoust said. "Those are some of those unintended consequences of offering something like this."
But Michael Isaacson, the county health department employee who administers the wellness program, said that $4,000 represents tax dollars well spent. Isaacson said the $50 is designed to get employees into the wellness program. Employees can also receive a "wellness credit" through BlueCross BlueShield to use for co-pays. To get the $50, each employee must submit a form about the physical activity they are involved in. The form is then reviewed and the employee questioned if there are any concerns about the activity qualifying for the $50. Asked about golf and massages, Isaacson said everyone has a different idea of a physical activity that works for them.
"We want to match it to people's lifestyles," Isaacson said. "If you don't ride a bike, pushing you into a bike program may not be the best way to go to get people to be active."
In fact, Isaacson said he wishes the county could offer a cash bonus of several hundred dollars to get more employees interested in the wellness program.
But why should tax dollars be spent to encourage government employees to lose weight and monitor their diabetes?
"If you can get a few people to get their diabetes under control, or prevent a couple heart attacks and get people into a more healthy realm, we're going to save a lot of money," Isaacson said. "Yes, an individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own health, but our responsibility as the organization paying much of the health care costs of those individuals is to lower those costs. If we can help people to be more responsible, that means we spend less of your tax dollars."
Saturday
Aurora man charged in battery in stabbing of woman at hospital
SCOOP! I was the only reporter in any of the major Chicago TV or newspaper outlets to snag an interview with the police officer who interviewed the subject. As a result, we were the only paper to suggest what the motive was.
By James Fuller
9/2/10
One purported murder may have almost sparked another in a case that saw Aurora police charge a 39-year-old man with repeatedly stabbing a woman who shared a hospital room with one of his relatives.
Darrell Franklin, 39, of the 700 block of North Lake Street in Aurora, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a senior citizen and one count of aggravated battery Wednesday night. The charges stem from the stabbing of a 78-year-old woman at Provena Mercy Hospital Tuesday night.
Police Sgt. Robb Wallers assisted in interviewing Franklin following the stabbing. Franklin was visiting his mother at the time of the incident. She was sharing a hospital room with 78-year-old woman. At some point during the visit, Wallers said, Franklin began repeatedly stabbing the woman sharing his mother's room with a butter knife. The victim sustained multiple cuts to her face as shoulders, a broken nose and a fractured eye socket as a result of the stabbing.
Wallers said police are still investigating what triggered the stabbing.
Wallers said the investigation so far has revealed a claim that Franklin's son was very recently killed, perhaps in Chicago. Police have not yet been able to confirm the death of Franklin's son, Wallers said. However, Wallers said part of the claim includes the possibility that Franklin's family may have told him about the death of his son just before the stabbing incident.
It's unclear where the knife came from, but Provena Spokeswoman Heather Gates said it's possible Franklin obtained the knife from one of the hospital's food trays. But the fact that the stabbing occurred at all is something that may have been avoided if the victim was recovering in a private room as would typically be the case.
Gates said the fact that two patients were in the same room only occurred because the hospital was so busy Tuesday night. Provena Mercy, like all the Provena hospital sites, put patients in private rooms whenever possible, Gates said.
"Despite having the ability to have two people in a room, it actually is not that typical," Gates said. "It just so happened that on the unit this incident occurred on, we had a large number of patients that night.
Gates said the victim is now listed in fair condition as it relates to the injuries sustained in the attack.
She said the hospital has no plans of changing its visitation schedule or screening process.
"This particular incident was unpreventable because of the nature of the attack," Gates said. "The perpetrator apparently didn't bring a weapon into the hospital that we could have screened for. And visitation is part of the recovery process and holistic care that we provide to all our patients. This incident was very atypical. I'm not sure what could've been done procedurally to prevent this incident."
Gates said Provena Mercy is currently in the process of adding even more private rooms to the facility.
Up next for Franklin is a court appearance today to set his bond at the Kane County Branch Court in Aurora.
By James Fuller
9/2/10
One purported murder may have almost sparked another in a case that saw Aurora police charge a 39-year-old man with repeatedly stabbing a woman who shared a hospital room with one of his relatives.
Darrell Franklin, 39, of the 700 block of North Lake Street in Aurora, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a senior citizen and one count of aggravated battery Wednesday night. The charges stem from the stabbing of a 78-year-old woman at Provena Mercy Hospital Tuesday night.
