There may be law suits of merit in the coming years regarding the closing of Silver Cross Hospital. However it appears that it would not be productive to appeal the decision through the circuit court. The reason is because the Health Facility Planning Board has total discretion in regards to their decisions. There is nothing to appeal. The Board does not have to evaluate nor develop their own independent data. In fact opposition is not even allowed to speak at the Planning Board hearing. This goes against all procedures of jurisprudence.
Write your state legislator demanding that rules and procedures be changed in regards to Replacement Hospitals. The precedent has been set. There is nothing from stopping a non-profit hospital with a campus adequate for health care services to leave a poor community in favor for a more affluent community.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A new 40 Million in Charity Care?
40 million dollars in NEW charity care offered by SCH projected over ten years? Evidence suggests not
Is this another demonstration of erroneous information presented by SCH that may have mislead the State of Illinois. This information was used by the Health Facilities Planning Board to make a fact based decision. However it appears the facts were not correct. This information was so important to SCH that they included it in the April 28th report to the hearing board.
In fact the State Agency Report was corrected by the State in part because the charity care portion was not updated. The Planning Board's approval was based on SCH false assertions not facts, therefore a viable argument might be made to discard the decision by the State. The 40 million dollar announcement for charity care created a great amount of Publicity however evidence suggests it did not create new money toward charity care but instead is just a projection percentage of net revenue due to an increase of population. (The more people you have in Will County the more will use SCH, therefore revenue will increase) From 2002 to 2005 revenue at SCH increased at least 26 percent.
SCH projects future revenue growth, the more your net revenue grows the more you must provide to charity care, SCH after all is a nonprofit organization.
SCH Net Revenue
(Millions)
2002 $146,598,472
2003 $160,746,998
2004 $164,264,278
2005 $184,227,709
Charity care in 2005 was 2.1 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 21 million dollars Charity care in 2006 was 1.9 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 19 million dollars Charity care in 2007 was 2.7 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 27 million dollars
So in order to equal 40 million dollars over 10 years based on 2007 Charity care SCH would have to provide only 13 million dollars additionally over that 10 year time frame,
(27 mil + 13 mil = 40 mil)
It comes down to another 1.3 million dollars per year.
If revenue continues to grow then one can might conclude that on a percentage basis no additional charity care would be provided at all over a 10 year time frame.
I don't think the people of Joliet realized these facts when they heard the announcement of 40 million dollars of charity care.
Also after looking through notes it appears that at the hearing on July 1st SCH stated that: "the land we acquired in 2004 even before I-355 was announced". So legally they do not say under oath that they did not KNOW about I-355. They just said they bought the land before it was ANNOUNCED. It does not change the fact that the property was purchased in 2004 by SCH as stated under oath.
Is this another demonstration of erroneous information presented by SCH that may have mislead the State of Illinois. This information was used by the Health Facilities Planning Board to make a fact based decision. However it appears the facts were not correct. This information was so important to SCH that they included it in the April 28th report to the hearing board.
In fact the State Agency Report was corrected by the State in part because the charity care portion was not updated. The Planning Board's approval was based on SCH false assertions not facts, therefore a viable argument might be made to discard the decision by the State. The 40 million dollar announcement for charity care created a great amount of Publicity however evidence suggests it did not create new money toward charity care but instead is just a projection percentage of net revenue due to an increase of population. (The more people you have in Will County the more will use SCH, therefore revenue will increase) From 2002 to 2005 revenue at SCH increased at least 26 percent.
SCH projects future revenue growth, the more your net revenue grows the more you must provide to charity care, SCH after all is a nonprofit organization.
SCH Net Revenue
(Millions)
2002 $146,598,472
2003 $160,746,998
2004 $164,264,278
2005 $184,227,709
Charity care in 2005 was 2.1 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 21 million dollars Charity care in 2006 was 1.9 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 19 million dollars Charity care in 2007 was 2.7 million, projected out over 10 years would equal 27 million dollars
So in order to equal 40 million dollars over 10 years based on 2007 Charity care SCH would have to provide only 13 million dollars additionally over that 10 year time frame,
(27 mil + 13 mil = 40 mil)
It comes down to another 1.3 million dollars per year.
If revenue continues to grow then one can might conclude that on a percentage basis no additional charity care would be provided at all over a 10 year time frame.
I don't think the people of Joliet realized these facts when they heard the announcement of 40 million dollars of charity care.
Also after looking through notes it appears that at the hearing on July 1st SCH stated that: "the land we acquired in 2004 even before I-355 was announced". So legally they do not say under oath that they did not KNOW about I-355. They just said they bought the land before it was ANNOUNCED. It does not change the fact that the property was purchased in 2004 by SCH as stated under oath.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
ALL REASONABLE LEGAL OPTIONS
The Health Facilities Planning Board broke their own rules on multiple occasions therefore legal remedies may be justified.
Many believe that all information by opposition was throughly analyzed, I don’t believe this to be true. The state agency report listed several deficiencies in the SCH such as that the proposed project did not appear to be in conformance with provisions 1110 and 1120 of planning board rules. The major deficiencies listed were location, alternatives, need and size yet at the hearing on July 1st SCH did not have to respond to these deficiencies even though planning board rule 1130.130 clearly states that the burden of proof relating to all matters falls solely on the applicant. The state was given factual independent data as to the veracity of assertions made by SCH yet these facts did not appear to carry any weight with the planning board. The Planning Board’s decision was arbitrary and inconsistent with its mission.
The state provided no summary of oral testimony or written testimony from the hearings on January 22 and January 23. There was no summary of written comments sent to Jeffery S Mark, in fact Jeffery S Mark may have violated planning board rules by engaging in ex-partee communications through a newspaper article in the Southtown Star.
At the hearing on July 1st, SCH was repeatedly ask as to why they were moving from a poor area of Joliet to the more affluent area of New Lenox. SCH repeatedly responded by not answering the question directly. They had no answer and provided no proof even though it is their burden. This is against planning board rules.
This ½ a billion dollar project did not even require planning board members to visit the campus. Therefore the board made their decision based on assertions by SCH not by facts. One member of the planning board member was assigned his position in June. I doubt very much that he went through over 3000 pages of documents in order to make his decision before voting.
At the hearing on July 1st opposition was not allowed to deliver a presentation to counter assertions made by SCH, this is simply not the American way for a hearing to take place.
This decision if affirmed makes a horrible precedent, at no time again in the State of Illinois will any hospital in a poor area be able to stop a replacement facility from moving to a more affluent area. This may be the first time in state history that a hospital was allowed to leave a city. If the city of Joliet does not stop this precedent who will?
