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Jack Crowe felt a little something in his neck. When symptoms of a chest cold followed, Crowe and his wife left their cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and started driving home to Chicago.

Was it COVID-19? Crowe made a telehealth appointment with Rush University Medical Center to find out. Still far from home, Crowe told an ABC News affiliate, he was connected to a virtual care provider in five minutes.

That provider, nurse practitioner Nicole Marks, told the ABC affiliate that Crowe’s chest pain and shortness of breath were “red flags.” Crowe needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. Taking Marks’ advice, Crowe sought emergency care at a Wisconsin hospital. There, he was diagnosed with aortic dissection, a rare and serious condition of a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart.

“I went against my own instincts, which was to keep driving to Chicago another four hours. And if I had done that, I would have died,” said Crowe, who underwent emergency open-heart surgery.

The lifesaving care Crowe received is just one example of the urgent need to pass House Bill 3498 in the Senate and make telehealth coverage and payment permanent. Visit https://protectillinoistelehealth.org/ to learn more.