Police Sgt. Robb Wallers assisted in interviewing Franklin following the stabbing. Franklin was visiting his mother at the time of the incident. She was sharing a hospital room with 78-year-old woman. At some point during the visit, Wallers said, Franklin began repeatedly stabbing the woman sharing his mother's room with a butter knife. The victim sustained multiple cuts to her face as shoulders, a broken nose and a fractured eye socket as a result of the stabbing.
Wallers said police are still investigating what triggered the stabbing.
Wallers said the investigation so far has revealed a claim that Franklin's son was very recently killed, perhaps in Chicago. Police have not yet been able to confirm the death of Franklin's son, Wallers said. However, Wallers said part of the claim includes the possibility that Franklin's family may have told him about the death of his son just before the stabbing incident.
It's unclear where the knife came from, but Provena Spokeswoman Heather Gates said it's possible Franklin obtained the knife from one of the hospital's food trays. But the fact that the stabbing occurred at all is something that may have been avoided if the victim was recovering in a private room as would typically be the case.
Gates said the fact that two patients were in the same room only occurred because the hospital was so busy Tuesday night. Provena Mercy, like all the Provena hospital sites, put patients in private rooms whenever possible, Gates said.
"Despite having the ability to have two people in a room, it actually is not that typical," Gates said. "It just so happened that on the unit this incident occurred on, we had a large number of patients that night.
Gates said the victim is now listed in fair condition as it relates to the injuries sustained in the attack.
She said the hospital has no plans of changing its visitation schedule or screening process.
"This particular incident was unpreventable because of the nature of the attack," Gates said. "The perpetrator apparently didn't bring a weapon into the hospital that we could have screened for. And visitation is part of the recovery process and holistic care that we provide to all our patients. This incident was very atypical. I'm not sure what could've been done procedurally to prevent this incident."
Gates said Provena Mercy is currently in the process of adding even more private rooms to the facility.
Up next for Franklin is a court appearance today to set his bond at the Kane County Branch Court in Aurora.
Millions of dollars for racetracks tied up in court battle
By James Fuller
5/25/10
While Illinois racetracks fear the sounding of their final bugle as soon as this summer, millions of dollars already designed to help save them are sitting in an account untouched.
State lawmakers may vote to allow racetracks, including Arlington Park, to install slot machines as soon as this week. But four years ago, they voted to create a tax forcing the state's four riverboat casinos in Elgin, Aurora and Joliet to prop up the horse racing industry. There is at least $100 million sitting in a bank account as a legal battle involving the ghost of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's tenure crawls through the appeals process.
The state passed a law in 2006 that placed a 3 percent tax on the four riverboat casinos. But that tax sat in limbo until June 2008 while the casinos fought the law's constitutionality all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. Casinos still paid the tax while the issue was tied up in court, but the cash (some $80 million in 2008) sat in an account awaiting the legal ruling. The court ruled the tax valid, and Arlington Park stood to gain its share of the money waiting in the account plus nearly $11 million a year from the casinos based on 2006 gambling profits.
However, the court handed down the ruling a few days after the tax expired, throwing it into limbo once again. Followers of Illinois politics may be somewhat familiar with what happened next as the push to extend the law became a part of the eventual arrest of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich referenced the extension of the law in some of the phone taps released in the case. Even with that, state lawmakers eventually extended the tax until Dec. 15, 2011, or the date when any horse track (such as Arlington Park) gets slots or video gambling, or the state's 10th casino (in Des Plaines) begins operating.
But Blagojevich's arrest opened the door to a new legal battle with the riverboats alleging a conspiracy between Blagojevich and a racetrack owner to extend the tax. That legal battle is now in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, the tax continues to be collected and sit in the fund helping neither the racetracks nor the riverboats.
Anthony Somone, executive director of the Illinois Harness Horseman's Association, estimated that there is easily more than $100 million in the tax account by now. That alone is enough money to keep the racing industry in Illinois in business for another year or more, he said.
"The industry is on life-support," Somone said. "The reason is, quite frankly, that our product is (terrible). All the best trainers and owners have taken their horses elsewhere because we don't have purse money to race for. And we have not seen one dime of that tax money. That money is breathing room. I don't know if we race a year from now without it."
But while the tax money is breathing room, finally receiving it won't end the need for slot machines at the racetracks, Somone said. When it comes to gambling, and now video gambling, the racetracks just want to be on a level playing field with the riverboats and local taverns and restaurants, he explained.
"It's absolutely ludicrous to me that you can go gamble at Bob's Tavern across the street from Arlington Park, but you can't go gamble at Arlington Park itself," Somone said. "All we have ever wanted is to be on a level playing field."