Evidence suggests that St Joes, the only full service community hospital in the area may receive more of a burden especially in the emergency department because of the closing down of SCH. St Joes has spent approximately 150 million on their new bed tower while SCH has spent over 200 million in improvements and facilities over the last 10 years. 6 years from now if St Joes is being overburdened they could also decide to leave the community. There would be nothing to prevent them from cutting a deal with Plainfield to move 1500 feet outside of city limits to the West to a more affluent area. It is important to try to stop this horribly bad precedent for the undeserved communities throughout the state.
I also want to clarify some misinformation that has been spread through out the community.
1 If someone needs inpatient services that are not provided at SCH at the present time and they currently must go to Chicago for inpatient services they will still have to go to Chicago for services if the New Lenox hospital is built.
2. If a child needs inpatient services that are not provided at SCH at the present time and must go to Chicago for inpatient services that child will still have to go to Chicago for services if the New Lenox Hospital is built. This is very important that the community understands this reality.
There will be no new category of services at the new hospital, no open heart surgery department, nor neo-natal icu care.
Because of misinformation spread throughout the community about Children’s Memorial I want to clarify what the partnerships truly is. This partnership has been in effect for over 11 years, currently there are Children’s Memorial Offices on the Joliet campus. In the future these services and offices will be placed in New Lenox. They will be placed in the New Lenox Professional office building this building is scheduled to open in 2009. This office building will have Children’s Memorial doctors, it has nothing to do with the Certificate of Need for the ½ a billion dollar hospital project scheduled to open in 2011.
The land that the New Lenox hospital will be located was not a donation, nor gift. This land was purchased by SCH in 2004 for 4 ½ million dollars. The records indicate that this land was purchased as a farm to be used as a farm. At the hearing on July 1st SCH stated they did not know anything about a toll road at that time. In 2004 (according to SCH tax docs) there was a person on the board of directors of SCH, this same person in 2004 was also a director on the board of the Illinois Tollway authority (according to ITA meeting minutes), in 2004 an engineer was hired for the I-355 project, in 2004 plans were unveiled for I-355, in 2004 ground was broke on the I-355 project. Another board of director for SCH in 2004 was involved in land zoning laws. Yet SCH states under oath that they knew nothing about a highway being built in New Lenox right next to the farm they purchased in the same year. I personally do not believe it. Does anyone on this city council really believe that if the area from the desplaines river to Briggs street was an affluent area that SCH would try to pull a stunt like this and close down this hospital?
CORRECTION (July 17th )Also after looking through notes it appears that at the hearing on July 1st SCH stated that: "the land we acquired in 2004 even before I-355 was announced". So legally they do not say under oath that they did not KNOW about I-355. They just said they bought the land before it was ANNOUNCED. It does not change the fact that the property was purchased in 2004 by SCH as stated under oath.
The laws state that SCH can only move if they have a need to do so not because they want to do so. There has been much talk about a Veteran’s Hospital, publicly SCH gives vague statements about such issues. However privately they have been directly involved in spreading such a concept. I have a document that SCH put in their application to the State of Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board on April 28th. The document presented to the State of Illinois states that SCH will be: "leaving vacant the present and up to date facilities in 2011" it also states that "the hospital is in very good condition with inpatient and outpatient rehab facilities. At the same time SCH is telling the people of Will County that the current facility is Antiquated and Obsolete. Someone is being mislead we just don’t know if it is the Veteran’s or the People of Will County as to the condition of their campus. Remember the only way that SCH could move is if they needed to move because the current facility was not sufficient for hospital usage.
I believe the money used defending the people of has been well spent because the cities fight has forced SCH to pledge 8 million dollars, they were forced to provide shuttle service, they were forced to provide some type of primary care. I think we can do better for our citizens of East Joliet. SCH recently opened the Homer Glen Professional building in which there will be 24 emergi-care. Now why does an affluent community such as Homer Glen that is located only one exit away from the proposed New Lenox Hospital get 24 emergi-care and yet the poor people of the east side have to beg to get 9 - 5 urgent care? I believe it is very necessary to pursue every legal option, I think we can do better than the current amount of services proposed by SCH.
Please call city hall and ask them to use every reasonable legal option (815) 724-3700.
Many believe that all information by opposition was throughly analyzed, I don’t believe this to be true. The state agency report listed several deficiencies in the SCH such as that the proposed project did not appear to be in conformance with provisions 1110 and 1120 of planning board rules. The major deficiencies listed were location, alternatives, need and size yet at the hearing on July 1st SCH did not have to respond to these deficiencies even though planning board rule 1130.130 clearly states that the burden of proof relating to all matters falls solely on the applicant. The state was given factual independent data as to the veracity of assertions made by SCH yet these facts did not appear to carry any weight with the planning board. The Planning Board’s decision was arbitrary and inconsistent with its mission.
The state provided no summary of oral testimony or written testimony from the hearings on January 22 and January 23. There was no summary of written comments sent to Jeffery S Mark, in fact Jeffery S Mark may have violated planning board rules by engaging in ex-partee communications through a newspaper article in the Southtown Star.
At the hearing on July 1st, SCH was repeatedly ask as to why they were moving from a poor area of Joliet to the more affluent area of New Lenox. SCH repeatedly responded by not answering the question directly. They had no answer and provided no proof even though it is their burden. This is against planning board rules.
This ½ a billion dollar project did not even require planning board members to visit the campus. Therefore the board made their decision based on assertions by SCH not by facts. One member of the planning board member was assigned his position in June. I doubt very much that he went through over 3000 pages of documents in order to make his decision before voting.
At the hearing on July 1st opposition was not allowed to deliver a presentation to counter assertions made by SCH, this is simply not the American way for a hearing to take place.
This decision if affirmed makes a horrible precedent, at no time again in the State of Illinois will any hospital in a poor area be able to stop a replacement facility from moving to a more affluent area. This may be the first time in state history that a hospital was allowed to leave a city. If the city of Joliet does not stop this precedent who will?
Evidence suggests that St Joes, the only full service community hospital in the area may receive more of a burden especially in the emergency department because of the closing down of SCH. St Joes has spent approximately 150 million on their new bed tower while SCH has spent over 200 million in improvements and facilities over the last 10 years. 6 years from now if St Joes is being overburdened they could also decide to leave the community. There would be nothing to prevent them from cutting a deal with Plainfield to move 1500 feet outside of city limits to the West to a more affluent area. It is important to try to stop this horribly bad precedent for the undeserved communities throughout the state.
I also want to clarify some misinformation that has been spread through out the community.
1 If someone needs inpatient services that are not provided at SCH at the present time and they currently must go to Chicago for inpatient services they will still have to go to Chicago for services if the New Lenox hospital is built.
