Last weekend, I was brought back to one of the reasons we moved to Lombard 21 years ago. From the first street we turned down, it felt like home. It seemed a lot like the neighborhood I grew up in, which was Evergreen Park on the south side of Chicago.
We settled on a block that was just being built, and most of the homeowners now are the original owners. We turn down our block, and we live in quite a comfort zone. But with the town growing and many things becoming unfamiliar, I always wonder if our town will change.

Last week, I had the unfortunate experience of becoming sick for the first time in years. I caught a really bad cold and could barely move by Saturday. Then to add insult to injury, I looked in the mirror, and my right eye was swollen and pink. My daughter diagnosed that I had pink eye.

Feeling really miserable, I called my favorite pharmacy, which is CVS Pharmacy located on the corner of Westmore-Meyers and Roosevelt roads. Pharmacist Kristen Todd answered the phone, and I asked if there was an over-the-counter drug to help pink eye. She said no, but their MinuteClinic could help, and it closed at 4 p.m. It was exactly 4 p.m., but the nurse there said she would wait for me.

As I was hustling to get there, I couldn’t believe a business person was actually going to wait 10 minutes for me. I mean in this day and age when you usually just have a computer to talk to, it was refreshing to have the human touch. Not only did an actual human being answer the phone, they were nice and helped me out. Wow! I don’t mean to sound jaded, but I have spent a lot of time with computer voices lately, and it gets to you.

In the back of the pharmacy, there is now a door with a sign on it called MinuteClinic. I was greeted by Lyana Kubilius, who is a board-certified nurse practitioner with a master’s degree. She got right down to business taking my health information, checking my blood pressure, ears and eyes. I definitely had pink eye, which can occur when you have a cold, and she sent an electronic prescription to the pharmacy for me. I was so impressed with this whole procedure, I decided to let you know about them.

I looked online for a definition of a nurse practitioner, and most Web sites explain these are nurses who have completed a graduate nursing degree and training in providing preventive and medical health care to individuals and families in association with a physician.

Before I left, I was diagnosed and had a filled prescription and information about my illness within 45 minutes. And they were kind and caring. I am thrilled that a company has taken a step back and realized we need to get back to being human. I was really sick, did not feel like going out at all, but was I glad I did.

To find out more about the recently opened MinuteClinic, log on to www.minuteclinic.com or call the Lombard pharmacy at (630) 627-8866. For future reference, they take care of common illnesses such as allergies, bladder infections, ear and sinus infections, strep throat and swimmer’s ear. They also do vaccinations and pregnancy testing and care for skin conditions. And, yes, they take walk-ins. They are open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

I would like to personally thank pharmacist Todd and nurse Kubilius for taking such good care of me and waiting for me to get there. I am really glad I found you.

I also wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms, grandmas, aunts and special women out there. I am very fortunate to be able to spend time with my mother, who is going to be 90 in June, and my mother-in-law, who will be 86. My daughter, Rosie, will be home from school for the summer, and that will be the most important gift. I have had many titles in my lifetime, but I can honestly say my favorite title is mom.