5/25/10
While Illinois racetracks fear the sounding of their final bugle as soon as this summer, millions of dollars already designed to help save them are sitting in an account untouched.
State lawmakers may vote to allow racetracks, including Arlington Park, to install slot machines as soon as this week. But four years ago, they voted to create a tax forcing the state's four riverboat casinos in Elgin, Aurora and Joliet to prop up the horse racing industry. There is at least $100 million sitting in a bank account as a legal battle involving the ghost of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's tenure crawls through the appeals process.
The state passed a law in 2006 that placed a 3 percent tax on the four riverboat casinos. But that tax sat in limbo until June 2008 while the casinos fought the law's constitutionality all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. Casinos still paid the tax while the issue was tied up in court, but the cash (some $80 million in 2008) sat in an account awaiting the legal ruling. The court ruled the tax valid, and Arlington Park stood to gain its share of the money waiting in the account plus nearly $11 million a year from the casinos based on 2006 gambling profits.
However, the court handed down the ruling a few days after the tax expired, throwing it into limbo once again. Followers of Illinois politics may be somewhat familiar with what happened next as the push to extend the law became a part of the eventual arrest of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich referenced the extension of the law in some of the phone taps released in the case. Even with that, state lawmakers eventually extended the tax until Dec. 15, 2011, or the date when any horse track (such as Arlington Park) gets slots or video gambling, or the state's 10th casino (in Des Plaines) begins operating.
But Blagojevich's arrest opened the door to a new legal battle with the riverboats alleging a conspiracy between Blagojevich and a racetrack owner to extend the tax. That legal battle is now in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, the tax continues to be collected and sit in the fund helping neither the racetracks nor the riverboats.
Anthony Somone, executive director of the Illinois Harness Horseman's Association, estimated that there is easily more than $100 million in the tax account by now. That alone is enough money to keep the racing industry in Illinois in business for another year or more, he said.
"The industry is on life-support," Somone said. "The reason is, quite frankly, that our product is (terrible). All the best trainers and owners have taken their horses elsewhere because we don't have purse money to race for. And we have not seen one dime of that tax money. That money is breathing room. I don't know if we race a year from now without it."
But while the tax money is breathing room, finally receiving it won't end the need for slot machines at the racetracks, Somone said. When it comes to gambling, and now video gambling, the racetracks just want to be on a level playing field with the riverboats and local taverns and restaurants, he explained.
"It's absolutely ludicrous to me that you can go gamble at Bob's Tavern across the street from Arlington Park, but you can't go gamble at Arlington Park itself," Somone said. "All we have ever wanted is to be on a level playing field."
St. Charles mom, kids carry on best they can
By James Fuller
5/14/2010
There's something in Maureen Jordan's voice that triggers an instinctual feeling that something is wrong. She speaks with a faint weeping, a weariness in her tone that betrays moments spent alone in tears and the struggle to suppress them.
Jordan is adjusting to a new life as a single mother of four children, including the baby boy she gave birth to on St. Patrick's Day. The baby, Martin Jordan, carries her husband's name. Maureen Jordan and her three older children carry the memory of watching their husband and father die.
Martin Jordan Sr. died Aug. 1 while saving five young relatives, including his oldest son, from drowning in Lake Michigan when a rip current sucked them out into the deep waters and crushing waves.
The 45-year-old St. Charles resident was with his family and extended relatives on a summer trip when he died as they tried to rescue him. Martin Jordan was able to save everyone that day except himself. For that, he became a hero. For his family, he became the loss their love won't allow them to forget.That was nine months ago, but Maureen Jordan isn't ready to return to work yet. Marty's death is still freshly replayed in her mind.
"For other people, time has gone on," she said. "For me, I just try to get through each day and try to give my children as normal a life as possible without grief consuming me or them."
Jordan is used to seeing that grief. She's worked in hospice for more than a decade. It's a profession that prepares you to deal with death. But that's the death of others, strangers, not those you hold dearest. There's still an element of anger in her grief.
"I wasn't sure I was ready, not so much to be around dying people, but just to have empathy," Jordan said. "If someone is caring for their 95-year-old grandmother, I just would not be able to help them because I'd be like, 'Well, at least you know she's dying.' Or, 'You had 95 years with her. What are you complaining about?' "
Hospice families watch their loved ones die, but not like Marty Jordan's death. To watch, helpless, as he slipped beneath the waves, or to have actually been someone he saved while dying triggers a different level of self-blame, more haunting what-ifs.
