News Progress

Photo by Mike Brothers
Dr Dust changes practice at Sullivan Health Care to focus more on patient care.

Thirty Year Practice Continues with New Approach

•July 13, 2016•

When Dr. Glen Dust converts his Sullivan Health Care practice to Direct Primary Care October 1, he joins four physicians in Illinois offering concierge medicine.

Interest in the trend to replace insurance companies with a membership for primary care has grown nationwide as it helps lower health care costs.

Dr. Dust’s traditional family care practice has demanded more time dealing with insurance requirements for the past 10-15 years which does nothing toward treating patients.

“I’m spending weekends and additional time just to keep up with the growing requirements from insurance companies,” Dust explained. “I want to get back to taking care of patients.”

“In some ways Direct Primary Care is a throwback to when doctors were taking chickens and eggs for payment,” he continued, emphasizing the set fee includes everything from office surgeries to regular visits.

Savings in lab costs can reach 90 percent as just one example of services included for a plan set up with monthly payments. No co-pays, no questions from insurance companies about quality of care and no worries of sharing medical files are among the benefits offered. Read More

Photo by Mike Brothers
Moultrie Douglas Extension educator Cheri Burcham introduces Judy Brown to the first of the Memory Game story cards. Brown had a lion card, and she went to the zoo. Nina Glazebrook had to remember Brown’s story while adding her own story to the list as they traveled around the table at Mid-Illinois Senior Center in Sullivan last week.

•July 6, 2016•

By Emily Stutzman
For the New Progress

University of Illinois Extension is about helping people help themselves.” This is how Cheri Burcham, Family Life Educator with the University of Illinois Extension, describes her job in a nutshell.

Burcham has worked with Extension since 1998 and says that the chance to reach people of all ages, empowering them and assisting them in attaining a better quality of life, is what makes her career so worthwhile.

Burcham covers the five counties of Coles, Douglas, Moultrie, Cumberland, and Shelby and is one of the six Family Life Educators in the state of Illinois.

As a Family Life Educator, she is able to offer programs based on research from the world-renowned Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. She remarks that, “My job as an educator is to take the research from the University of Illinois and bring it to the public in a way that they can use in their everyday lives.”

One aspect of her job is using that research to work with parents and childcare providers. For instance, Burcham teaches workshops and programs for groups of people concerning healthy communication within families, helping them build healthy relationships and become stronger together. Although working in group settings and with presentations is more typical, Burcham affirms that she also aids individuals who come to her with specific questions.  Read More

•July 6, 2016•

By Mike Brothers

As the 60th anniversary of the Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan approaches motion pictures will return.

“This theatre opened to silent movies in 1928 so adding movies to the live performance schedule brings us back to our heritage,” John Stephens, Little Theatre executive director began.

Adding blockbuster movies to the existing live show season will help the theatre operate 52 weeks a year.

“We are excited about the possibility of adding a new revenue stream to help sustain the theatre through the year,” Stephens said, noting the five month three week season limits Little Theatre’s operations ability.

“When the season is over, the expenses for the operation continue,” he said of the reasoning behind initiating the $1.2 million capital campaign for the movie project and to help get the Little Theatre’s house in order. Read More