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Re-imagining has become standard operating procedure for Assistance League of Chicagoland West members. They've had to rethink everything from how to distribute coats to schoolchildren to how to hold their annual Books and Brunch fundraiser. They've also been working to meet the increased need that exists with many out of work and a backlog of individuals who were unable to receive services when the pandemic first hit in March. Meg Cooper, vice president for...
The world's greatest inventions are born of necessity. For Hinsdale Central High School alum Sophia Karbowski, that need was for a quick and healthy snack. Karbowski was studying entrepreneurial management at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth when she became frustrated with the lack of dining options on campus. Coupling her entrepreneurial spirit with her need for nutrition, Rollin' n Bowlin' was born. Acai bowls - frozen puree made from acai berries topped with granola...
Like most people, Isabella Xu was finding it hard to escape the constant flow of news, headlines and updates regarding the spread of COVID-19. But despite the 24-7 onslaught of information, Xu could find very little about how the pandemic, the abrupt end to the traditional school year and the sudden need to stay at home was affecting people her age. Rather than sit and wonder, the soon-to-be Hinsdale Central sophomore took it upon herself to initiate a research project to...
It takes more than food to care for a family, but many food assistance programs don't allow for purchases of the things needed to keep ourselves and our homes clean - things that during COVID-19 are more important than ever. "The hygiene pantry was our idea to help families in need with keeping their homes and selves clean during COVID," said Dr. Jennifer Swoyer, director of the Amita Health Adventist Medical Center Residency Program in La Grange and a resident of Hinsdale....
Mira Albert's pediatric dental practice was preparing to close its doors even before the world shut down due to COVID-19. "By March 15 I realized we just needed to not be seeing patients anymore," Albert said. She said she closed the practice not only to protect her staff and patients, but also to conserve valuable personal protection equipment for those directly fighting the pandemic. So while businesses around her were proceeding as usual, she and her fellow doctors and staf...
Helping others is part of the culture at World's Finest Chocolate. So when COVID-19 restrictions were put in place, the folks who work at the Chicago company found themselves in unfamiliar territory, focused on their own survival. "Our business is around doing good and helping people do the things they want to do through fundraising," said Eddie Opler of Hinsdale, who runs the company started by his grandfather in 1939. "That came to halt and it was scary and so out of our...
Hinsdale's first Virtual Restaurant Week is set for May 18-24. Don't worry - the food will be real. And delicious. At Vistro, chef/owner Paul Virant's carryout menu will feature a family meal for four with fish and chips, celery root remoulade, a choice of salad (little gem, Caesar or kale) and bread pudding for desert for $60. Virant recently resumed carry-out service at Vistro (and Vie in Western Springs) May 1 after closing the restaurants completely for six weeks. In addit...
Local young people are leading the way during the pandemic in responding to the community's need for personal protective equipment, including these teens answering the call. Let's Make Corona OVR! That's the new motto of the OVRwear custom T-shirt company, an enterprise launched last year by four Hinsdale Central freshmen and friends, who shifted their resources last month into making cloth masks for those in need. Several of them have parents in the medical field, according...
Dr. Herb Zerth is fortunate he's not working under the same conditions as his colleagues back East. "I feel for the providers in New York who are just completely overwhelmed," said Zerth, medical director of the emergency department at Amita Hinsdale Hospital. The staff in the Hinsdale ER is healthy, and they have access to the personal protective equipment they need, he said. With the stay-at-home order in place, the 26-bed department has not been overwhelmed with its usual...
Just as lessons in handwashing have suddenly gone from banal to illuminating, critical care physician Hesham Hassaballa of Hinsdale had never contemplated needing instructions on donning his personal protective equipment. A pandemic has a way changing one's perspective. "We have PPE coaches that show us how to put it on and take it off," said Hassaballa, medical director of the ICU at Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora. "I can't thank them enough for making sure we're doing...
As a member of the global pandemic executive team for Tate & Lyle, a UK-based food ingredients/solutions company, Tim Fowler spends most of his weekday mornings hearing how COVID-19 is affecting 180 different countries around the world. "Even though we're here, I almost feel more globally aware," he said. "As a part of the food chain, we're an essential business, so it's really important that we keep running, do it safely." On a Saturday night, he might be portraying Charles...
Thirty-six hours. That's how long Executive Director Lisa Kolavennu and the staff at Wellness House gave themselves to convert all the programs they offered in person into ones that could be delivered online. "We challenged ourselves in a pretty bold way and gave ourselves 1 1/2 days to figure out how to turn every program we offer into an online virtual experience for participants," Kolavennu said. The decision was made the afternoon of March 12, the day before Gov. JB...
To help outfit local health care workers with the personal protective equipment needed to treat COVID-19 patients, the Hinsdale Public Library and community school media resource centers have teamed up in a special dimension. In response to a request from AMITA Hinsdale Hospital, the library and schools this week began using their 3D printers to produce band components for the face shields being worn by frontline workers. Ridgeway Burns, the library's youth and young adult...
Mike Sullivan hasn’t been traveling to his office in the Loop for a few weeks now, but he’s been busier than ever. “I have been crazed all day and am going to be even crazier after 3 p.m. when everyone calls to see what they should do after the shutdown,” Sullivan said the afternoon of March 20, minutes before Gov. JB Pritzker issued his stay-at-home order. Sullivan has been an attorney for 29 years and currently is head of the labor and employment group at Goldberg Kohn Lt...
Hinsdale's Chuck Goudie, an investigative reporter at ABC 7 Eyewitness News, is used to broadcasting from wherever the news takes him. He covered the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks from Ground Zero in New York. He's reported from war zones in the Middle East and from behind the walls of the Vatican. These day's he's reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, broadcasting from the library of his Hinsdale home. "There is one big difference, though, between this...