Jordan's eldest son, Jack, was in the water with his father when he died. His younger brother, Liam, was on the shore."Liam's immediate reaction was, 'I'll never see my Daddy on Earth again,' " Jordan said. "I told all my children from the beginning that Daddy would not have wanted to be alive if any of the children had to die. We talk about him every day. We talk about how Daddy would always say this or how Daddy cooked something. I don't want to pretend like he wasn't here. That's not going to make it better. I also don't want to just be crying all the time, but they've seen me cry. I try not to show them as much as I may be feeling."
Having young children without the ability the express themselves as an adult also complicates the issue of knowing how they feel about the death of their father. The outside world can be cruel even when you're 9 years old.
"A few weeks after Marty died, on Jack's first day back to school, another kid came up to him and said, 'Did you know it's your fault that your dad died?' When that happened, Jack didn't tell me that was said to him," Jordan recalled. "One of his friends told his parents, and they called and told me. I had to ask him, 'Jack, you know that's not true, right?' He seems to understand that. It's hard for him to talk about what happened that day. But he has other cousins that were there in the water with him. I think because he doesn't blame them it allows him to not blame himself."
Jordan was seven weeks pregnant when Marty died. During her pregnancy, Jordan worried about the impact of her continuous grief and depression on the baby. On St. Patrick's Day, she gave birth to a son that will never have the chance to know his father in person. Now she is learning the monumental task of raising four children on her own."Marty was very hands-on with the kids," Jordan said. "I never had to ask him to change a diaper. Now when the baby cries, it's just me. I'm trying to do things as he would do them. Sometimes I think if I didn't have the kids it would be much easier to just give up or not get out of bed. But they give me the strength to keep going."
Marty Jordan's surviving relatives and close friends have supported Maureen through her grieving process. They've organized a benefit for her and her children Saturday at St. Patrick High School in Chicago (martyjordanfamilybenefit.com). Maureen Jordan prefers to think of it as a big party to celebrate her husband's life. She doesn't like to think of herself as needing charity.
"We used to play the lottery, but now I have some money, and all I want is Marty," Jordan said. "Sometimes I forget for a second and I'll be like, 'Where is he?' That's the hardest part. I still look for him. I still think that maybe he'll be there. I know he won't, but my heart won't let me believe it."
Donating kidney to save sister was "so worth it"
By James Fuller
3/22/2010
Lisa Yario thought she'd just pulled a muscle in her lower back while trying to move around some furniture in a Florida condo. She didn't know at the time the pain would be her body's first message to her that the countdown to a potentially fatal outcome had begun.
Yario, from Lombard, had a severe kidney infection. It was the kind of infection she'd feared for the past 10 years.
Vicki Wieland also knew that day was coming. She'd spent the last decade going to hospital visits with Lisa for regular tests of her sister's kidney function. The St. Charles resident also watched her youngest sister trudge down a slow path where her body betrayed her more and more. Breast cancer treatment in Yario's youth pummeled her kidneys, making it almost certain they would fail her one day.
Yario and Wieland had always had that type of bond where they knew they'd give up their lives for each other if necessary. And when Wieland learned her little sister was laid up in a Florida hospital for five days just to get stable enough to come home, the time had come.
Wieland wouldn't have to give up her life for Yario. But by donating a kidney, she did have the ability to keep her living.
The kidneys are a major part of the body's filtration system. The more poorly Yario's kidneys functioned, the worse she would feel. Some days Yario would feel so drained of life she couldn't get out of bed.
"It's constant fatigue," Yario said. "It just feels like somebody pulled your batteries out. It's a long slide downhill. And it's been this way for so long that people say I don't even realize how much it's changed me."
Yario's chemotherapy and radiation treatment for bilateral breast cancer came at age 24. That was 10 years ago.
For patients with kidneys functioning even more poorly than Yario's, it's a life of having a machine filter your blood in a process called dialysis three times a week for four hours or more at a time. Yario never reached that point.
But she still had some bad days, and even on her worst she knew she could count on Vicki.
'Almost a twin'
Wieland's bond penetrates so deeply with Yario it goes to a rare chemical level. In the world of kidney transplants, antibodies and matching blood and tissue types are key to finding a donor with a compatible kidney. The more compatible a donor is, the better the chance of a kidney withstanding the recipient's natural rejection of a foreign invader. Most siblings will match up well in half of the six general categories on the compatibility checklist. Yario and Wieland matched in every category.
"She's almost like a twin," said Anita Pakiasi, renal transplant coordinator at Loyola University Medical Center, where the surgeries took place on March 11. "This is the ideal situation."
