DECATUR Iris Lewis-Beasley knows all too well about the importance of health care.

Beasley, a trust administrative officer at Hickory Point Bank and Trust in Decatur, has had multiple surgeries on her knee, ankle and thumb after being involved in several car accidents.

Her daughter, Ilaina, recently had to have a benign tumor surgically removed after several visits to specialists.

But it was her experience with her 3-month-old-son in the mid-1990s that shaped Lewis-Beasleys views on health care.

What people care about this election season is the focus of a month-long series by Lee Enterprises reporters, who spent recent weeks talking to Central Illinois residents about what they want to see addressed by the presidential candidates. Lingering worries about health care, for instance, center on people concerned about both the availability and cost of appropriate care.

Lewis-Beasley was a teen in 1995 when she gave birth to her son, Caylin. Without access to quality health care, she received a medical card and relied on lesser care.

Caylin developed beta strep soon after being born, but the disease was not diagnosed or treated. It developed into meningitis and three months after he was born, Caylin was dead.

At that point in my life, I vowed never to be put back in that situation where I didnt have medical insurance again and that Id have to be dependent on the coverage you may or may not get because you dont have good insurance, Lewis-Beasley said.

Because of his death, Lewis-Beasley believes health care needs to change and focus on helping those in the community less fortunate than others.

I really worry about those people who are already in a high-risk situation, she said.

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Access to affordable, quality health care has Central Illinoisians concerned