County Health News Roundup

Carle opened a new "Convenient Care Plus" clinic at their hospital location this month. From the News-Gazette earlier this month:

It will be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, including holidays.

This new center will give patients coming to the emergency room for non-emergency care another option — and a less expensive one — at the hospital, according to Carle...

Patients can access the Convenient Care Plus center at the hospital through patient registration in the lobby off Orchard Street.

The center will treat the typical kinds of conditions convenient-care centers serve, such as fevers, urinary tract infections and sprained ankles, but it will also have some advanced services available, according to Carle. It will be staffed with full-time physicians and advanced practice providers and provide CT scans, X-rays and advanced lab testing.

Article available here. More information about Carle Convenient Care locations at their website here.

There's a women's health expo with information on pregnancy and postpartum health needs coming up. WCIA has a short blurb on that here. Here's an informational flyer from the CUPHD facebook page (click to enlarge):

And the News-Gazette had county health rankings in today's paper:

Research released Tuesday that ranks U.S. counties from most to least healthy placed Champaign County in roughly the top third in Illinois — making it one of the state's healthier places to live — while Vermilion County was ranked dead last in the state...

Emphasized in the 2019 survey was a link between high housing costs and health. Researchers found 11 percent of households in the U.S. spend more than half their income on housing.

In Champaign County, 20 percent of households were considered to have severe housing problems — meaning they're dealing with at least one of these factors: high housing costs, overcrowding, lack of kitchen facilities or lack of plumbing facilities — compared to 12 percent in Vermilion County.

Overcrowding in housing can encourage more disease spread, according to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde. And when people have to spend an unhealthy amount of their income on housing, she said, that can impact both physical and mental health.

More information and data at the full article here. Even more data and information at the website for the annual survey here.