There are about 4,000 people in Illinois right now looking for their own ideal kidney transplant situation, according to the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois. Many of them will fail in that search, said Diane Hollingsworth, director of medical education for the branch. People are living longer, but taxing their kidneys more through rampant increases in diabetes and hypertension thanks to poor eating and exercise habits.
"Those two are kinds of silent killers," Hollingsworth said. "Before they realize they have an issue, their kidneys are gone. Now the wait list for a new kidney is getting so long that people will die while they're waiting."
At Loyola, the average waiting time for a new kidney can be as long as six years. But trends show that wait is getting longer and longer across the nation. In 1999, there were about 42,000 people in the United States waiting for a kidney transplant, according to a study in the American Journal of Transplantation. By 2008, the wait list nearly doubled to about 80,000 people.
That's why some transplant hospitals like Loyola are trying to encourage more donations from people who are still alive, like Wieland, rather than waiting to share the gift of life until the donor's is already over. The recipients of kidneys from living donors tend to experience less rejection of the new organ and longer organ survival rates.
Because of that, Loyola is looking to create chains of willing donors. The chains would amount to a network of living donors with recipients who are the best matches on the checklist of organ donation compatibility.
For someone like Yario with an ideal match, her new kidney from her living sister may last 40 years as long as she takes her anti-rejection medication and goes to her regular checkups faithfully. Pakiasi said living donors go on to live fully functional lives and receive a dual reward. Not only do they save a life, but living donors receive priority if one day they need a new organ themselves. Most donors are back to normal activity in four weeks.
Feeling good
Just a few days after receiving her kidney, Yario was still taking it all in. She's not thrilled about the 25 to 30 pills she's taking to make sure her new kidney likes its new home. But she is happy to be feeling more energetic than she has in maybe 10 years.
"The whole thing just seems unreal," Yario said. "We've talked about this happening for so long that it still doesn't feel like it happened. It doesn't register that I've had a new organ put into my body. Vicki has made this tremendous sacrifice for me, and I really don't know how to say thank you."
Wieland already has her thank you.
"When they came into my hospital room and told me Lisa's kidney function levels were already closing in on normal I just started sobbing," Wieland said.
"It was so worth it."
Coroner addresses allegation of theft involved in criminal probe
By James Fuller
3/13/10
Kane County Coroner Chuck West admitted Friday that he allowed two deputies to remove a television from a dead man's house in 2007, but said he never intended for anyone to keep it.
The admission, made in an interview with the Daily Herald, was described as a "significant development" by a special prosecutor who has been investigating West's office for more than six months.
"In all likelihood, it might help us reach a conclusion in an expedited fashion," said Charles Colburn, the special prosecutor. "This may lead us in some other directions."
According to West, the television was removed after his staff found 18 shotguns and rifles, numerous swords and machetes, and some unused grenades in a Carpentersville home, which also showed signs of a burglary.
West, whose office was there for a death investigation, said he allowed two employees to take the television because of a lack of storage at the coroner's headquarters.
"If you came into my office you'd know that we have no storage," he said. "Anything that we take in has to be stored somewhere. We didn't want gang members breaking into this house and having access to weapons."
It's not uncommon for West's office to take possession of items found at a death scene, he said. Such items can help track down family members and establish a deceased person's identity. They're eventually auctioned off to recoup the cost of cremation if the deceased person's next of kin can't be found.
"It wasn't hidden. It hadn't been stolen," West said of the big-screen TV. "The minute it was asked for and we were informed of the family, it was given to them on the spot."
West said he never told the employees they could keep the television for good, and agreed it is somewhat unusual for his staff to take items from a death investigation home for storage.
"Is that a common practice? No," West said. "Had we had the storage at the time, it probably would've been moved over there. But again, it wasn't an issue to my knowledge. We just weren't aware that any family had been located. This was based on my decision, so I have no problem with (the deputies taking the TV home). I stand behind that."
Also on Friday, West described the investigation into his office as politically motivated, and said his knowledge of it is limited to what he's read in newspapers.
West said his attorney, Gary Johnson, told him Colburn offered to end the probe in exchange for his resignation - a claim Colburn flatly denied.
"I can't talk about where this case may go, but no offers have been made of any type," Colburn said. "(West has) never spoken to me directly. It's a significant development that he's made a statement."
Johnson declined to comment Friday.
West said the public allegations about wrongdoing in his office have been hard to deal with because they are untrue and unclear. He has two years left in office and said he will not resign under any circumstance.
"I love the job, but I hate the politics," he said. "I'm just going to finish my term and get the hell out of here."
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