Today, members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, healthcare professionals, and community leaders joined President Preckwinkle in supporting the Illinois Health Facilities and Services 7-1-1 decision to transform Oak Forest Hospital into a Regional Outpatient Center. “I applaud the Board's decision in approving the transformation of the Oak Forest campus. This is an important milestone for the Cook County Health and Hospital System and a key step forward in implementing the strategic plan. Public health care is in a critical period.

Today, the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approved a request by the Cook County Health and Hospital Systems plan to transform Oak Forest Hospital into a Regional Outpatient Center. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued the following statement. “I am very pleased that the state board approved the plan created by the independent Health and Hospitals System. The transformation of the Oak Forest campus will allow for better and more responsible use of resources to dramatically improve health access for medically underserved residents in the Southland.

A two-hour documentary set to air Thursday, August 18th on the Oprah Winfrey Network details the unique approach the Cook County Sheriff’s Office uses when handling prostitution cases and the efforts made to help those women turn their lives around. “Prostitution: Leaving The Life” is set to air at 8 p.m. CST on OWN. It details the work done by employees in the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Programs – including three former prostitutes who work with the Sheriff’s Police Vice Unit to conduct on-site outreach and intervention with women at the point they are arrested in a prostitution sting.

Five months after the Cook County Sheriff’s Training Academy was certified as an eligible site for benefits under the G.I. Bill, nearly one-third of those cadets graduating today are U.S. military veterans, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced Wednesday. Ceremonies are set for 2 p.m. today at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Heights. Graduation happens in Building M, near the school’s 111th Street entrance. In March, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs recognized the Sheriff’s Training Academy an approved program for G.I.

Justice Joy V. Cunningham of the Illinois Appellate Court will be one of a number of speakers at the Women's Equality Day event on Friday, August 26th. Women's Equality Day celebrates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, that guaranteed women the right to vote. The event will take place at Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington St, beginning at Noon. According to the National Women's History Project, ...The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle today launched a new interactive website designed to show how Cook County residents’ tax dollars are being managed and to engage residents in the difficult budget choices we are facing. The 2012 Cook County Budget website takes a comprehensive look at the preliminary budget and breaks down the $315 million shortfall for the public. It shows how the current budget situation has gotten to where it is today by detailing the past 15 years of county finances.

Do you have old prescriptions, electronics, car batteries, gently used clothing, and paper cluttering up your place? Bring them to the Hanover Township Building on Saturday, August 13th and recycle them at no cost. The Cook County Department of Environmental Control and Hanover Township are sponsoring a Free Recycling Extravaganza and Prescription Take-back event from 8 am to 1 pm.

Persons with heart or respiratory ailments are advised to limit activities and remain indoors. Participants in the Partners for Clean Air Program are requested to initiate their activities. The general public can help reduce ozone levels by limiting unnecessary driving, by using public transportation, by avoiding refueling, by avoiding the use of oil base paints and solvents, the use of charcoal lighter fluid and the excessive use of home energy. The air quality index values are forecast to be in the unhealthy for sensitive groups range for the Chicago Metropolitan Area due to Ozone.

Almost a year after Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart initiated discussions about utilizing Cook County Jail inmates to clean animal cages at a city shelter, that program is set to begin on Monday morning. There are 16 minimum-security inmates who will clean cages at the center, helping to save Chicago taxpayers from overtime costs that have been incurred by shortages in staff and volunteers. Inmates will be paid $4 a day – a little less than $1 an hour, though double the standard rate inmate workers usually receive on jobs at the jail.

Today, Dr. Ramanathan Raju, the COO of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., was selected as the Chief Executive Officer for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS). Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued the following statement. “I want to congratulate Dr. Raju on his appointment to the independent Cook County Health and Hospitals System as the new Chief Executive Officer. I fully expect he will understand the strength and critical importance of our public health institutions here in Cook County and across the country.