2. If a child needs inpatient services that are not provided at SCH at the present time and must go to Chicago for inpatient services that child will still have to go to Chicago for services if the New Lenox Hospital is built. This is very important that the community understands this reality.
There will be no new category of services at the new hospital, no open heart surgery department, nor neo-natal icu care.
Because of misinformation spread throughout the community about Children’s Memorial I want to clarify what the partnerships truly is. This partnership has been in effect for over 11 years, currently there are Children’s Memorial Offices on the Joliet campus. In the future these services and offices will be placed in New Lenox. They will be placed in the New Lenox Professional office building this building is scheduled to open in 2009. This office building will have Children’s Memorial doctors, it has nothing to do with the Certificate of Need for the ½ a billion dollar hospital project scheduled to open in 2011.
The land that the New Lenox hospital will be located was not a donation, nor gift. This land was purchased by SCH in 2004 for 4 ½ million dollars. The records indicate that this land was purchased as a farm to be used as a farm. At the hearing on July 1st SCH stated they did not know anything about a toll road at that time. In 2004 (according to SCH tax docs) there was a person on the board of directors of SCH, this same person in 2004 was also a director on the board of the Illinois Tollway authority (according to ITA meeting minutes), in 2004 an engineer was hired for the I-355 project, in 2004 plans were unveiled for I-355, in 2004 ground was broke on the I-355 project. Another board of director for SCH in 2004 was involved in land zoning laws. Yet SCH states under oath that they knew nothing about a highway being built in New Lenox right next to the farm they purchased in the same year. I personally do not believe it. Does anyone on this city council really believe that if the area from the desplaines river to Briggs street was an affluent area that SCH would try to pull a stunt like this and close down this hospital?
CORRECTION (July 17th )Also after looking through notes it appears that at the hearing on July 1st SCH stated that: "the land we acquired in 2004 even before I-355 was announced". So legally they do not say under oath that they did not KNOW about I-355. They just said they bought the land before it was ANNOUNCED. It does not change the fact that the property was purchased in 2004 by SCH as stated under oath.
The laws state that SCH can only move if they have a need to do so not because they want to do so. There has been much talk about a Veteran’s Hospital, publicly SCH gives vague statements about such issues. However privately they have been directly involved in spreading such a concept. I have a document that SCH put in their application to the State of Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board on April 28th. The document presented to the State of Illinois states that SCH will be: "leaving vacant the present and up to date facilities in 2011" it also states that "the hospital is in very good condition with inpatient and outpatient rehab facilities. At the same time SCH is telling the people of Will County that the current facility is Antiquated and Obsolete. Someone is being mislead we just don’t know if it is the Veteran’s or the People of Will County as to the condition of their campus. Remember the only way that SCH could move is if they needed to move because the current facility was not sufficient for hospital usage.
I believe the money used defending the people of has been well spent because the cities fight has forced SCH to pledge 8 million dollars, they were forced to provide shuttle service, they were forced to provide some type of primary care. I think we can do better for our citizens of East Joliet. SCH recently opened the Homer Glen Professional building in which there will be 24 emergi-care. Now why does an affluent community such as Homer Glen that is located only one exit away from the proposed New Lenox Hospital get 24 emergi-care and yet the poor people of the east side have to beg to get 9 - 5 urgent care? I believe it is very necessary to pursue every legal option, I think we can do better than the current amount of services proposed by SCH.
Please call city hall and ask them to use every reasonable legal option (815) 724-3700.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Did Planning Board Members Read Opposition Testimony?
It appears that Health Facilities Planning Board Members: Penn, Burton, Lopatka, and Avery may have not read all testimony. Did they read everything Hearings in Joliet on Jan 22, 2008 and New Lenox on Jan 23? The board members did not even visit the campus. 1/2 a billion dollars of health care funds and they dont even bother to visit SCH in Joliet. As a result they made a motion to approve the closing down of Joliet's East Side Hospital. Honestly after witnessing today's hearing I wonder why this planning board exists at all. The rules clearly state the the "Burden of Proof" falls solely on the applicant SCH. For some reason the rules did not apply in this case. SCH did not have to prove anything even when it was well documented that some information they provided in the application was false.
Next step is to take the matter to circuit court. We lost the battle today July 1st but not the WAR to keep emergency care in our neighborhood. We will not let 1/2 a billion dollars of our health care funds be wasted. See you in court, keep the faith!!
Dr. Gutierrez of Silver Cross Hospital really has done a lot for this community, a true hero. Dr Gutierrez and I disagree on the health care plan for the East Side Joliet Community. Reasonable people can disagree. I have no problem with that at all.
However the bankers running SCH have not been honorable with their tactics. Their plan to close down Silver Cross, their misleading information, and false information serves no purpose in community health care. To demonstrate the extent of SCH game playing, yesterday at the hearing SCH had the same colored green shirts that the city of Joliet had. So it all looked like we were on the same team. SCH had no shame in trying to confuse the community and the planning board
martylepacek@gmail.com
Next step is to take the matter to circuit court. We lost the battle today July 1st but not the WAR to keep emergency care in our neighborhood. We will not let 1/2 a billion dollars of our health care funds be wasted. See you in court, keep the faith!!
Dr. Gutierrez of Silver Cross Hospital really has done a lot for this community, a true hero. Dr Gutierrez and I disagree on the health care plan for the East Side Joliet Community. Reasonable people can disagree. I have no problem with that at all.
However the bankers running SCH have not been honorable with their tactics. Their plan to close down Silver Cross, their misleading information, and false information serves no purpose in community health care. To demonstrate the extent of SCH game playing, yesterday at the hearing SCH had the same colored green shirts that the city of Joliet had. So it all looked like we were on the same team. SCH had no shame in trying to confuse the community and the planning board
martylepacek@gmail.com
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
SCH Withholds Important Data, Inpatient Pediatric Department Downsized from 39 beds to 8 beds
Silver Cross Hospital filed an application to close down the Joliet East Side Hospital in December of 2007. There were hearings on Jan 22 and Jan 23 2008 regarding this application. At the hearings SCH was told to present all information regarding the application. Representatives from Joliet stated that SCH was holding items back. Sure enough on April 28 (two days before the deadline to present data) SCH presented over 70 pages of legal documents giving opposition no time to respond before the May 1st deadline, no time to seek expert review of the material. SCH is making a mockery of fair play. What is so wrong about all Pros, all Cons, all facts being heard and reviewed by unbiased independent experts.
