Springfield – The Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers (ICCBC) recently presented Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) with the Senator of the Year Award for her strong commitment to making blood collection between state lines more efficient.

Sen. Althoff is the Chief Senate Sponsor of legislation that would make Illinois the 25^th state in the nation to become part of the Nurse Licensure Compact.  The initiative is aimed at increasing access to patient care across state lines, by streamlining multi-state licensure requirements.

Currently nurses in all 50 states already have to pass the same certifying exam (NCLEX) for state licensure.  Once legislation is passed in a state to adopt the Nurse Licensure Compact, a nurse from that state can treat patients in other Compact states either electronically or in person without having to apply for separate state licensure.

“Several Illinois blood centers collect blood in surrounding states. Without the Nurse Licensure Compact, an Illinois nurse would have to obtain as many as four separate licenses to collect blood in border states, which is a barrier to patient care and a hardship for non-for profit blood centers and hospitals,” explained Ann McKanna, VP Marketing of Heartland Blood Centers and President of the Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers. 

“With Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin all being Compact states, our blood center could run much more efficiently for nurses collecting blood in our multi-state region, if Illinois would also adopt the Compact,” explained Louis Katz, M.D., Executive Vice-President of Medical Affairs for the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center

The ICCBC saluted Sen. Althoff for her vision and tireless commitment to helping Illinois keep pace with advances in Illinois health care delivery, said Margaret Vaughn, ICCBC Director of Government Affairs.

“With someone needing blood every two seconds and blood only having a shelf life of 42 days, there is a constant demand for voluntary blood donation,” Sen. Althoff said. “We as public officials need to do everything we can to make blood collections run as smoothly as possible without unnecessary duplicative requirements among states.  I am grateful for the honor and look forward to continuing to work towards policies which encourage and promote access to health care.”

Veterans interested in applying for new educational benefits and learning more about what education and job resources are available to them are encouraged to attend an upcoming workshop.

The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs will be hosting the workshop on May 16 from 10 am to noon at the Job Center of Lake County in Waukegan (1 Genesee Street). Staff will be on hand to help veterans apply for educational benefits - veterans should bring their DD-214 and direct deposit information to put on the forms.

In order to qualify, veterans should be at least 35 years old but no older than 60, be unemployed, have anything other than a dishonorable discharge, not be eligible for any other education benefit program and not be enrolled in a federal or state job training program.

For more information, check out this flyer or contact the Job Center at 847-377-3450.  

"Over the years, the Legislative Scholarship Program has helped thousands of students afford college who otherwise couldn’t have. But today, as Illinois grapples with the worst fiscal crisis in state history, we must prioritize our spending and focus funding on areas that have a direct and profound impact on state operations and citizens’ well-being. I don’t believe the scholarship program meets those criteria, and as a result supported and co-sponsored House Bill 3810 eliminating it."