Stories by Eunice Alpasan

(WTTW News)

Updated COVID-19 Vaccines and Flu Shots Are Arriving in Chicago. Here’s Where You Can Find Them

COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots will be available to everyone at no cost, regardless of insurance or immigration status.

(Kristan Lieb / WTTW)

Interactive Campaign Asks Chicagoans to Explore Impact of Segregation by Running Errands in a Different Neighborhood

The Folded Map action kit aims to help Chicagoans explore the effects of segregation in the city and how it continues to perpetuate racial inequities.

(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Chicago Chooses 10 Local Artists for New Job Training Program That Bridges Arts and Health in Communities

Ten Chicago-based artists will be taking part in a new job training program that has them apprentice at the city’s mental health clinics and become certified community health workers.

Narcan nasal spray in use. (Courtesy of Emergent)

As Over-the-Counter Narcan Hits Store Shelves, Access Problems to the Life-Saving Overdose Reversal Drug Persist

Narcan, which comes as nasal spray and was initially approved for over-the-counter sale by the Food and Drug Administration in March, is expected to hit shelves at stores like Walgreens, CVS Pharmacy and Walmart as soon as next week. The life-saving medication is expected to retail at stores for $45.

The Garfield Community Service Center on Aug. 31, 2023, located at 10 S. Kedzie Ave. in Chicago, is one of several disaster recovery center locations for residents to apply for federal assistance. (WTTW News)

Facilities Open for Cook County Residents Applying for Federal Help After Severe Storms. Here’s Where to Find Them

Facilities are open on the West Side and in nearby suburbs to assist residents applying for federal assistance for damage caused by severe storms that occurred between June 29 and July 2.

The American Cancer Society’s Road To Recovery program has only been able to provide 25% of the rides requested by cancer patients in Cook County so far this year. (Courtesy of American Cancer Society)

American Cancer Society in Search of More Chicago-Area Volunteer Drivers for Road To Recovery Program

The Road To Recovery program has only been able to provide 25% of the rides requested by cancer patients in Cook County so far this year.

Workers at a group of nursing homes in the Chicagoland area owned by Infinity Healthcare delivered a 10-day strike notice on Aug. 24, 2023. (Courtesy of SEIU Healthcare Illinois)

Chicago-Area Nursing Home Workers Deliver 10-Day Strike Notice, Could Strike as Early as Labor Day

Workers at a group of nursing homes in the Chicagoland area owned by Infinity Healthcare delivered a 10-day strike notice Thursday. Workers say there is a worsening crisis of short staffing fueled by low wages.

A team member with the Federal Emergency Management Agency speaking to a resident in Cicero, Ill., on July 26, 2023. (WTTW News)

How You Can Apply for Federal Flooding Assistance Following Severe July Storms

Representatives with FEMA and the SBA are in Cook County to assist people with applying for federal grants and loans as the agencies work to open a designated recovery center in the area.

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Suburban Cook County Resident is First Person in Illinois to Die From West Nile Virus This Year

Of the 12 total cases of West Nile virus the state health department has seen so far this year, seven of those cases were reported in Cook County, including two in Chicago.

Top row, left to right: Sebastian White of the Evolved Network, Arshiya Farheen of Verzênay Patisserie and Randall Sabado of Cooper's Hawk. Bottom row, left to right: Ricky Sakoda, formerly of Merriman's, and Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe. (Sebastian White / Verzênay / Randall Sabado / Ricky Sakoda / Prairie Grass Cafe)

5 Chicago-Area Chefs to Host Fundraiser for Restaurant, Hospitality Workers Impacted by Maui Wildfires

All of the funds raised during the event will go directly to the Hawai’i Community Foundation—Chef Hui Fund, which supports Maui restaurants, hospitality workers and their families who were displaced due to the fires.

(Eastland Disaster Historical Society)

Newberry Library to Offer Closer Look at 1915 Eastland Disaster With Newly Acquired Collection

The Eastland Disaster, often overlooked in history, occurred in 1915 when a passenger ship docked at the Clark Street Bridge tipped over in the Chicago River, leading to the deaths of 844 people.

(ELEVATE / Pexels)

Cook County Announces $10M Program to Help Small Businesses Reduce Environmental Impact

Dry cleaners, auto body and repair shops, food and beverage manufacturers and metal finishers in suburban Cook County that experienced a decrease in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic are able to benefit from the program.

(WTTW News)

Are You Ready for Back-to-School Season? Here’s a Health Checklist to Prepare Your Child for the Upcoming School Year

The new school year is just around the corner. WTTW News asked pediatricians and physicians in the Chicago area to share what they think parents should keep in mind as their children head back to school.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra during an interview on “Chicago Tonight” on Aug. 16, 2022. (WTTW News)

After Declaring Gun Violence a Public Health Emergency, Illinois Health Department Celebrates State Supreme Court Decision

The director of the Illinois Department of Public Health expressed support for the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the state’s assault weapons ban.

