Illinois
Illinois children with complex medical needs receive fraction of care they qualify for, records show
CHICAGO (CBS) – More than 1,000 Illinois children need some extra help eating or even breathing, or what the state considers “medically complex” and “technology dependent.”
Illinois is federally required to provide these kids and their families with resources, but a CBS 2 investigation found the state is routinely falling short.
Sarah loves to play. Her bedroom was filled with small things that bring her joy and big pieces of equipment that keep her stable.
“She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t sit independently,” said Amy Weston, Sarah’s mother.
The 7-year-old girl also needs help breathing. She has cords to monitor her heart rate and uses a feeding pump.
It’s just some of Sarah’s medical supplies. They’re all necessary after she had a traumatic brain injury as a baby before the Westons adopted her.
“She needs 24/7 supervision,” Weston said. “I always say it’s like having a newborn but with super high stakes.”
The rest of the family does their best to help care for Sarah, but Amy is left with most daily tasks, and she’s burned out.
“It’s a privilege and an honor to take care of Sarah, and I wouldn’t trade it for the whole world, but even the state says it’s not a one-man job,” Weston said.
She referenced the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which said Sarah is qualified for in-home shift nursing. She was approved to receive 112 hours per week but only has 44 hours covered, less than 40%.
It’s a gap the Johnsburg mother is forced to fill.
“It’s not sustainable,” she said. “I mean, definitely, your own self-care suffers. Your mental health suffers. Your sleep suffers. Your whole family suffers.”
Someone else who knows the feeling is an Elk Grove Village father who spends every night on a twin bed to monitor his daughter’s breathing. The state routinely hasn’t been able to fulfill more than 20% of the hours allotted to the family, so dad is the de facto night nurse.
The Rizos from west suburban Montgomery were also exhausted.
“Without somebody monitoring him 24/7, it could be drastic,” said Carly Rizo about her son.
Despite being cleared by doctors, 1-year-old Nicholas Rizo was forced to stay in the hospital because the state couldn’t find him enough home care nurses. CBS 2 first told their story last June.
“Two months almost that he’s been able to go home,” said Eric, Nicholas’ dad.
Four months after CBS 2 spoke to the Rizos, Nicholas was happy at home with his family. His parents, on the other hand, said it’s been a little rough because Nicholas was getting nowhere near the state’s allowance of 126 hours of home care a week. Without a night nurse, one of his parents is forced to stay awake until 2:30 a.m., and then an alarm goes off for them to swap.
Records obtained by CBS 2 revealed the state approved about $306 million from September 2022 to September 2023 of home care coverage. But only $115 million, less than 40%, was used for a variety of reasons.
The Westons and other families said they’ve grown accustomed to their needs not being met.
Reporter: “How often are you asking for additional nursing help?”
Weston: “At the beginning, a lot. You kind of get to the point where, like, I’m just not going to get any help, so this is just my life.”
A lack of home care nursing is not a new problem. In fact, a group of parents raising “medically complex” children sued the state over the issue in 2015.
On Friday night at 10 p.m., CBS 2 will look into a new state solution and ask if it’s really going to help exhausted families like the Westons.
CBS 2 never heard back on a request for a sit-down interview with the new director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Elizabeth Whitehorn.
In a statement, a department spokesperson said, “The Department is deeply committed to serving the Medicaid population. And while labor market challenges during the pandemic have created strain across the health care system, the Department is continuing to identify solutions to address ongoing capacity issues, including implementing recent rate increases, among other improvements.”
Happy Friday, Illinois Land!
Instead of doing the usual column with post-Thanksgiving word puns involving side dishes and jokes about turkeys, I will use my time to point out a few things that I now know about college basketball in 2025, and the place that Illinois occupies inside of that stratosphere.
I will also discuss where Illinois fits into the landscape of the Big Ten. I think you’ll like how I see that unfolding. My pending Big Ten Analysis will highlight the lack of good depth in the conference.
It is not exactly a banner year for the Big Ten in men’s college basketball. To say the least.
Despite the fact that the Big Ten has dropped in the national landscape, and despite the fact that Illinois lost to a True Elite in 2025 against Alabama in Birmingham by double digits, it’s great beyond words to have a head basketball coach leading your program playing basketball the way it needs to be played at this present date.
Brad Underwood has turned Illinois into a National Program. Do not confuse this with being a national powerhouse.
As I see it, here are the five levels of Illinois basketball. National Championship Contender can replace Blue Blood for Illinois. There was no way for me to get in a shot at Indiana and its fans unless I constituted it this way.
For reference: Indiana is now No. 61 in KenPom (76 in OER, and 51 in DER). I was told that they are the conference favorite. I was also told Illinois cannot play defense. More on this in a bit.
- Conference Bottomfeeder (Year 1-2): 26-39 in his first two seasons, 11-27 in the Big Ten. I would call this 1990s Era coaching. Up the line, full court pressure, etc.
- Respected NCAA Tournament Team (Year 3+): This will be five-straight non-bubble NCAATs for Underwood, six if you count the COVID-19 cancellation of 2020.
- Big Ten Power (Year 3+): In turn, this makes you a Final Four contender on semi-annual basis, at a minimum. I don’t mean make a Final Four, but be a Top Four seed. No one believes that NC State had a better season than Illinois last year.
