Kate Thayer – Page 5 –

Olivia Jackson tries on a coat at the Breakthrough Boutique, located in the Breakthrough Women's Center in East Garfield Park, in Chicago, on Nov. 21, 2019.

Donation closet set up like boutique gives those in need a ‘dignifying’ experience: ‘I feel great about myself’

December 3, 2019 at 2:56 p.m.

Lavonne Norfleet browsed racks of clothing as music played in a small boutique with colorful art and twinkling strings of lights on the walls. Before settling on a magenta top,...

Munaf Patel, 43, puts on his gym shoes before walking the roughly 1.5-mile loop path outside of his office in Glenview on Nov. 21, 2019. After surviving two heart attacks beginning at age 39, Patel now walks regularly during his lunch hour, takes part in other athletic activities and has made dietary changes to improve his health.

South Asians make up 60 percent of heart disease patients: ‘Everyone knows somebody who has had a heart attack’

November 26, 2019 at 3:00 a.m.

Munaf Patel is an active husband and father. He plays cricket, basketball and volleyball, and runs around with his young kids in the family's yard near the city's Far Northwest...

Lisa and John Hamrin with their children Major, 3, and True, 4 months, at their home in West Humboldt Park on Nov. 19, 2019.

Evanston adoption agency wants people to stop using the phrase ‘giving up’ a child

November 22, 2019 at 10:51 a.m.

Lisa Hamrin cringes when she hears the phrase "giving up" a child for adoption. "I didn't quit on my child," said Hamrin, 33, who as an 18-year-old college freshman became...

Instagram this week is testing a limit on likes. Users in the test will still be able to like posts and still be able to see how many and who likes their own posts, but will not be able to see likes on other people's posts.

Instagram will start hiding some likes. Experts say it’s a step in a safer direction.

November 13, 2019 at 11:38 a.m.

This week some Instagram users might notice something's amiss: They won't be able to see how many people liked their friends' selfies — a move experts say could ease the...

A woman using a vaping device exhales a puff of smoke. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Nov. 7, 2019, that new government figures show more than 2,000 Americans have come down with vaping-related illnesses. Illnesses have occurred in every state but Alaska.

Vitamin E acetate found in lungs of patients with vaping-related illness, CDC says

November 8, 2019 at 2:33 p.m.

Public health officials said Friday that initial lab results from patients sickened by the respiratory illness linked to vaping found vitamin E acetate in their lungs, but continued to warn...

Gifts for the ones who spoil others: Grandparents

December 9, 2019 at 5:30 p.m.

Grandma and grandpa have thoughtfully given so much to you. Now it's time to give back. While it may be hard to pick something for those who claim they have...

Toys for kids serious about playing: The 10 and younger crowd

December 9, 2019 at 5:25 p.m.

They aren't babies anymore. These kids are growing up, but still aren't grown and are all about fun. Toys are their treasures, so you must choose wisely when selecting their...

Adverse Childhood Events include childhood abuse and neglect, witnessing domestic violence, substance abuse in the home and other dysfunction in childhood. The study linked these experiences to poor health conditions later in life, and debunked myths that children could be too young to be affected by hardship.

Ending childhood abuse and other damaging experiences could reduce up to 21 million cases of depression, 1.9 million cases of heart disease, CDC finds

November 5, 2019 at 4:07 p.m.

Preventing "toxic stress" in childhood could reduce chronic health conditions and risky behaviors later in life that are linked to at least half of the top 10 causes of death,...

Swati Rout, 39, from left, sits with her daughters, Maira Goel, 4, Alisha Goel, 5, and her husband, Akash Goel, 34, at their home on Oct. 31, 2019, in Chicago.

Premature birth rates are so high in Chicago and Illinois that the March of Dimes annual report card gave them both a D+

November 5, 2019 at 11:11 a.m.

It was an otherwise uneventful, healthy pregnancy for Swati Rout, planning for her first child with her husband, Akash Goel. Then one night in March 2014, she awoke, bleeding, more...

Dr. Meg Stahulak is emergency department medical director at Amita Health Saint Joseph Hospital in Lakeview — one of the sites piloting a new program to more swiftly deliver treatment for psych patients while also reducing wait times and return visits.

On the front lines of mental health care, emergency rooms across Chicago are adapting

November 5, 2019 at 11:09 a.m.

Patients seeking mental health care, sitting in emergency rooms for hours as clinical staff conduct physical tests unrelated to their problem. Case managers making scores of phone calls just to...

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