Newsroom OSF HealthCare

Susan Milford, OSF HealthCare senior vice president for Marketing and Communications was among the leaders Becker's Health Care Review, a leading industry publication, turned to for advice for marketing on a tight budget.

This story celebrates the reunion of mothers and a father -- and their newborns -- of Mission Partners (employees) who all work in the Birthing Center at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford. It was the first time the new parents and babies met following the deliveries and it was quite a noisy but fun celebration.

This story from a Quad Cities TV station features Dr. Mark Meeker, vice president Community Medicine, OSF Multispecialty Group, who emphasizes he's never seen the rapid severity, climbing numners, ICU stays and deaths, as he's seen with people suffering from COVID-19. But, he also stresses the COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, including against the more infectious Delta variant and that more people need to be vaccinated to get the pandemic under control.

Members of the OSF HealthCare pharmacy team were published by the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists, and their research was chosen as a Best Practice Award Winner. See the journal entry that earned the accolades here.

This story features the story of 55 year-old Michael Davis, who spent a month in the hospital and six days on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19. The former athlete is slowly regaining his strength and endurance through speech and physical therapy but he's yet to be able to return to work maintaining robots and technical equipment. His advice to others -- get vaccinated because "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

Dr. Douglas Kasper, an OSF HealthCare infectious disease expert, is concerned that according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, scarcely one in three parents will permit their children in this newly-eligible age group to be vaccinated immediately. During this NPR-based show, The 21st, Dr. Kasper explains vaccinating children will prevent them from getting COVID-19 and it will prevent spread of the virus at home. He adds kids are at a greater risk of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) if they get COVID, than from getting it from being vaccinated against the virus.

This story focuses on how violence in any community imposes trauma on everyone and that parents need to talk with their children so that violence is not normalized. Jashawnda Dunnigan, who lost her step son and brother to gun violence, says OSF Strive helped her acknowledge her grief and anger and to deal more productively with those feelings.

This feature story highlights the historic preservation efforts, combined with new innovative work spaces plus introduces the new restaurants that will be part of the Ministry headquarters building that'll house nearly 500 OSF HealthCare administrative employees. The building will also accomodate another 175 working hybrid positions (from home and onsite as needed).

This story focuses on the challenges of building a new health care exhibit at the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal during the statewide pandemic shutdown, addressing the science of vaccinations, and keeping an eye on the changing experiences of child health care. OSF HealthCare is a major sponsor of the new "Healthy Me" exhibit that is open to kids and families to experience.

Illinois Nurses Foundation has named Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing’s Ashley Whitlatch, an APRN, OSF Medical Group, Peoria among its 40 Under 40 Emerging Nurse Leaders.

This story from WGLT highlights a new partnership with Chestnut Health Systems and OSF HealthCare to use a $5 million dollar grant to help Medicaid patients use digital tools and increased monitoring from OSF to improve chronic health conditions and have access to increased care.

Chicago-based national health care industry publication Becker's Hospital Review sought out the expertise of top marketing and communications executives, including Susan Milford, senior vice president for marketing & communications at OSF HealthCare to talk about words not to use in a marketing campaign. Milford provides an incisive summary of the health system's overall approach to putting people first in any type of communication.

The groundbreaking for the OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute in Peoria was called “a milestone day” and “the beginning of a new era” in the treatment of the disease in central Illinois, but one speaker during ceremonies Aug. 17 began by sharing a “little secret” about the $237 million project. “I think they’ve already started to move some dirt around here,” said Bob Sehring, chief executive officer of OSF HealthCare, drawing laughter. The Tuesday afternoon ceremonies took place next to a cavernous, 40-foot-deep crater at the center’s construction site on the campus of OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center.

OSF HealthCare has broken ground on on a $237 million Cancer Institute that will utilize proton beam therapy. The 180,000-square-foot cancer center and accompanying 10-story parking deck will be located at the intersection of Armstrong and Glen Oak at the east edge of OSF's campus.

Dr. Michele Beekman, a pediatric hospitalist with OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria says she's concerned about how the upcoming fall and winter might play out with the unusual recent surge in pediatric respiratory illnesses.

A very deep hole right outside OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center is the beginning of OSF’s new Cancer Institute, a $237 million project scheduled to open in 2023.

This feature highlights how life-saving trips on an OSF Life Flight helicopter inspired a career and a job shadowing experience that brought one OSF nurse full circle.

This story in Becker's Healthcare, a Chicago-based publication, highlights the addition to the OSF Ministry, a hospital in Princeton, Illinois. The hospital has been renamed in honor of Saint Clare, a follower of Saint Francis of Assissi who established an order in the Francisican tradition and who was the first woman to write a set of monastic guidelines.

This story highlights a new tradition, the planting of a tree to honor cancer survivors. The cherry tree is on the campus of OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony's Health Center and it's Moeller Cancer Center in Alton, Illinois.

This story honors the life of legendary pediatric cardiac surgeon Dr. Dale Geiss who pioneered the congenital cardiovascular surgery program at OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois. This story highlights among Dr. Geiss' accomplishments -- the fact that he was the first surgeon in Peoria to perform an open-heart surgery for newborns that involves constructing a new aorta.

Two state agencies are honoring a Peoria doctor for a lifetime of medical care, particularly for his care of children.Dr. Girish Deshpande works in pediatric critical care for Children's Hospital of Illinois at Peoria's OSF St. Francis Medical Center. Dr. Deshpande is a recipient of the Ron W. Lee, M.D. Excellence in Pediatric Care for lifetime achievement.

COVID-19 has limited the ability of medical students to do in-person observation and rounds at hospitals and other clinical sites, so they're using simulators to help provide "real life" scenarios. This story features students from OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford during their recent training using exercises developed at OSF's Jump Simulation and Education Center in Peoria.

Senior Vice President of OSF digital health Jennifer Junis, who oversees OSF OnCall testified before lawmakers in Springfield in favor of HB 3498, a bill that would require insurance companies to fairly reimburse health care providers that offer telehealth services. The bill seeks to prohibit restrictions on telehealth by location, meaning patients can be treated at their home and can see a provider of their choosing but they are also not obligated to use the service.

The Community Health Foundation of Warren and Henderson Counties have pledged $2.75 million to add 10,000 square feet of space to the emergency department at OSF HealthCare Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth. The money will transform the department to include 10 treatment rooms, a dedicated triage area, private family consultation and behavioral health rooms, plus an ambulance bay with private entrance and a decontamination room, which is crucial for the care necessary for those living in a rural community.