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Health care administrator sees restaurants as next step in your care

Aaron Bush of Burlington, administrator at 7 Hills Healthcare Center in East Dundee, has used his health care profession to help people over the years and now sees a Chicago restaurant as an extension of that work.

Besides the health care center, Bush also has become a backer of a new restaurant that offers non-GMO and gluten free options. He teamed up with Chef Mike Watson of Gilberts and Srinivas Ravanam of Oak Brook, a doctor at 7 Hills, to open Green Bean Restaurant at 734 W. Fullerton Avenue in Chicago.

"We wanted to create an alternative to fast food," said Bush, 32.

It's also a mission to help people eat more sensibly, avoid obesity and to improve their lives, he said.

And what he has learned since college has helped in the development of his health care career and restaurant.

Bush earned his bachelor's degree in theater and English at the University of Illinois Champaign. Later, he switched fields and earned a master's degree in health administration at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago.

One of his jobs was with the Chicago White Sox, working with the trainer to help players with minor aches and injuries, he said. "When I worked with the White Sox I was not physically touching players, that requires certification," he said. For example, he used hand-held devices to help ease their pain.

By 2007, he received a patent called "Device and Method for Increasing Viability in Cell Types." It was a small device that helped activate dormant single cells, he said.

"The patent on the medical device is not for the White Sox players, we applied a similar concept for them," he said.

While such technology has since advanced since 2007, he has turned his focus instead how people eat and how it affects their lives.

The three men then created the restaurant concept and wanted to make sure the food was healthy and no soda is sold there, only flavored waters.

They originally chose East Dundee for the first restaurant, but he said it didn't work out. So they opened instead in Chicago. Now they're eyeing Schaumburg for the second location, he said. "We need to make this type of food easily accessible and help people make changes for themselves," he said.

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Crystal Lake native Chef Mike Watson, left, and Aaron Bush of Burlington, one of the backers, has opened Green Bean Restaurant in Chicago, which focuses on non-GMO and gluten free foods. COURTESY OF GREEN BEAN
Keith Kinsey
Jim Carr
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