Metra’s board Wednesday approved creating a new Regional Day Pass that would allow riders unlimited trips for one day across the CTA, Metra and Pace. The measure still has to be approved by the CTA, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority at meetings later this month, but if passed, the program would be tested for up to six months.

The move comes as the transit agencies are still looking to bring back riders from pandemic lows and adjust to changing demand, as riders commute less often to Loop offices and look to take buses and trains for other types of trips. It marks the latest attempt to adjust fares, following the creation of a monthly pass that can be used across the transit systems and Metra’s overhaul in February of its fare zones.

The pass would cost between $10 and $16 on weekdays depending on the length of the trip on Metra, where fares are based on the distance traveled. Weekend passes would be a flat $10. Reduced weekday fares would also be available.

The new pass is expected to be available for purchase this year, though the exact date will depend on when the Ventra vendor finishes development and testing. It would be available in the Ventra app, and valid until 3 a.m. the day after it’s first used.

The RTA said the pass prices come out to less than the cost of paying for both a CTA day pass and a Metra day pass. The RTA would reimburse the transit agencies up to $1 million for the difference in price.

The RTA said the ability to integrate fares across the systems, provide frequent service and maintain relatively low fares in the future will depend on getting additional funding from the state to fill a $730 million budget gap expected when federal COVID-19 relief funding starts running out in 2026.

“This agreement is a major step forward for integrating fare policies and products between the region’s transit agencies as we look toward a post-pandemic future of changing travel patterns and more inter-connectivity between agency services,” RTA officials said in the statement.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will drop coverage of GLP-1 obesity drugs in fully insured large group commercial plans starting in January, a spokesperson said, citing consideration of their “efficacy, safety and access, and cost.” The insurer didn’t immediately respond to questions about how many patients will be affected or what the potential safety concerns were.

GLP-1s such as Novo’s Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound are exploding in popularity. But with list prices of $1,000 a month or more for a single user, insurers are balking at cost and trying to limit how widely they’re used. The US Medicare health program for the elderly doesn’t cover them for obesity at all, although it covers similar drugs for diabetes.

Some states’ Medicaid plans that cover low-income residents pay for GLP-1 drugs, but even that has been contentious. North Carolina’s health plan for state employees dropped coverage of the drugs for weight loss earlier this year after projecting a $1.5 billion loss by the end of the decade. Health plans offered through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace rarely cover the treatments for obesity, according to an analysis from health researcher KFF.

Novo is “disappointed” in the decision, a spokesperson said, “as it is contrary to actions that many throughout our country are taking – which is to expand coverage for these important medicines.” About half of all commercial insurance plans cover Wegovy, the spokesperson said.

Business owners said their licenses were not being issued if they did not pay at least $2,500 in fines for delinquent property taxes, pastors were outraged over a Harvey law requiring churches to obtain business licenses and residents protested a water rate hike.

Protesters marched from Transformation Community United Methodist Church to the municipal building before the monthly City Council meeting.

Residents and business owners called for an investigation into Mayor Christopher Clark’s administration and its business dealings, chanting in unison “stop the extortion” and “where is the money?”

Harvey business owner Benecia Gonzalez, one of the organizers, said the chants were in response to settlement agreements offered to businesses with delinquent property taxes.

The City Council passed an ordinance in January to deny operating licenses to businesses that owe property taxes.

Clark said the city collects 52% of its property tax revenue, and some businesses have evaded property tax payments for up to 20 years, costing the city $25 million a year in tax revenue with roughly $12 million from overdue property taxes.

Clark said the city also loses 35% of all sales tax revenue to the state because of unpaid Police and Fire department pensions, an issue he says he inherited from his predecessor.

Businesses with overdue taxes who choose to operate without a license are being presented with a settlement agreement allowing them to sidestep fines of up to $2,500 per day and continue to run their business while they determine how to settle the property tax debt.

Harvey’s 2nd Ward Ald. Colby Chapman said the decision to offer a settlement agreement was not presented to the City Council for a vote.

“Certainly an agreement of any sort where the city of Harvey is recouping dollars for something should have been presented in front of the council,” Colby said.

Delinquent business owners can pay a $2,500 down payment plus an additional $2,500 a month, eventually totaling $30,000; two installments of $12,000 for the year totaling $24,000; or $20,000 for the entire year up front, according to a copy of an agreement obtained by the Daily Southtown.