In addition to not playing fair it appears that SCH may have broke planning board rules by this maneuver. Time will tell
Also it is possible that on April 28th Silver Cross Hospital referred to two documents, stating that they were put into testimony on Jan 22 and Jan 23, they produced copies of these documents, however there appears to be no record of these documents submitted as evidence on Jan 22 or Jan 23. If it is true it indicates an attempt at fraud being committed on the Planning Board, the State, and to citizens. If true and these records were mailed or wired then that could be considered mail fraud or wire fraud.
On Jan 22 at the hearing in Joliet the transcripts clearly reflect a State Official making this statement : "Any person wanting to submit written comment on this project must submit these comments by May 1st 2008." Apparently material received on this date did not make it into the public record. Also the State Agency Report released after May 3rd was corrected due to a complaint filed by SCH. This correction was done on May 7th. Another complaint was filed regarding the same report on May 13th. This complaint was filed by opposition. NOTHING was done last minute. Due to the above facts the State did not have an opportunity to review all material therefore they deferred until July.
The May 13th letter addressed deficiencies and concerns in the state agency report.(As allowed by Planning Board Rules) It appeared that report was not complete according to planning board rules. Also Health Facilities Planning board members nor their counsel reviewed this May 13th letter.
However as previously mentioned SCH did file a last minute 73 page legal document on April 28th even though they had been working on this plan to close Joliet’s Hospital for over two years. This tactic assured SCH that there would be no time for a thorough rebuttal by opposition. This unfair tactic was publicly predicted by Joliet Officials during the hearings in January. I urge the community to forget the marketing, forget what you think you know, keep an open mind and just learn the facts, pro or con.
Please contact me today, you can save your community hospital martylepacek@gmail.com
In addition to not playing fair it appears that SCH may have broke planning board rules by this maneuver. Time will tell
Also it is possible that on April 28th Silver Cross Hospital referred to two documents, stating that they were put into testimony on Jan 22 and Jan 23, they produced copies of these documents, however there appears to be no record of these documents submitted as evidence on Jan 22 or Jan 23. If it is true it indicates an attempt at fraud being committed on the Planning Board, the State, and to citizens. If true and these records were mailed or wired then that could be considered mail fraud or wire fraud.
On Jan 22 at the hearing in Joliet the transcripts clearly reflect a State Official making this statement : "Any person wanting to submit written comment on this project must submit these comments by May 1st 2008." Apparently material received on this date did not make it into the public record. Also the State Agency Report released after May 3rd was corrected due to a complaint filed by SCH. This correction was done on May 7th. Another complaint was filed regarding the same report on May 13th. This complaint was filed by opposition. NOTHING was done last minute. Due to the above facts the State did not have an opportunity to review all material therefore they deferred until July.
The May 13th letter addressed deficiencies and concerns in the state agency report.(As allowed by Planning Board Rules) It appeared that report was not complete according to planning board rules. Also Health Facilities Planning board members nor their counsel reviewed this May 13th letter.
However as previously mentioned SCH did file a last minute 73 page legal document on April 28th even though they had been working on this plan to close Joliet’s Hospital for over two years. This tactic assured SCH that there would be no time for a thorough rebuttal by opposition. This unfair tactic was publicly predicted by Joliet Officials during the hearings in January. I urge the community to forget the marketing, forget what you think you know, keep an open mind and just learn the facts, pro or con.
Please contact me today, you can save your community hospital martylepacek@gmail.com
Monday, May 19, 2008
Silver Cross plans to down size the Pediatric Department and Slash Pediatric Beds from 39 to 8
Read last paragraph
There will be no new Children's Memorial Wing, you have been duped!! Less Pediatric Resources at the proposed Hospital not more!!
martylepacek@gmail.com
There will be no new Children's Memorial Wing, you have been duped!! Less Pediatric Resources at the proposed Hospital not more!!
martylepacek@gmail.com
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Bulletin you must act now, June 10th IS THE DEADLINE
DON'T DELAY WRITE THE LETTER NOW TO OPPOSE THE CLOSING OF JOLIET'S EAST SIDE HOSPITAL, TIME IS RUNNING OUT, all documents must be received by June 10th please write now, save 1/2 a billion dollars of your health care funds, funds that are needed for health care programs in Will County.
Silver Cross Hospital finally FINALLY ADMITS that the enhancement with Children's Memorial Hospital is actually doctor offices that will be placed in New Lenox. (less than 10,000 square feet of the whole 600,000 square feet campus, less than 1.8 percent of space dedicated to Children's) Children's has over an 11 year history with SCH It has been a great program at the current campus, now Children's is choosing to have offices in New Lenox instead of the current offices in Joliet. Here is how it works, once it is determined that a child cannot be treated adequately then procedures and referral programs are in place to transfer them to Children's. This is exactly what the program is design to do, don't confuse that service with Silver Cross Hospital being able to treat a child with a serious illness.
The structure in question is scheduled to open in 2009 it is a totally separate Certificate of Need application by SCH, in fact it is not being contested by any group. However don't confuse this office building with the nearly 1/2 a billion dollar hospital that is proposed to be built by 2011. Remember this proposed new hospital will not be upgraded to a full service community hospital, it wont have an open heart surgery department, no neo natal icu beds, no new category of services. The pediatric department is being downsized from 39 beds to 8. A number so low that SCH is seeking a variance. How many more inpatient pediatric specialists (like pediatric nurses) are going to be needed if the amount of beds is being downsized?
SCH is implying that children will be able to have heart surgery at the new SCH, this is totally false. Child Heart surgeons will not be at SCH. Everyone knows that there will be not even be an open heart surgery department at the proposed SCH in New Lenox.
Why didn't SCH disclose the basics of partnership with Children's last summer? After all the letter of intent for these doctor offices was filed (July 11) 15 days before the letter of intent of the proposed hospital (July 26). Yet Silver Cross offers a press release now? SCH refuses to state exactly what new services will be offered compared to services offered in the past. In he Certificate of Need Application SCH states no new category of services will be offered at the proposed hospital.
It is your health care funds that will be wasted, your insurance premiums, your taxes, your tax breaks to the non profit hospitals, your medicaid funds, your medicare funds, your property tax exemption breaks, your donations, your estates leaving property and cash assets. I IMPLORE YOU TO TAKE ACTION. Health care in Will County will suffer if this money is wasted.
WRITE NOW, TODAY, DO NOT DELAY, THESE LETTERS MUST BE IN SPRINGFIELD BY June 10th.
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second Floor
Springfield, IL 62761
RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project Opposed to Closing
Silver Cross Hospital finally FINALLY ADMITS that the enhancement with Children's Memorial Hospital is actually doctor offices that will be placed in New Lenox. (less than 10,000 square feet of the whole 600,000 square feet campus, less than 1.8 percent of space dedicated to Children's) Children's has over an 11 year history with SCH It has been a great program at the current campus, now Children's is choosing to have offices in New Lenox instead of the current offices in Joliet. Here is how it works, once it is determined that a child cannot be treated adequately then procedures and referral programs are in place to transfer them to Children's. This is exactly what the program is design to do, don't confuse that service with Silver Cross Hospital being able to treat a child with a serious illness.
