Maria Baker faced a challenge becoming more common these days nationwide. She lost her primary care doctor when he ended his practice unexpectedly. 

Harry Waddell is battle hardened. The 76-year-old Bushnell, Illinois, resident spent 24 years in the Army, most of those in Special Forces. But years after completing his service, fate put Harry in the middle of another battle – bladder cancer. 

The American Heart Association recognizes Blessing Hospital among the nation’s leading providers of stroke care. For the fourth consecutive year, the hospital earned the AHA’s Get With the Guidelines Gold level recognition. Specifically, Blessing received a 2024 Gold Plus Award for meeting or exceeding national core standard levels of care in the treatment of stroke patients for 2 consecutive calendar years or more. 

When the next heart attack strikes, caregivers of Blessing Hospital, McDonough District Hospital and LifeGuard ambulance in Macomb, and Air Evac stand ready. The teams recently drilled their response for a heart attack.

While the disease is rare, Blessing Health surgeon Dr. Fernando Bonanni says for people who suffer with achalasia, how often it occurs does not matter.

For the past 17 years Isabella “Bella” Peterson has been under the care of Blessing Health plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Arshad Muzaffar, as he and his team repaired her cleft lip and alveolus. An alveolus is a gap in the gum line.

It’s common to hear the sound of a gong when walking near the Blessing Cancer Center

Palmyra native Karen Minch jumped at the chance when a staff member from her dentist’s office called to say they had a cancellation and could clean Karen’s teeth a month earlier than expected. The rescheduled appointment may have helped save Karen’s life.

Three weeks into retirement from a job she held for 31 years, 62-year-old Pam Porter decided she needed to get back to work. So, Pam got a new job – actually two of them. She was hired to do patient registration for Blessing Health orthopedic surgeon Dr. Barry Werries. And her other job? “I am like a walking billboard for Dr. Werries.”

My husband was in hospice care for the last 6 days of his life. After he passed away, a counselor visited with me once a month for an entire year. What a blessing that was.