“We tried to find a way that, in lieu of prosecution, we would be able to allow them to stay open, but they would have to pay some type of fine as a result, and that way we didn’t have to continually charge them $2,500 a day,” Clark said.

But some residents at Monday’s meeting expressed confusion and frustration over the settlement and withholding of operating licenses.

Gonzalez said she inherited her grandfather’s auto shop along with years of late property tax bills when she was 20. Gonzalez, now 24, said the city ordered her auto shop to close in May due to outstanding property taxes, shortly after she applied to renew her business license.

The city’s planning department reviews business licenses and all renewal documents are due at the end of April, according to a city ordinance. Failure to renew a license by the deadline will result in a daily $2,500 fine, according to the license renewal policy letter for 2023-24 applications.

“All we want to do is provide for our families,” Gonzalez told the City Council. “We feel like we have nothing to lose anymore.”

Gonzalez said when she went to city officials to plead her case, she was given the settlement agreement, which she has not accepted.

Business owners who had accepted the settlement deal expressed frustration Monday that their business licenses were still being withheld.

Clark said by law, the city cannot award licenses to any business with outstanding property taxes. He said the settlement agreement is a way for businesses to avoid these fines, but also give back to the city in some form.

Clark said he made efforts to inform business owners and residents about the settlement agreement option before licenses were due for renewal.

“We were hopeful that the businesses would take advantage of it so much so that I had my team send a letter out to the businesses to let them know that this was available for them,” Clark said.

Clark said the money from the settlement does not go toward a business owner’s outstanding property tax balance, but gives them time to determine how to pay back their dues.

Business owners said even if they wanted to take the settlement, they cannot afford $2,500 a month.

Other protesters spoke out against a city ordinance requiring charitable organizations and churches to acquire business licenses.

The Rev. Johnathan Johnson, a pastor at Holy Bible Missionary Baptist in Harvey, said he is frustrated because the business license his church applied for over two months ago is still under review.

“They have not given us a word as to where they are with the review,” Johnson said. “And we’re not a business. We’re a charity. We operate solely off of donations, not profits.”

Clark said he has made an effort to communicate his agenda and invite open discussion, but residents and elected officials say there has not been enough transparency regarding how city money is being spent.

Colby expressed her ongoing efforts to obtain information from the city regarding the transition from the annual treasurer’s report, which provides a detailed breakdown of government expenditures and revenues, to the comptroller’s report, offering a more comprehensive view of the city’s financial well-being. She said she has yet to receive any responses.

The city has not released a yearly treasurer’s report since 2022, but recently published a comptroller’s report in March, Colby said.

“The residents need to know what’s going on,” she said. “This is very important that as an administration, we can be heard like our minority voice means something, even if it’s not a part of the majority vote. But we must be heard.”

smoilanen@chicagotribune.com

Mary Patchin, who was promoted from vice president of sales and has worked for the organization for 25 years, will replace retiring CEO and President Jim Garrett once his tenure officially ends June 30.

“We are elated with Mary Patchin as the new president/CEO,” Garrett said in a news release announcing Patchin’s promotion. “Her experience in tourism, commitment to Visit Chicago Southland, and knowledge and passion of the Chicago southland region will serve her and the area well.”

Visit Chicago Southland, which until recently was named the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau, is a nonprofit founded in 1986 that receives funding from a state grant requiring matching funding from community contracts, membership and programming. The money is used to market the south suburbs as a destination for leisure, events and meetings and advocate for the development of attractions to draw visitors.

Patchin said her main focuses will be executing a three-year plan developed in 2023 to build strong relationships between the organization, local communities and their clients, especially in areas of hospitality and group business, which she focused on heavily in her past role.

This includes becoming certified through an international group of similar tourism marketing organizations through meeting set goals, she said.

Patchin said she’s also preparing for national tradeshows starting in August that are important for marketing the Southland as a primary destination for everything from work meetings to sports tournaments.

“Weddings, family reunions, class reunions — we have an abundance because we have a lot of banquet facilities and hotels out here,” Patchin said. “And we have so many great events that take place throughout the entire year here too, a little something for everybody.”

Patchin joined Visit Chicago Southland after graduating from Purdue University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management, according to the news release. She has involved herself in the finance, public relations and marketing departments of the organization, though she always worked in sales.

