diff --git a/scripts/chkhealth.sh b/scripts/chkhealth.sh
index 77f13fcd7..ea8721137 100755
--- a/scripts/chkhealth.sh
+++ b/scripts/chkhealth.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 # optional argument to specgify the ip address
-ip_address=$1
+ip_address="localhost:8645"
 plain_text_out=false
 
 # Parse command line arguments
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ set -- "${POSITIONAL_ARGS[@]}" # restore positional parameters
 # Check if an IP address is provided as an argument
 if [[ -n "$1" ]]; then
   ip_address="$1"
-else
-  ip_address="localhost:8645"
 fi
 
 # check if curl is available
@@ -40,16 +38,24 @@ then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-response=$(curl -s GET http://${ip_address}/health)
+response=$(curl --connect-timeout 6 -s GET http://${ip_address}/health)
+
+if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S') - Node may not be running or not reachable at http://${ip_address}\n"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
 if [[ -z "${response}" ]]; then
-  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S')\tnode health status is: unknown\n"
+  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S') - node health status is: unknown\n"
   exit 1
 fi
 
 if ! command -v jq &> /dev/null || [[ "$plain_text_out" = true ]]; then
-  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S')\tnode health status is: ${response}\n"
+  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S') - node health status is: ${response}\n"
 else
-  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S')\tnode health status is:\n"
-  echo "${response}" | jq .
+  echo -e "$(date +'%H:%M:%S') - node health status is:\n"
+  echo "${response}" | jq . 2>/dev/null
+  if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
+    echo -e "${response}"
+  fi
 fi