Despite facing healthcare challenges and living through a pandemic, Floretta Strong-Pulley greets each day with gratitude.   “I’m so thankful to be alive,” she said. “Life is precious – I don’t want to waste a moment of it.” To help her along her gratitude journey, Floretta, who has diabetes and undergoes maintenance chemotherapy, has joined dozens Read More

Faith Leaders Take Time to Help Themselves to Better Help Others As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take hold across our nation, faith leaders have become overwhelmed by the increased demands of caring for their community during this crisis, they say.  Oftentimes, caring for themselves takes a back seat to meeting the needs of those Read More

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented anxiety to the individuals and communities we serve, as the most vulnerable often have the least access to the information, resources, and care they need to stay healthy and safe.  Advocate Aurora Health is excited to have you join us for our next AAH Living Well Virtual Community Conversation on Tuesday, Read More

This week, I was moved by a mindfulness teaching about surrendering attachments, living lightly on the earth, and recognizing the fleeting nature of existence. But when I tried to meditate on the “let go, let God” mantra, I was overcome with tears. It’s not just that I’m a tough audience for the “letting go” message, Read More

To show her gratitude and say thank you for the support she, her husband, Nicholas, and son, Reid, have received over the past year, Marita is giving back. She has donated clothing and other baby items for families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and has created care packages of toiletries and socks for those facing Read More

Ivette Menendez and Nilda Garcia have seen firsthand how acts of love can transform a community. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Ivette, Community Connector with Advocate Health Care, and Nilda, Faith Community Nurse with Advocate, have been overwhelmed by the generosity and love shown by residents of Avondale, Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Belmont Cragin and Read More

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, an organization of more than 60 mosques, schools and service organizations, has worked tirelessly to ensure the half-million Muslims, who call Chicagoland home, stay safe. Among its efforts:  creating a task force charged with distributing food and monetary assistance to those in Read More

My 19-year-old son isn’t social distancing. He isn’t washing his hands as much as he should. He leaves all day and comes home in the middle of the night. I have other young adult children living in my home following all the rules. “You are his parents, why don’t you just make him stay in? Read More

HISTORY: SamaraCare was originally founded in 1971 as an independent, interfaith, non-profit mental health counseling organization by three Naperville congregations to address the unmet mental health needs of the community. Since then, it has expanded to serving the mental health care needs of clients residing in Chicago’s western suburbs, spanning western Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will Read More

By Dr. Halleh Akbarnia, Emergency Department Physician, Advocate Condell Medical Center I have been an emergency medicine physician for almost 20 years. I have worked through numerous disasters, and I’m used to the daily grind of heart attacks, gunshots, strokes, flu, traumas and more – it’s par for the course in my field. Yet nothing Read More