She said she has wanted to work for a convention and visitors bureau since she was 16.

“I was one of those annoying kids that called every 1-800 number for every state tourism office,” she said. “So I’ve always loved the industry, at a young age, even before really understanding what tourism was.”

With Garrett leading the organization for 28 years, Visit Chicago Southland earned the 2024 Illinois Excellence in Tourism Award for Best Website by the Illinois Office of Tourism and received Diversity Inc’s 2011 Community Spirit Award.

Patchin said she plans to keep the organization focused and ahead of competing convention bureaus by meeting people where they’re at and relying more heavily on those who live in the marketed communities.

“A lot of the work that we do tends to be outside of the region, and what we’re trying to do is really be a better education tool for local residents, because local residents are really the best tourism ambassadors,” Patchin said.

She said that includes building up community awareness with hospitality partners.

“While we really try to focus with an online presence, there is still in part of what we do here that would be in print or local media,” she said. “It’s just creating that exposure the best way we can and working with our partners to do that.”

Patchin was approved to become Visit Chicago Southland’s CEO and president at the organization’s April 25 quarterly board meeting.

ostevens@chicagotribune.com

The national average for gas prices on Monday stood around $3.44, according to AAA. That’s down about 9 cents from a week ago — marking the largest one-week drop recorded by the motor club so far in 2024. Monday’s average was also more than 19 cents less than it was a month ago and over 14 cents below the level seen this time last year.

Why the recent fall in prices at the pump? Industry analysts point to a blend of lackluster demand and strong supply — as well as relatively mild oil prices worldwide.

Here’s a rundown of what you need to know.

Today’s falling gas prices, explained.

There are a few factors contributing to today’s falling gas prices. For starters, fewer people may be hitting the road.

“Demand is just kind of shallow,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said, pointing to trends seen last year and potential lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Traditionally — pre-pandemic — after Memorial Day, demand would start to pick up in the summertime. And we just don’t see it anymore.”

Last week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed that U.S. gasoline demand slipped to about 8.94 million barrels a day. That might still sound like a lot — but before the pandemic, consumption could reach closer to the 10 million barrel-a-day range at this time of year, Gross noted.

Beyond pandemic-specific impacts, experts note that high gas prices seen following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and persistent inflation may have led many Americans to modify their driving habits. Other contributing factors could be the increased number of fuel-efficient cars, as well as electric vehicles, on the road today, Gross said.

Some of this is still seasonal. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted that gas prices typically ease in early summer because of refinery capacity. At this time of year, he said, many factors boosting prices in late winter and early spring — particularly refinery maintenance — are no longer present.

“Once refinery maintenance is done, output or utilization of the nation’s refineries goes up — and that contributes to rising supply,” De Haan said. And that stronger supply, paired with weaker consumption, has led to a “bit more noticeable” decline in prices this year. He added that U.S. refinery utilization is at some of its highest levels since the pandemic.

Separately, the Biden administration announced last month that it would be releasing 1 million gasoline barrels, or about 42 million gallons, from a Northeast reserve with an aim of lowering prices at the pump this summer. But De Haan noted that such action has little impact nationally — 42 million gallons equals less than three hours of U.S. daily gas consumption.

“Really, what we’re seeing right now with (declining) gasoline prices … has been driven primarily by seasonal and predictable economics,” he said.

What about oil prices?

Experts also point to cooling oil costs. Prices at the pump are highly dependent on crude oil, which is the main ingredient in gasoline.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, has stayed in the mid $70s a barrel over recent weeks — closing at under $78 a barrel Monday. That’s “not a bad place for it to be,” Gross said, noting that the cost of crude typically needs to go above $80 to put more pressure on pump prices.

Oil prices can be volatile and hard to predict because they’re subject to many global forces. That includes production cuts from OPEC and allied oil producing countries, which have previously contributed to rising energy prices.

OPEC+ recently announced plans to extend three different sets of cuts totaling 5.8 million barrels a day — but the alliance also put a timetable on restoring some production, “which is likely why the price of oil had somewhat of a bearish reaction,” De Haan said.

Could prices go back up?

The future is never promised. But, if there are no major unexpected interruptions, both Gross and De Haan say that prices could keep working their way down.

At this time of year, experts keep a particular eye out for hurricane risks — which can cause significant damage and lead refineries to power down.

