It’s easy to view self-care as a low priority when your child is diagnosed with a serious illness. Your role as a parent and parenting partner has unexpectedly changed. The child has urgent and complex medical needs; you must manage appointments and service providers, and learn new information about the disease and medical treatment—all while tending to the needs of other family members, work and/or other responsibilities.

The Courageous Parents Network provides this guide to help parents make time and find ways to take care of themselves.

If you see a treatment or cure for influenza or COVID-19 that looks too good to be true, it probably is.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns families about fake or unapproved products that claim to protect people from catching influenza, COVID-19 or other viruses.

HealthyChildren.org, the parenting website of the American Academy of Pediatrics, provides these tips to help families stay safe from unsafe COVID-19 tests, medications and products.

Illinois has launched a statewide network that will receive, refurbish and redistribute used computers to those in need.

This initiative responds to the 1.1 million Illinois households currently without computers and aims to bridge the digital divide for those without internet access to help improve connectivity essential for remote learning, work from home, telemedicine, and other requirements of everyday life.

The project is a partnership of the state of Illinois, PCs for People and various community partners.

To be eligible, residents must be below 200 percent of the poverty level or enrolled in income-based government assistance programs, such as free or reduced school lunch, Medicaid or SNAP.

Individuals can register for upcoming distribution events in their area to receive a computer, internet or both.

Visit www.pcsforpeople.org/illinois/ or call (618) 215-3787 for more information.

The McHenry County Workforce Network Young Adult Internship Program provides opportunities for young adults up to age 24, including paid internships, training, certification and more.

Paid internships at local companies throughout McHenry County including positions in retail, offices, public works departments, not-for-profit organizations and many more.

Classroom training including resume development, interview preparation, career exploration, job search training, etc.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has launched the Vaccine Appointment Call Center to help people who do not have access to or who have difficulty navigating online services in making appointments to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The toll-free Vaccine Appointment Call Center phone number is (833) 621-1284 and can take TTY calls.

The call center is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight.  The call center has English and Spanish-speaking call agents with the availability for translation into other languages.

Call agents will help individuals who do have access to online services navigate the various registration sites.  However, if the individual does not have access to online services or is unable to navigate the site, the agent will make an appointment on their behalf.

Apraxia Kids is a nonprofit that strengthens the support systems in the lives of children with apraxia of speech. Its website provides resource guides and information about conferences, webinars, support groups and more.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is committed to ensuring that all people with speech, language and hearing disorders receive services to help them communicate effectively.

The ASHA website provides resources to help you understand communication and communication disorders.

The Illinois Resource Center has put together a library of videos for bilingual parents with videos in French, Tagalog, Urdu, Arabic, Polish, Spanish and English.

Each video showcases subjects and information relevant to parents, caretakers and community members, such as the role of Bilingual Parent Advisory Committees, financial aid for college, tenant rights, multilingual student rights and more.

As more Illinois residents become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Illinois Department of Public Health is encouraging those who receive a COVID-19 vaccination to use the V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker.

V-safe is a smartphone-based tool from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that uses text messaging and web surveys to provide personalized health check-ins after you receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Through v-safe, you can quickly tell CDC if you have any side effects after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Depending on your answers, someone from CDC may call to check on you and get more information. V-safe will also remind you to get your second COVID-19 vaccine dose if you need one.

The Center for Dignity in Health Care for People with Disabilities at the Univesity of Cincinnati UCEDD provides this two-page “social story” about getting a vaccine.