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Congressman asks veterans to report VA issues Hultgren wants to expand investigation into system By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Photos by Ian Maule for Shaw Media
Kim Sanchez of Crystal Lake pins a purple ribbon to the blouse of an attendee of the Cancer Survivors Day event at Centegra Sage Cancer Center in McHenry.
Honoring their battle McHenry’s Centegra Sage Cancer Center celebrates survivors and their families
Behind the unfolding health care scandal at the VA hospital are real people, real veterans, and a local congressman wants to hear from them. Republican Congressman Randy Hultgren, R-Winfield, is calling on the Inspector General to expand its i n v e s t i g a - Rep. Randy tion into the Hultgren h e a l t h c a r e R-Winfield system that serves 8.76 million veterans each year at more than 1,700 sites nationwide. Furthermore, Hultgren is asking veterans in his constituency, the 14th district, which covers all of McHenry County except Algonquin Township, to contact his office if they believe they’ve been taken advantage of or ignored by the Veteran’s Administration. The VA has grabbed headlines recently after agency investigators reported widespread problems in its sprawling hospital system. Allegations have sur-
faced that employees at a Phoenix hospital were keeping a secret waiting list, and that some 1,700 veterans seeking treatment there were consigned to limbo because they had never been added to an official waiting list. Suggestions have been made that up to 40 patients may have died while awaiting care. The VA aims to give patients appointments within 14 days from when they first seek care. A spokeswoman for nearby Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, which has a branch in McHenry, says they have no reported waiting lists, “because these clinics currently have availability to accommodate new patients.” When a new patient needs a primary care provider, it takes one or two days for the patient to be assigned to a primary care provider, explained the hospital’s spokeswoman Stephanie McCrobie. Appointments are scheduled within 14 days, she said. What’s further troubling,
See INVESTIGATION, page A7
By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Cary girl killed in camping accident
W
alking into the Centegra Sage Cancer Center the first couple of times for radiation treatment was traumatic for Jen McBride. The McHenry resident was on her second round of breast cancer. She was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2007, and then while on maintenance, was diagnosed with breast cancer on her other side. In 2010, it was back again, requiring doctors to remove everything they had done in terms of reconstruction so she could have radiation treatment. “One right after the other is horrendous,” McBride said. “You think you’re OK, and they tell you, ‘Oh, we got you this time.’ And then it happens again.” But the Centegra Sage Cancer Center is no longer a scary place for her. A former designer for a scrapbooking company, she was one of a handful of cancer survivors who thought up a free art program that gives participants a chance to rewire the creative
2 also injured when tree limb fell on their tent By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
Jen McBride of McHenry hangs a purple tag in honor of her father, Joe Breyer, during the Cancer Survivors Day event at Centegra Sage Cancer Center. McBride is a three-time cancer survivor while her father has been cancer-free for 10 years. spaces that are sometimes hurt by the mental fuzziness that follows chemotherapy and talk about all the things that are going on in their lives and with their treatment.
LOCALLY SPEAKING
And on Sunday afternoon, about 250 cancer survivors and their families joined the center’s staff in sharing
See SURVIVORS, page A7
McHENRY
WARRIORS EYE SECTIONAL TITLE McHenry, boasting an experienced softball team, is geared up for its quest to win its first sectional title since 2002. To conquer that goal, the Warriors first need to beat DeKalb in Tuesday’s Class 4A Jacobs Sectional semifinal at 4:30 p.m. to advance to Saturday’s final. For more, see page B3.
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
MARENGO: Class of 2014 ready to draw their own road map as they pursue opportunities after graduation. Local, A3
CARY – An 11-year-old Cary girl was killed and two others were injured when a tree limb fell on their tent Sunday morning at Devil’s Lake State Park in south central Wisconsin, officials said. The girl, whose name is not being released pending the notification of family, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Steve Schmelzer,
the park’s superintendent. Her 13-year-old brother and father were taken to nearby St. Clare Hospital. The injuries occurred when a large tree fell during a thunderstorm Sunday morning, hitting another tree, Schmelzer said. A number of branches fell on the family’s tent. Only the one tent was hit, he said. There were 355 campsites occupied that night. The exact cause of the tree falling is still being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This type of accident is
See ACCIDENT, page A7
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