The structure in question is scheduled to open in 2009 it is a totally separate Certificate of Need application by SCH, in fact it is not being contested by any group. However don't confuse this office building with the nearly 1/2 a billion dollar hospital that is proposed to be built by 2011. Remember this proposed new hospital will not be upgraded to a full service community hospital, it wont have an open heart surgery department, no neo natal icu beds, no new category of services. The pediatric department is being downsized from 39 beds to 8. A number so low that SCH is seeking a variance. How many more inpatient pediatric specialists (like pediatric nurses) are going to be needed if the amount of beds is being downsized?
SCH is implying that children will be able to have heart surgery at the new SCH, this is totally false. Child Heart surgeons will not be at SCH. Everyone knows that there will be not even be an open heart surgery department at the proposed SCH in New Lenox.
Why didn't SCH disclose the basics of partnership with Children's last summer? After all the letter of intent for these doctor offices was filed (July 11) 15 days before the letter of intent of the proposed hospital (July 26). Yet Silver Cross offers a press release now? SCH refuses to state exactly what new services will be offered compared to services offered in the past. In he Certificate of Need Application SCH states no new category of services will be offered at the proposed hospital.
It is your health care funds that will be wasted, your insurance premiums, your taxes, your tax breaks to the non profit hospitals, your medicaid funds, your medicare funds, your property tax exemption breaks, your donations, your estates leaving property and cash assets. I IMPLORE YOU TO TAKE ACTION. Health care in Will County will suffer if this money is wasted.
WRITE NOW, TODAY, DO NOT DELAY, THESE LETTERS MUST BE IN SPRINGFIELD BY June 10th.
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second Floor
Springfield, IL 62761
RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project Opposed to Closing
Friday, February 15, 2008
Some Facts
Here are a few facts about the proposed New Lenox hospital. This information is in the Certificate of Need document filed by Silver Cross.
Silver Cross plans to slash the inpatient pediatric department from 39 beds to 8
There will be ZERO neonatal ICU beds
Silver Cross proposes NO new category of services
NO level one trauma care
NO open heart surgery department
The New Lenox hospital will be farther away from the majority of population it serves,
The New Lenox hospital will cost nearly ½ a billion dollars of our healthcare funds.
This wasted amount of a 1/2 a billion dollars could be used toward actual healthcare. (Our funds that could be used for Doctors and Nurses)
The New Lenox hospital will NOT be larger, it is proposed to be 553,867 square feet compared to the old campus consisting of 11 buildings and approximately 720,000 square feet. In addition more doctors are being encouraged to leave Joliet because of a proposed 90,000 square foot SCH professional office building. The New hospital campus does not sound like one building to me.
According to minutes from a Will County Board meeting ONLY 1.7 percent of space will be dedicated to Children’s Memorial.
A child with a serious illness will still have to be treated in Chicago just as they did under the existing 11 year partnership with Children’s Memorial.
Documentation uncovered shows that Silver Cross has been working on this project since 2005 (at least), land documents show a transfer of ownership in 2004.
Why was the public mislead that there would be a children's memorial wing and more services?
I urge everyone to forget you what you think the truth is, to forget what you heard, forget the newspapers, the advertising, the radio and begin to seek the truth and the facts of the situation.
IN SHORT YOU HAVE BEEN MISLEAD INTO BELIEVING A MARKETING CAMPAIGN.
Look at the documents about Silver Cross throughout this site.
All Pros/Cons, all facts must be heard regarding the proposed closing of the East Side Joliet Hospital so far all we have is a marketing campaign by Silver Cross. It is hard to learn facts when you have been mislead from the start. It is hard to change your mind when you have been lead to believe false information.
It is important to understand that it is necessary to save the 1/2 billion dollars so that programs and services can expand and improve, otherwise money will be spent on an unneeded structure, the way to improve Silver Cross Care is to send a letter to stop the closing.
If you have a few minutes it will be easy to save the Joliet East Side Hospital, to save a half a billion dollars of your healthcare funds (projects like these are why your healthcare insurance premiums keep rising) to save proximity of healthcare for the community with the most need, to save doctors from leaving the east side neighborhood, to save access to emergency care in the East Side community, to save jobs on the east side, to etc.....
References to Silver Cross refers to the admininstration not the diligent healthcare workers of the facility. I believe the workers have been mislead as well.
Write a letter to the Health Facilites Planning Board asking them to reject Silver Cross's Bad Plan. Tell them you want to keep the East Side Joliet Hospital Open, Don't worry about how long it is, or your spelling, or grammar, just send it, is crucial that you do so, please do it now, IF EVERYONE TELLS THE TRUTH AND WRITES WE CAN SAVE THE HOSPITAL. All letters must be submitted to the planning board by June 10th, 2008.
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second FloorSpringfield, IL 62761
RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project
Contact me to learn how to do more. Attorneys we need pro bono research.
If you are an employee or business associate of Silver Cross and you felt coerced into signing or endorsing a declaration or you are afraid of speaking out you can contact me anonymously. Please know that it would be illegal for the Non Profit Silver Cross Hospital to close because they want to, according to the law of the state of illinois they must legally prove they need to leave a Joliet community with a rising population. If another hospital is needed out east now or in 10 or 15 years from now Silver Cross may or may not be that hospital. Another hospital is not contingent upon closing down the East Side Joliet Hospital .
Dr Richard Zalar believes Silver Cross was behind a blockage of an Alzheimer Center, this was back in 2000 Illinois Bill 1613, Palos Heights hospital wanted serious talks regarding a collaboration of ambulatory services out in Frankfort/Mokena with Silver Cross. According to Palos Heights they were rebuffed by the Board of Directors of Silver Cross. Somewhere along the road Silver Cross Administrators have lost their compass as to what community healthcare is supposed to be about. Did you know that Silver Cross Officials literally tried to block the hearing from being held on January 22, 2008 at city hall in Joliet? This information is all taken from documents relating to the CON doc.
Updated March 25, 2008
martylepacek@gmail.com
Silver Cross plans to slash the inpatient pediatric department from 39 beds to 8
There will be ZERO neonatal ICU beds
Silver Cross proposes NO new category of services
NO level one trauma care
NO open heart surgery department
The New Lenox hospital will be farther away from the majority of population it serves,
The New Lenox hospital will cost nearly ½ a billion dollars of our healthcare funds.