- National (and International) Program (Year 4+): Playing games on CBS on Thanksgiving by request, re-hiring arguably the country’s top assistant coach (Orlando Antigua), signing two potential lottery picks from two countries outside the United States. I could go on, but I won’t. You get it.
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- Blue Blood (Never): This outdated term continues to keep Indiana fans from jumping off the nearest bridge for the last three-plus decades. Illinois will never be here. UCONN can’t get into the club with six National Championships since 1999.
Having said that, I’m going to say this.
John Calipari is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He has taken three different programs to the Final Four: Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky. He is an all-time great coach with a dazzling record (814-260, for a .758 winning percentage).
Calipari won an NCAA Tournament and cut down the nets in 2012, his third year in Lexington leading the Cats. He was outstanding at Kentucky (410-123), winning games at a .769 clip during his 15-year tenure.
He inexplicably missed the NCAA Tournament twice, going just 9-16 in 2021. His last three years, Kentucky lost 30 games and twice in the NCAAT to vastly inferior teams against No. 15 St. Peter’s and last year against No. 14 Oakland.
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Please read the words I type. Do not create a false narrative around comparing Calipari and Underwood, in totality.
Underwood certainly has not had the career of Calipari — it’s not close — nor will he likely end up in the Hall of Fame anywhere outside of Champaign. Not impossible, but not likely.
Looking to the future, it’s clear which coach of the pair from the Thanksgiving matchup in Kansas City has the brighter future. This isn’t close, either.
While Underwood’s Illini blitzed Arkansas with a barrage of threes, high ball screens and floor spacing for play makers, Calipari and Kentu…Arkansas…had a plan “to attack the rim all game,” according to Calipari post-game.
Arkansas ATTEMPTED 17 threes. Illinois MADE 15. Illinois was +30 in in this category.
Frees (points at the free throw line) and threes (points behind the arc) is something I look at during every halftime, and after every game.
Illinois was +29 in this category. BU’s squad scored 90 points on the elite Arkansas defense, which was ranked No. 8 in KenPom DER prior to the contest.
The Illini had 60 of their 90 points (67.7%) of their points on Frees and Threes. Check on this stat every game that Underwood and Illinois play the entirety of the season. It will likely tell the story.
Factor in 2P% defense and you can get the winner of every game Illinois plays this year. The defensive strategy of Illinois is to defend the bucket and the arc. Despite giving a bucket full to Alabama in the lone loss (100-87), Illinois is currently No. 21 in DER.
Let’s take a look at pace of play, and how it affects efficiency, from a large scale perspective. What Illinois is doing is hard to copy.
For that matter, the Illinois offense is now No. 18 in OER (Offensive Efficiency Rating). Of the top 21 in DER on KenPom, Illinois has the FASTEST tempo, at No. 36.
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In summary, Illinois plays in the Top 10% in pace of play and ranks even better in efficiency at both ends. It’s not only extremely difficult to do, but largely unnecessary.
When you play fast and efficient on offense, defense lessens in importance in direct correlation with how more efficient your offense can be. In short, play fast and good on offense and you outscore your opponent and win based on simple math.
Here are the avearages for defensive and offensive efficiency. The lower the number, the faster the pace.
Top 5 DERs in terms of pace average: 260.6
Top 5 OERs in terms of pace average: 66.8
Illinois pace of play: 36 (Top 21 in both DER and OER)
I know it’s a lot of numbers. I get it. Underwood has embraced the numbers game and turned Illinois from a Big Ten Bottomfeeder to a National Program.
You may not like it, but you’re gonna learn to love it.
Please take The Scientific Poll.
Poll
What is the win ceiling for Illinois men’s basketball in 2024-25?
This is threes and frees. This is creating space. This is the winning formula.
This is Illinois Basketball.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis scored a season-high 23 points, Tomislav Ivisic had 21 points and 10 rebounds and Illinois beat No. 19 Arkansas 90-77 on Thursday in the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase.
Jakucionis hit two free throws to give Illinois a double-digit lead with 3:49 remaining in the game. Arkansas had a turnover and a missed jumper on its next two possessions and Jakucionis hit an open 3-pointer to make it 85-71 at 2:42.
Kylan Boswell added 18 points for Illinois (6-1). Head coach Brad Underwood broke a tie with J. Craig Ruby (1922-36) for fifth place in program history with 149 wins.
Adou Thiero went 12 of 21 from the line and scored 26 points for Arkansas (5-2). Zvonimir Ivisic had 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Takeaways
Tomislav Ivisic won the battle against his twin brother, Zvonimir. Along with his double-double, Tomislav Ivisic made 6 of 9 3-pointers and blocked three shots. The 7-foot-1 center, playing his first college season, had 13 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
Key moment
Illinois stated the game on a 21-6 run and maintained at least a nine-point lead the rest of the way. Ben Humrichous made the Illini’s fifth 3-pointer with 12:36 left in the first half while Arkansas was 3 of 9 from the field.
Key stat
Illinois made 55% of its shots in the first half, including 9 of 16 from 3-point range, while Arkansas was 0 for 7 from long distance and shot 44% overall. The Illini finished 15 of 31 from distance. Arkansas shot 5 of 17 beyond the arc.
Up next
Arkansas plays at Miami in the second SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday. Illinois plays at Northwestern on Dec. 6 to begin Big Ten play.
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