•June 8, 2022•
By Cheri Burcham
Family Life Educator

Most people that know me know that I am very passionate about protecting monarch butterflies. I do my best to encourage people to plant milkweed seeds, and I hunt monarch caterpillars and relocate them to my indoor nurseries until they transform and are ready to be released as butterflies. Their numbers have been rapidly declining each year, primarily due to loss of habitat. Many landowners mow their ditches, and I cringe to see them mowing down all the milkweed – the only plant that monarch butterflies lay their eggs on and their caterpillars eat. So, when I saw this article from Extension Horticulture Educator Chris Enroth, I knew I had to share it with my readers. Read More

•June 8, 2022•
Graduating nurses received their pins at the 2022 Lake Land College Associate Degree Nursing pinning ceremony.
The Associate Degree Nursing Program Peer Awards were presented to Devin Mette and Megan Walters for exhibiting excellence in the classroom and in clinical, showing willingness to help others, caring nature, professionalism and spirit.
The Patient Advocate Award was presented to Jamie Marley for displaying professionalism and compassionate care in the Associate Degree Nurse program. Read More

•June 8, 2022•
By Tammie Sloup
Farm Week

The sea of dark purple on a map of Illinois counties told a concerning story.
Most of the counties were dark purple, indicating a shortage of mental and behavioral health providers in those areas. Only a handful of counties, mostly in Cook County and the collar counties, had no shortage or partial shortages.
But it’s not just an Illinois issue. Mental health care in rural areas throughout the U.S. is in crisis.
Heather Whetsell, Southern Illinois University Medicine Population Science & Policy administrative director, presented findings of a yearlong study into mental health care in rural areas during the National Rural Health Association’s (NRHA) Annual Rural Health Conference. The research was conducted by the NRHA Rural Health Fellows mental health workgroup.
Barriers to mental health care in rural America are driven by three factors: availability of health care, access and acceptability, the fellows found. Read More

•June 8, 2022•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

Reader David Bruun wanted to talk about double negatives. I’m not uninterested in the topic, so here goes:
“I was listening to the radio several days ago, and a Realtor was being interviewed as to financing a home purchase. The exact quote was as follows: ‘It is important that you were never not late in a mortgage payment.’ There are several of us who disagree, Is this not a double negative? And what does it mean — perhaps that one was never late in a payment?”
David, it IS a double negative, and it makes no sense.
When Mick Jagger sings “I can’t get no satisfaction,” the implication is not that he is 100% happy but that he can’t get ANY satisfaction.
He’s being colloquial, and he landed upon a word that was one syllable short of “any” so the lyric matched the beat. When I wrote that I’m “not uninterested” in the topic of double negatives, I was conveying a modest amount of interest rather than an all-consuming love for them. Read More