This wasted amount of a 1/2 a billion dollars could be used toward actual healthcare. (Our funds that could be used for Doctors and Nurses)
The New Lenox hospital will NOT be larger, it is proposed to be 553,867 square feet compared to the old campus consisting of 11 buildings and approximately 720,000 square feet. In addition more doctors are being encouraged to leave Joliet because of a proposed 90,000 square foot SCH professional office building. The New hospital campus does not sound like one building to me.
According to minutes from a Will County Board meeting ONLY 1.7 percent of space will be dedicated to Children’s Memorial.
A child with a serious illness will still have to be treated in Chicago just as they did under the existing 11 year partnership with Children’s Memorial.
Documentation uncovered shows that Silver Cross has been working on this project since 2005 (at least), land documents show a transfer of ownership in 2004.
Why was the public mislead that there would be a children's memorial wing and more services?
I urge everyone to forget you what you think the truth is, to forget what you heard, forget the newspapers, the advertising, the radio and begin to seek the truth and the facts of the situation.
IN SHORT YOU HAVE BEEN MISLEAD INTO BELIEVING A MARKETING CAMPAIGN.
Look at the documents about Silver Cross throughout this site.
All Pros/Cons, all facts must be heard regarding the proposed closing of the East Side Joliet Hospital so far all we have is a marketing campaign by Silver Cross. It is hard to learn facts when you have been mislead from the start. It is hard to change your mind when you have been lead to believe false information.
It is important to understand that it is necessary to save the 1/2 billion dollars so that programs and services can expand and improve, otherwise money will be spent on an unneeded structure, the way to improve Silver Cross Care is to send a letter to stop the closing.
If you have a few minutes it will be easy to save the Joliet East Side Hospital, to save a half a billion dollars of your healthcare funds (projects like these are why your healthcare insurance premiums keep rising) to save proximity of healthcare for the community with the most need, to save doctors from leaving the east side neighborhood, to save access to emergency care in the East Side community, to save jobs on the east side, to etc.....
References to Silver Cross refers to the admininstration not the diligent healthcare workers of the facility. I believe the workers have been mislead as well.
Write a letter to the Health Facilites Planning Board asking them to reject Silver Cross's Bad Plan. Tell them you want to keep the East Side Joliet Hospital Open, Don't worry about how long it is, or your spelling, or grammar, just send it, is crucial that you do so, please do it now, IF EVERYONE TELLS THE TRUTH AND WRITES WE CAN SAVE THE HOSPITAL. All letters must be submitted to the planning board by June 10th, 2008.
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second FloorSpringfield, IL 62761
RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project
Contact me to learn how to do more. Attorneys we need pro bono research.
If you are an employee or business associate of Silver Cross and you felt coerced into signing or endorsing a declaration or you are afraid of speaking out you can contact me anonymously. Please know that it would be illegal for the Non Profit Silver Cross Hospital to close because they want to, according to the law of the state of illinois they must legally prove they need to leave a Joliet community with a rising population. If another hospital is needed out east now or in 10 or 15 years from now Silver Cross may or may not be that hospital. Another hospital is not contingent upon closing down the East Side Joliet Hospital .
Dr Richard Zalar believes Silver Cross was behind a blockage of an Alzheimer Center, this was back in 2000 Illinois Bill 1613, Palos Heights hospital wanted serious talks regarding a collaboration of ambulatory services out in Frankfort/Mokena with Silver Cross. According to Palos Heights they were rebuffed by the Board of Directors of Silver Cross. Somewhere along the road Silver Cross Administrators have lost their compass as to what community healthcare is supposed to be about. Did you know that Silver Cross Officials literally tried to block the hearing from being held on January 22, 2008 at city hall in Joliet? This information is all taken from documents relating to the CON doc.
Updated March 25, 2008
martylepacek@gmail.com
Conflicts of Interest? Should many resign?
If you are a on the board of directors, a foundation member, a trustee, etc. you should not do business with Silver Cross Hospital. At best it creates an appearance of a conflict of interest. We need independent trustees not trustees that do business with the hospital or worst yet a group of trustees that formed First Community Bank http://www.fcbankgroup.com/The-Bank/Our-Story.htm (Paul Pawlak, Steve Morrissette, Mark Stofan) and those same trustees work together on a Silver Cross Board. Silver Cross must now publicly disclose all competitive bids given before contracts were awarded, especially bids for banking, medical supplies, engineering, retailers, and contractors. Think about it, are you going to tell your buddy that you did not vote for his company's business? The trustees must be completely independent community members. These should be people who have no business relationship with Silver Cross Hospital's Entities. People who's only goal is healthcare for the community, they should not be concerned about voting against friends or possible concerns about gaining or losing business. Certainly a publisher who is/was a part of a nonprofit foundation should never post an opinion column without full disclosure of such a relationship with the entity in question. In fact anyone who writes an opinion published in a newspaper should fully disclose their relationship with Silver Cross, they must certainly disclose if they are a foundation member or business partner. To write an article attempting to persuade without such disclosures is disingenuous. It gives the appearance of a concerned citizen writing an article when in fact it is a business associate. How many of such articles have we seen? There have been plenty. If you are a board member that does business with Silver Cross Hospital are you going to vote down a new hospital? If I had such dual roles I would be concerned about losing business if I voted against any such bad plan. I want the board members and people who did not know the facts before to stand up and take action, to say a mistake was made and stop trying to close the Joliet East Side Hospital.
The community needs to think hard about what constitutes a "conflict of interest" Have our community leaders breached that trust?
The Herald News continues to print Press Releases from SCH as actual news stories, Why?
All business relationships with foundation members, board members, business associates should be investigated to determine if a conflict of interest exists.