Loretto Hospital, 645 S. Central Ave., is located in the Austin community on Chicago’s West Side. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Loretto Hospital Reaches Tentative Deal With 200 Striking Workers

Loretto Hospital in Austin has reached a tentative deal with about 200 striking workers who took to the picket line July 31.

A rendering of affordable housing development Encuentro Square at 3759 W. Cortland St. in Logan Square (Canopy / architecture+ design)

New Affordable Housing Development Breaks Ground in Logan Square as Neighborhood Continues to See Rapid Gentrification

Construction is underway for a new affordable housing development in Logan Square that aims to provide families and longtime residents with 89 affordable housing units in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

(WTTW News)

Personal Data of Nearly 2,000 Lurie Children’s Hospital Patients Involved in Third-Party Security Breach

The electronically stored patient data involved in the breach includes names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers that an unauthorized third-party gained access to earlier this year.

A participant holds up a sign during a peace rally held in Evanston on Aug. 5, 2023, to commemorate 78 years since the dropping of the first atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (ThoughtPoet)

‘When Will the Victims Be Humanized?’: A Conversation With Yuki Miyamoto, Nuclear Ethicist and Daughter Of Atomic Bomb Victim

The box office hit “Oppenheimer” has prompted DePaul University nuclear ethics professor Yuki Miyamoto to shed light on the stories of people whose lives were directly and negatively intertwined with the film’s depicted events.

Loretto Hospital employee Michaela Jilliam speaks at a strike rally on Aug. 4, 2023. (WTTW News)

Loretto Hospital Workers Join SAG-AFTRA Members in Solidarity Rally, as Hospital Strike Enters Day 5

Front-line service, care and technical workers are among the 200 workers at Loretto Hospital in Austin who have been on strike since Monday.

(WTTW News)

What Chicago and Illinois Residents Should Know About COVID-19 Uptick, New Vaccine in the Fall

Local public health departments are continuing to monitor COVID-19 levels in the area as the U.S. sees a late-summer uptick in test positivity and hospitalizations.

Loretto Hospital workers and other union supporters picket in front of the hospital’s emergency wing in Austin during the first day of the strike on July 31, 2023. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Loretto Hospital Workers Go On Strike in Austin, Calling For Increased Wages and Staffing

Hospital workers at Loretto Hospital in Austin went to the picket lines Monday after the hospital and its workers union failed to come to an agreement on key bargaining issues such as increased wages and staffing, and adding Juneteenth as a permanent holiday.

(Pixabay)

Dangerous Heat Hitting the Chicago Area on Thursday, Friday

Parts of the Chicago area are under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories Thursday with temperatures expected to top out at 96 degrees along with a heat index into the triple digits, according to the National Weather Service.

Outreach worker training with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago (Credit: Metropolitan Peace Initiatives)

Collaborative, Community-Based Violence Prevention Effort Aims to Professionalize the Field of Street Outreach

Communities Partnering 4 Peace led by the Metropolitan Peace Initiatives is one of many violence prevention efforts across the city working to address the sharp increase in gun violence that Chicago, along with other major cities, experienced during the pandemic.

(SEIU Healthcare IL & IN Facebook Page)

Loretto Hospital Workers Deliver 10-Day Strike Notice to Management: ‘Everyone Here Needs to Have a Living Wage’

Nearly 200 workers at Loretto Hospital in Austin delivered a 10-day strike notice to management Wednesday over calls to address low wages and unsafe staffing conditions.

People take shelter in a youth theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 6, 2022. Still from FRONTLINE PBS and AP’s feature film “20 Days in Mariupol." (AP Photo / Mstyslav Chernov)

‘It Felt Like a Nightmare You Can’t Wake Up From’ | Q&A With Journalist, Director of New Russia-Ukraine War Documentary

A documentary that gives a vivid and harrowing look into the Russian invasion of a Ukrainian city during the opening days of the Russia-Ukraine war will be premiering at the Gene Siskel Film Center on Friday for a limited week-long run.

Armand Cann, fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, left, and Brad Semel, engaged species recovery specialist for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, walk along a protected site at Montrose Beach ahead of the release of three plovers on July 12, 2023. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Chicago Has 3 New Piping Plovers at Montrose: Meet Searocket, Prickly Pear and Wild Indigo

Three endangered piping plover chicks were released into the wild Wednesday at a protected site at Montrose Beach in an effort to aid in its species recovery. It marks the first time plovers have been released in the state.