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September 28, 2011

Midwest Allergy Count Ends Sept. 30

Season Called ‘One of the Worst’

WHAT:  The Midwest experienced four dangerous mold count alerts in the 2011 allergy reporting season, making it one of the worst in a decade. The final count for the season will be calculated Friday, Sept. 30. 
WHO:  Dr. Joseph Leija, an allergist at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital who is certified by the National Allergy Bureau to calculate the official Midwest allergy count, releases the data from April to October. For more than two decades, Dr. Leija has risen before 4 a.m. to collect specimens from his pollen-catching machine atop Gottlieb and deliver the count to the public by 7 a.m.  The Gottlieb Allergy Count is available via Twitter in English, Polish and Spanish; at Gottliebhospital.org and at 1-866-4-POLLEN (476-5536).
WHEN: Dr. Leija will perform the final Gottlieb Allergy Count of the 2011 allergy-reporting season
5 - 7 a.m. Friday, Sept. 30
Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
701 W. North Ave.
Melrose Park, Ill.
Media, please call Stasia Thompson at (708) 417-5036.
Dr. Leija is available to talk with reporters, show mold spores and other allergens, offer advice and demonstrate how he collects the spore specimens from the roof of Gottlieb Memorial Hospital.
WHY:  Capture shots of Dr. Leija as he performs the final allergy count on Friday
Interview Dr. Leija about this “historically bad allergy season”
Get his prediction and health tips for the upcoming winter

Loyola University Health System (LUHS) is a member of Trinity Health. Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, LUHS is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and more than 30 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. The heart of the medical center campus, Loyola University Hospital, is a 569-licensed-bed facility. It houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park includes the 264-licensed-bed community hospital, the Professional Office Building housing 150 private practice clinics, the Adult Day Care, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness, Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center at Melrose Park.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Stasia Thompson

Media Relations

(708) 216-5155

thoms@lumc.edu
Anne Dillon

Media Relations

(708) 216-8232

adillon@lumc.edu