Should our healthcare funds or any Silver Cross Entity be used to pay a lobby firm such as Res Publica Group more than 1/4 million dollars? Interesting to see that the CEO of Silver Cross Hospital Paul Pawlak's daughter gets a plum job in such a coveted organization. Quid Pro Quo? http://www.respublicagroup.com/who_main.shtml
Centered in Primary Service area does not mean centrally located to the majority of population you serve
Silver Cross provides a very misleading statistic when they state 55.4% of ambulance arrivals come from communities outside of Joliet. First of it means that 44.6% come from Joliet, (a very big percentage Joliet has a very big need for services) but then we must look at the other zip codes to determine where the ambulance arrivals are coming from? Well once again I must reiterate the majority of the zip codes are better served by the Joliet East Side location via the Briggs Street Corridor. Zip codes are not absolutes, you must look at the overall street address region. These zip codes include areas not part of the 44.6%: Lockport (Some parts of Lockport are closer to the old site, some to the new), Wilmington, Elwood, Plainfield, Minooka, Coal City, Braidwood,etc.. If you add these areas then the majority of the population is closer to the old Joliet site. Approximately 6 minutes closer for Joliet East Side citizens according to documented evidence that is found in the CON document. 6 minutes in an emergency could mean life or death. Also that 6 minute travel study was done before I-355 opened, now times will be much worse especially during rush hours. Some populations may be neutral to a hospital move but clearly you can see that the Silver Cross statistic is very misleading. Neutral in time for some residents does not justify a half a billion dollar expenditure. Do a Map Quest search for directions from the zips codes to each site (1200 maple rd, joliet and 600 maple rd new lenox), Just add them up yourself, vast majority are closer to the Joliet Facilty! (Over 56% closer to Joliet site, 37% closer to proposed New Lenox site, and 7% cannot be determined)Updated March 25, 2008 martylepacek@gmail.com
No new category of services
Hmm I thought that the reason for the new hospital was so that we would not have to go to Chicago for a serious illness? Yet no new category of services will be offered, basically we are getting the same hospital except it will cost over 1/2 a billion dollars of our healthcare funds.
martylepacek@gmail.com
martylepacek@gmail.com
Please read this article, what do you think that Mr Brickman is trying to convey?
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/751923,4_1_JO22_SILVER_S1.article
Here is the text because after 30 days the link will expire.
St. Joe's CEO: Silver Cross 'walks away'
January 22, 2008
By BOB OKON Staff writer
JOLIET -- Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center will not oppose its main competitor's plan to relocate to New Lenox. But its chief executive does question the motives behind Silver Cross Hospital's move and how it will affect health care in Joliet.
"To walk away from a community is a big, big issue," Provena Saint Joseph President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Brickman said Monday. "The state, in its planning activities, probably will take a hard, hard look at why a community hospital would walk away from a community."
Provena will not oppose a plan by Silver Cross Hospital (above) to relocate from Joliet to New Lenox, but Provena's CEO said the community does need questions answered about the move.
Brickman's comments, the first made by a Provena official on the relocation plan, came before the state holds public hearings today and Wednesday on the Silver Cross issue.
They also elicited a direct response from Silver Cross.
"In no way are we walking away from this community or any community," said Ruth Colby, senior vice president of business development at Silver Cross. Colby also accused Provena Saint Joseph of having "a history of not serving the poor" because Silver Cross handles a higher percentage of low-income patients than its crosstown rival.
Brickman and other Provena officials will not be at the hearings today and Wednesday to comment on the Silver Cross plan.
Provena will not oppose the plan, Brickman said. But, he said the community does need questions answered about the move.
"It's not about Silver Cross and Provena Saint Joseph," he said. "It's about the impact on the community that we serve."
Serving the poor Brickman said Provena Saint Joseph will see growing numbers of emergency-care and low-income patients as more Joliet ambulance calls come to its emergency room instead of going to Silver Cross.
Provena Saint Joseph says 17 percent of its patients are on Medicaid or uninsured, typically the lowest income patients. At Silver Cross, about 27 percent of the patients use Medicaid or have no insurance.
Brickman said both hospitals handle higher percentages of low-income patients than the statewide average.
But Colby pointed to the nearly one-in-three ratio of low-income patients at Silver Cross and said the hospital has a better record of serving poor people and expects to continue providing health care to residents on the East Side of Joliet. She also evoked lawsuits that have challenged bill collection practices at other hospitals within the Mokena-based Provena Health network.
"When his own health system is under scrutiny for aggressive collection practices and his own hospital has a history of not serving the poor, I think these statements are very sad," she said.
Provena Health spokeswoman Lisa Lagger defended the system's charity care policies, including advertisements of its financial assistance programs for people who can't pay.
In Joliet, she said, "We have a 125-year history of serving the poor and needy."
Economics of health careSilver Cross now is in a low-income Joliet neighborhood and is moving 3.5 miles east to a spot along Interstate 355, which also will provide easier access to surrounding suburban areas.
While Brickman did not accuse Silver Cross of leaving strictly for economic reasons, he suggested the hospital could be in search of more affluent patients.
Pointing to the growth and higher income demographics in New Lenox, Brickman added,
"Unfortunately, the way health care is going, many decisions are made on the basis of who is able to pay. ...We (Provena Saint Joseph) can't walk away and make a decision solely on economics. I think the question is, how can an organization do that?"
Bob Okon can be reached at (815) 729-604
martylepacek@gmail.com
Here is the text because after 30 days the link will expire.
St. Joe's CEO: Silver Cross 'walks away'
January 22, 2008
By BOB OKON Staff writer
JOLIET -- Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center will not oppose its main competitor's plan to relocate to New Lenox. But its chief executive does question the motives behind Silver Cross Hospital's move and how it will affect health care in Joliet.
"To walk away from a community is a big, big issue," Provena Saint Joseph President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Brickman said Monday. "The state, in its planning activities, probably will take a hard, hard look at why a community hospital would walk away from a community."
Provena will not oppose a plan by Silver Cross Hospital (above) to relocate from Joliet to New Lenox, but Provena's CEO said the community does need questions answered about the move.
Brickman's comments, the first made by a Provena official on the relocation plan, came before the state holds public hearings today and Wednesday on the Silver Cross issue.
They also elicited a direct response from Silver Cross.
"In no way are we walking away from this community or any community," said Ruth Colby, senior vice president of business development at Silver Cross. Colby also accused Provena Saint Joseph of having "a history of not serving the poor" because Silver Cross handles a higher percentage of low-income patients than its crosstown rival.
Brickman and other Provena officials will not be at the hearings today and Wednesday to comment on the Silver Cross plan.
Provena will not oppose the plan, Brickman said. But, he said the community does need questions answered about the move.
"It's not about Silver Cross and Provena Saint Joseph," he said. "It's about the impact on the community that we serve."
Serving the poor Brickman said Provena Saint Joseph will see growing numbers of emergency-care and low-income patients as more Joliet ambulance calls come to its emergency room instead of going to Silver Cross.
Provena Saint Joseph says 17 percent of its patients are on Medicaid or uninsured, typically the lowest income patients. At Silver Cross, about 27 percent of the patients use Medicaid or have no insurance.
Brickman said both hospitals handle higher percentages of low-income patients than the statewide average.
But Colby pointed to the nearly one-in-three ratio of low-income patients at Silver Cross and said the hospital has a better record of serving poor people and expects to continue providing health care to residents on the East Side of Joliet. She also evoked lawsuits that have challenged bill collection practices at other hospitals within the Mokena-based Provena Health network.
"When his own health system is under scrutiny for aggressive collection practices and his own hospital has a history of not serving the poor, I think these statements are very sad," she said.