“Prices move on fear,” Gross said. In the U.S., he added, concern particularly rises once a hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico — and even if it doesn’t eventually make landfall, refineries may pull back on operations out of caution. Impacts can also range by region.

But barring the unexpected, analysts like De Haan expect the national average to stay in the range of $3.35 to $3.70 per gallon this summer. Gas prices typically drop even more in the fall, and it’s possible that we could see the national average below $3 in late October or early November, he said.

What states have the lowest gas prices today?

While gas prices nationwide are collectively falling, some states always have cheaper averages than others, due to factors ranging from nearby refinery supply to local fuel requirements.

As of Monday, per AAA data, Mississippi had the lowest average gas price at about $2.94 per gallon — followed by $2.95 Oklahoma and just under $2.97 in Arkansas.

Meanwhile, California, Hawaii and Washington had the highest average prices on Monday — at about $4.93, $4.75 and $4.41 per gallon, respectively.

Illinois is one of 42 states, plus Washington, D.C., that alleged Johnson & Johnson deceptively promoted and misled consumers, in advertisements, about the safety of some of its talc powder products. The states filed lawsuits Tuesday that were settled with simultaneous consent judgements, which must still be court approved, according to the New Jersey attorney general’s office.

Illinois’ lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court’s chancery division, alleged that Johnson & Johnson knew that its talc products were “sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and that women who used talc-based powders in the genital area had an increased risk of ovarian cancer. … Despite this knowledge, J&J continued marketing of Talc Powder Products as safe, pure and gentle, and as suitable for use in and on female genitals.”

Johnson & Johnson stopped selling baby and body powder products containing talc in recent years. Under the consent judgment, Johnson & Johnson would not be able to sell, manufacture, market, promote or distribute the products moving forward.

“Consumers rely on accurate information when making decisions about which products to purchase for their families,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a news release Tuesday. “Any company — no matter how large — must be held accountable when laws protecting consumers are broken and their trust is violated.”

The company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability as part of the consent judgments. Johnson & Johnson previously confirmed to The Wall Street Journal in January that it had reached an agreement in principle on the settlement.

Johnson & Johnson “continues to pursue several paths to achieve a comprehensive and final resolution of the talc litigation,” Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation for the company, said in a statement. “That progress includes the finalization of a previously announced agreement that the Company reached with a consortium of 43 State Attorneys Generals to resolve their talc claims.”

The settlement does not resolve many other lawsuits filed by private plaintiffs alleging that talc causes health issues, including mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, according to Raoul’s office.

A pair of ironworkers fell about nine stories to the ground Thursday shortly after 12:15 p.m. during high winds. Jeffrey Spyrka, 36, was taken just a few steps from the site to UChicago Medicine with injuries his attorneys called “catastrophic and serious.” David O’Donnell, 27, died in the fall, leaving his family reeling. 

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that general contractor Turner Construction Co. failed to take proper safety measures to ensure that the scaffolding was “safely and properly erected.” It accuses the contractor of putting workers in danger by allowing scaffolding work outside during high winds. 

It also says Adjustable Forms Inc., a concrete contractor, didn’t properly build the scaffolding, leading to corner sections separating in the wind. 

Attorneys representing Spyrka and O’Donnell at GWC Injury Lawyers said in a news release that O’Donnell was the last worker to access the scaffold. He talked with Spyrka and another ironworker near the southwest corner, and a few minutes later, a gust of wind caused the corner to separate. A scaffold section then “swung violently away from the wall,” throwing the two workers to the ground. 

A lawsuit on behalf of O’Donnell, who was raised in Oak Forest, is expected to be filed later this week, according to the release. 

“Neither of these families should have to go through this. These workers should have never been working on what turned out to be an unsafe, dangerous scaffold perched over 100 feet in the air,” attorney Louis Cairo said in the statement. 

“This was an absolutely callous acts of negligence and misconduct by major construction companies who viewed progress on the job as their priority rather than the safety of the workers on the job,” Cairo continued. “The evidence will prove that this was a totally preventable catastrophe.” 

Cairo said it’s a miracle Spyrka survived the fall but that he has a long recovery ahead. Spyrka has been married to his wife, Ashley, for eight years, and they have three children under 6 years old, the release said. 

