Illinois
Illinois lawmakers discuss state’s behavioral and mental health care shortage
CHICAGO (WGEM) – Illinois has a shortage of behavioral and mental health care workers and state lawmakers are looking for solutions.
Thursday, the state Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee and state House Mental Health and Addiction Committee held a joint hearing in Chicago hearing directly from those working in the field about their struggles.
“We really are at an inflection point when it comes to behavioral health access in Illinois,” said state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago.
Right now, there are more people seeking mental health treatment but those in the industry said there aren’t enough people to treat them.
“The primary impact of the behavioral health workforce shortage is its impact on the well-being of Illinois’ residents at times when they are most vulnerable. Individuals and families too often search for behavioral health care for themselves or a loved one and give up their search due long wait times, high costs and travel distances,” said Dr. Kari Wolf, the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
She said for those who don’t give up trying to find help, it can take several months to see a therapist, six months to see a psychiatrist and over a year for neuropsychological testing.
“Could you imagine waiting six months if you had just been diagnosed with cancer and waiting six months to receive care for that,” Wolf said.
She said Illinois simply doesn’t have enough mental health professionals to meet demand.
She did give lawmakers recommendations to help alleviate the crisis:
- Streamlining licensing
- Expanding pathway and mentorship programs
- Creating new clinical training programs and sites
- Provide postgraduate training for nurse practitioners and physician assistants
- Increase Medicaid reimbursement rates
- Improving the state’s mental health insurance coverage parity law
“At the end of the day, if we don’t have humans in positions and paid jobs that pay decent and well, then even with that willing to seek treatment, people all across Illinois won’t be able to access it,” LaPointe said.
Thursday’s hearing is on the start for committee members. They plan to hold another hearing Feb. 23 in Chicago looking for potential solutions to the crisis.
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PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Multiple rounds of severe storms impacted central Illinois on Wednesday bringing damaging wind gusts and very heavy rain. Our area was sparred from the worst of the tornadoes, but areas south of I-72 were not so fortunate with damage to homes and injuries reported.
An outflow boundary from our morning storms struggled to get any further north than highway 136, which was about 30 miles south of what was anticipated early this morning. This kept the risk of strong tornadoes just south of our local region, though we still had plenty of rain and instances of large hail and gusty winds roll through central Illinois.
The worst of the wind came with the storms in the morning. As the severe storms moved through the area they produced measured gust of 60-70 mph with localized gusts estimated to be around 80 mph. The winds resulted in tree, powerline, and structural damage from Knox through McLean County.
Storm Reports
Galesburg – Tree and power line damage
Williamsfield – Roof partially torn off building
Princeville – Tree damage
Dunlap – 60 mph wind gust
Bellevue – 60 mph wind gust
Germantown Hills – Trees down
Roanoke – 60 mph wind gust
El Paso – Power poles snapped
El Paso – Multiple semis and campers rolled on I-39
Gidley – 70 mph wind gust
Chenoa – Semi rolled on I-55
Dunlap – 1.0″ size hail
Metamora – 1.0″ size hail
Armington – 1.0″ size hail
Rain reports
West Peoria – 4.37″
Lexington – 4.00″
West Peoria – 3.98″
Washington – 3.97″
East Peoria – 3.47″
Dunlap – 3.40″
Goodfield – 2.47″
Towanda – 2.43″
Peoria (PIA) – 2.24″
Lewistown – 2.20″
Galesburg – 1.84″
Chillicothe – 1.52″
Pontiac – 1.27″
Historic tree dating back to Abraham Lincoln damaged in Springfield
It may be the last living tree standing when Abraham Lincoln and his family lived in the Springfield neighborhood from 1844 to 1861.
More than 30,000 Illinois residents reported power outages Wednesday morning amid severe storms and destructive winds.
The National Weather Service forecast two rounds of severe weather throughout the day, issuing a tornado watch early Wednesday morning across central Illinois.
Where were power outages reported in Illinois?
More than 35,000 of the more than 5.8 million customers tracked on PowerOutage.com reported outages Wednesday, as of noon.
The majority of these outages were concentrated in west-central Illinois in Warren, Henderson and Woodford counties.
More than 93% of the customers tracked in Henderson County and nearly 60% of those in Warren County were impacted by outages.
Less widespread outages were also reported in DeKalb, Mercer, Knox, Menard, Jefferson and Gallatin counties.
Electric service company Amaren was by far the most impacted utility provider, followed Commonwealth Edison Company and Corn Belt Energy Corporation.
Illinois power outage map
Report power outages in Illinois
Illinois residents can report power outages in their area at PowerOutage.com.
Illinois power outage tracker
To track where power outages have been reported and where they have been restored, follow the USA Today power outage tracker.
Chicago weather radar
Central Illinois weather radar
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