“Ashley has not left the hospital since her loving husband’s tragic fall,” Cairo said. “Her and her young children’s futures are certainly going to be difficult, but Ashley’s focus is to ultimately bring Jeff home in whatever condition God has planned for him, where she and their children will love him and take care of him as long as possible.”

Friends of Spyrka created a GoFundMe Monday to help pay for medical bills and other expenses. The page, which calls Spyrka “tough and resilient” as well as a devoted husband and father, has raised nearly $30,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

O’Donnell is survived by his parents and three brothers. One of his brothers described him as “wicked smart” and “immensely funny,” saying he enjoyed golf, camping, the White Sox and the Chicago skyline. He was trained as a technical engineer. 

A representative for Turner Construction said they are aware of the filing and will “continue to support investigations into this incident.” The company said last week that it halted work at the Hyde Park site and planned to offer employees grief counseling. 

Eric Lindquist, president of Adjustable Concrete, said in a statement that the company is aware of the filing and “deeply saddened to learn of this accident.” He said they’re partnering with Turner Construction to “support a full investigation into this matter.” 

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the loved ones of those affected,” Lindquist said. “Safety is integral to what we do.” 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened an investigation into New Horizon Steel, where Spyrka was employed, last Thursday. The administration is also probing Turner Construction, Adjustable Concrete Construction and O’Donnell’s employer High-Tech Stake-Out Inc. The investigations will take up to six months.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by the same group, the Free Speech Coalition, to block a similar law in Texas.

According to the Indiana law signed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in March, the state’s attorney general and individuals can bring legal action against a website’s operator if material “harmful to minors” is accessible to users under the age of 18.

In addition to Indiana and Texas, similar laws have been enacted in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. Backers of such laws say they protect children from widespread pornography online, while opponents say the laws are vague and raise privacy concerns.

In the complaint filed Monday, the association says the Indiana law is unenforceable and unconstitutional. The group is asking a federal judge in Indianapolis to issue a preliminary injunction against the law before it takes effect on July 1 and to block the law permanently.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita — listed as a defendant in the lawsuit — said in a post on X that he looks forward to defending the law in court.

“Children shouldn’t be able to easily access explicit material that can cause them harm,” the post said. “It’s commonsense.”

The Texas law remains in effect as the Supreme Court weighs the Free Speech Coalition’s full appeal. The Utah law was upheld by a federal judge in August, and a federal judge dismissed a challenge against Louisiana’s law in October.

The additional flights from the Chicago-based airline are a boon to O’Hare International Airport, a key economic driver for the city where traffic has lagged pre-pandemic levels.

They bring United, one of O’Hare’s two main carriers, to its largest schedule from O’Hare since 2019, the carrier said. That includes an extra 38 flights between O’Hare and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which serves the District of Columbia. Other additional flights will go to cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Austin, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle.

All told, the carrier will operate more than 530 flights daily at O’Hare on its busiest days, United said.

The additional flights come as the city prepares for the economic and security impacts of the four-day convention, which is expected to bring a slew of politicians, visitors and protesters in August. The DNC Host Committee estimates the convention could bring about 50,000 visitors, 20,000 media members and 5,500 delegates, alternates and guests to the city.

For its part, United’s preparations at O’Hare bring the amount of scheduled space on flights out of the airport in August to slightly higher than the number of seats scheduled before the pandemic. But overall at O’Hare, airlines have still scheduled fewer flights and fewer seats out of the airport than they did in summer 2019, according to data from aviation firm Cirium.

O’Hare’s other main carrier, American Airlines, hasn’t updated its schedule for the convention, a spokeswoman said. The airline has eight daily flights between Chicago and Reagan National.

Southwest, which is the primary carrier at Midway, also does not plan to add flights for the convention. A spokesman said the airline will have 223 flights a day out of Midway during the convention, including six per day between Midway and Reagan National, and up to six per day between Midway and Baltimore. The airline will also have two daily flights between Baltimore and O’Hare, where the carrier previously announced it was trimming its schedule.

United is also adding 72 flights to and from Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention in July, including from Chicago, the carrier said. The additional flights will increase the carrier’s capacity in Milwaukee by 75%, United said.

“These conventions are steeped in tradition and have now evolved to become a weeklong celebration of our political process,” said Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, in a statement. “We’re proud to give people even more options to visit two great cities, and participate in these historic events and make their voices heard.”

“When I got hurt a couple years ago, we had a male physical therapist, and he was really lax about it,” Comas said. “He just told me I’m ‘good to go.’ Having an environment for women would’ve been a lot more comfortable and better for healing the injury long term.”

Dr. Mary Mulcahey, director of sports medicine and an orthopedic surgeon at Loyola Medicine, said stories like Faith’s were what inspired her to help launch a new program to provide health care for female athletes. Loyola’s new Women’s Sports Medicine program aims to educate women on the risks of sports injuries while offering gender-specific care, she said.

“The main impetus or idea behind this is that there are certain injuries that are more common or unique to female athletes, so the program really focuses on having a group that has expertise in treating these conditions and is aware of some of the nuances and differences with treating female athletes,” Mulcahey said.

Mulcahey said that the program will utilize a network of physicians including primary care, sports medicine, orthopedic medicine, endocrinology, urogynecology, sports, cardiology, and obstetrics and gynecology, along with physical therapists and athletic trainers.

The program will allow female athletes to more easily access different kinds of doctors at once, she said. There can be a number of factors that play into an individual injury, according to Mulcahey, and offering a network that can easily connect athletes with several types of doctors eliminates tedious middle steps.

“If I were to see a patient who had a stress factor, for example, I would inquire about their menstrual cycle and their eating habits,” Mulcahey said. “This is a good example of where the interdisciplinary approach really works. If they’re having irregular menses, I could refer them to an OB-GYN colleague. I’d ask about their eating habits, and maybe refer them to a nutritionist or dietician or maybe even a counselor in the program.”

While Mulcahey said it has historically been possible to refer patients to other doctors, the Women’s Sports Medicine program introduces a streamlined approach for female athletes.

The doctors included in the program also all have a particular focus on female patients, she added. Having that specialized knowledge can help in approaching an injury as simple as an ACL tear.

“ACL tears are upwards of eight times more common in female athletes,” Mulcahey said. “In the knee, the ACL is smaller, the overall alignment of the lower extremity of the legs is different in female athletes, hormonal variations and fluctuation throughout the menstrual cycle have a huge impact on the risk of ACL tears. You need doctors that understand that.”

In February, Comas tore her ACL while wrestling and came to Mulcahey for surgery. She said that receiving a treatment specialized for women’s bodies made her feel a lot safer, especially as a wrestler.

Because of a lack of women in her sport, Comas said, she’s often had to wrestle men or women who were in a completely different weight class, presenting a higher risk of injury. Having a doctor who understood how women are built differently from men and could address her symptoms with that in mind made a big difference, she said.

“My freshman year I got injured, and my coach was just asking ‘When can she wrestle? Can she do this?’ Comas said. “I think with this injury things have been explained better and people have been a lot more patient. I can actually focus on healing the injury.”

Giavanna Green, a 17-year-old cheerleader who tore her meniscus and ACL in October, had surgery in May after months of confusion about her injury. Mulcahey also performed Green’s surgery, and Green said she felt supported and encouraged by the network of doctors at Loyola.

Green said that Mulcahey stressed stretching and taking care of her leg, doing proactive exercises to prevent hurting or re-tearing the ligaments. Green said she appreciated that education since things like stretching and taking care of the body can be glossed over in sports, she said

“A lot of people push themselves so hard,” Green said. “If someone came in and taught us to understand how not to overwork ourselves and cause these injuries, I feel like it would be really beneficial.”

Mulcahey said that she plans to do just that in Loyola’s new program. The program aims to partner with local teams, clubs and sports organizations to provide teach-ins and resources on injury prevention for female athletes like Comas and Green.

Getting to women before they are injured is imperative, Mulcahey said.

“We want to connect with and be available for various women’s sports teams,” she said. “We also are looking at giving talks at some of our local high schools where there are many active women and girls, where we could share information about injuries and injury prevention. We’re trying to bring that education into the community.”

Overall, Mulcahey said, the program aims to dig deeper into female injuries, separating outcomes in male and female athletes and learning more about what injuries are more common in or completely unique to female athletes.

“In having a women’s sports medicine program, there is an opportunity to do research to really investigate these injuries in female athletes,” Mulcahey said “Are there differences? Are there things we need to be keeping in mind? Should we be modifying our approach to care for our female athletes? The Women’s Sports Medicine program is an opportunity to do that.”