Provena Health spokeswoman Lisa Lagger defended the system's charity care policies, including advertisements of its financial assistance programs for people who can't pay.
In Joliet, she said, "We have a 125-year history of serving the poor and needy."
Economics of health careSilver Cross now is in a low-income Joliet neighborhood and is moving 3.5 miles east to a spot along Interstate 355, which also will provide easier access to surrounding suburban areas.
While Brickman did not accuse Silver Cross of leaving strictly for economic reasons, he suggested the hospital could be in search of more affluent patients.
Pointing to the growth and higher income demographics in New Lenox, Brickman added,
"Unfortunately, the way health care is going, many decisions are made on the basis of who is able to pay. ...We (Provena Saint Joseph) can't walk away and make a decision solely on economics. I think the question is, how can an organization do that?"
Bob Okon can be reached at (815) 729-604
martylepacek@gmail.com
Here is how the Silver Cross marketing campaign spin machine presented the article in Testimony to the Health Facilities Planning Board
Is Silver Cross trying to mislead the planning board on how Mr Brickman actually feels about the proposed move?
martylepacek@gmail.com
martylepacek@gmail.com
Thoughts
If upgrades are needed at the current Joliet East Side Hospital then of course make the necessary improvements. If the building does not flow seamlessly the current administration that has been in place for 16 years is responsible. Don’t punish the undeserved community by closing down their hospital because of someone else's lack of forecasting the future building needs.
You don’t punish a population because architectural vison was lacking. During the last 8 years over 150 million was used to upgrade the facilities. Including 35 new state of the art evidenced based design surgical suites, 2 floors of the hospital remodeled, a new cardiovascular center, a new emergency room, remodeled exterior of the building (if an exterior is structurally sound does our healthcare funds need to be wasted for remodeling?), two roads were closed to accommodate Silver Cross, etc...
If the eastern part of the county's population can support a hospital then build one but that has nothing to do with Joliet's East Side hospital. If a hospital is needed out east it does not necessarily have to be Silver Cross that builds it. The more choices the better. The Joliet community needs its emergency care. The Joliet East Side hospital needs to develop solutions for the undeserved instead of taking away close proximity emergency care.
I took down the comment section on this blog, it was only up for one day. I dont have the time to ensure that erroneous information is not being posted. For instance a few people attacked the city of Joliet. This has nothing to do with proximity of healthcare for the poor or wasting 1/2 a billion dollars on the same type of hospital with the same type of services. Also the pediatric department is licensed for 39 beds the department has already been slashed to 21 beds now at the new hospital there will be downsized further to 8 beds. Children with serious illness will still have to go to Chicago. Some people at Silver Cross do not seem to care that people are being misled to believe they will not have to go to Chicago if their child becomes seriously ill.
Dr Richard Zalar believes Silver Cross was behind a blockage of an Alzheimer Center, this was back in 2000 Illinois Bill 1613, Palos Heights hospital wanted serious talks regarding a collaboration of ambulatory services out in Frankfort/Mokena with Silver Cross. According to Palos Heights they were rebuffed by the Board of Directors of Silver Cross. Somewhere along the road Silver Cross Administrators have lost their compass as to what community healthcare is supposed to be about.
Did you know that Silver Cross Officials literally tried to block the hearing from being held on January 22, 2007 at city hall in Joliet?
martylepacek@gmail.com
You don’t punish a population because architectural vison was lacking. During the last 8 years over 150 million was used to upgrade the facilities. Including 35 new state of the art evidenced based design surgical suites, 2 floors of the hospital remodeled, a new cardiovascular center, a new emergency room, remodeled exterior of the building (if an exterior is structurally sound does our healthcare funds need to be wasted for remodeling?), two roads were closed to accommodate Silver Cross, etc...
If the eastern part of the county's population can support a hospital then build one but that has nothing to do with Joliet's East Side hospital. If a hospital is needed out east it does not necessarily have to be Silver Cross that builds it. The more choices the better. The Joliet community needs its emergency care. The Joliet East Side hospital needs to develop solutions for the undeserved instead of taking away close proximity emergency care.
I took down the comment section on this blog, it was only up for one day. I dont have the time to ensure that erroneous information is not being posted. For instance a few people attacked the city of Joliet. This has nothing to do with proximity of healthcare for the poor or wasting 1/2 a billion dollars on the same type of hospital with the same type of services. Also the pediatric department is licensed for 39 beds the department has already been slashed to 21 beds now at the new hospital there will be downsized further to 8 beds. Children with serious illness will still have to go to Chicago. Some people at Silver Cross do not seem to care that people are being misled to believe they will not have to go to Chicago if their child becomes seriously ill.
Dr Richard Zalar believes Silver Cross was behind a blockage of an Alzheimer Center, this was back in 2000 Illinois Bill 1613, Palos Heights hospital wanted serious talks regarding a collaboration of ambulatory services out in Frankfort/Mokena with Silver Cross. According to Palos Heights they were rebuffed by the Board of Directors of Silver Cross. Somewhere along the road Silver Cross Administrators have lost their compass as to what community healthcare is supposed to be about.
Did you know that Silver Cross Officials literally tried to block the hearing from being held on January 22, 2007 at city hall in Joliet?
martylepacek@gmail.com
Time Line
I - 355 Toll Road extension gets approved.
2004 Property for the hospital was transferred (Title document). Issue is a bit confusing but this information is what provided by Silver Cross to the state of Illinois.
2005 Silver Cross begins working confidentally with RTKL architects.
2006 RTKL and Navigant Consulting still going strong, Land studies are conducted on the New Lenox site.
2007 RTKL, Navigant, and New Castle groups were paid to evaluate further. It is determined that one of the best possible usages for the old site is a Medical Center. Like a Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet? I agree the best use for the old site is a hospital, we are in luck there is already a hospital on the site.
2007 July 2007 Silver Cross marketing campaign is in full effect, then after the public was mislead on what the new hospital would actually provide a survey was conducted.
2007 Olinger Group Survey was conducted in August 31 2007 to September 6 2007 the objectives were to understand the public's understanding and opinion of the plan. Several problems: Silver Cross was already misleading the public on what would actually be offered at the new hospital so the survey results would be based on those erroneous facts, second the actual questions of the survey are not in the Certificate of Need document third etc... This type of report would get a failing grade in a first year marketing class.
Hmm if the Toll Road was not approved would Silver Cross still claim they "need" a new hospital? Why would a nonprofit healthcare organization work in secret without community input on a plan that has so much impact? Don't you think community leaders might have some ideas that would be useful? Dont you think all pros/cons should have been discussed in public instead of working in secret? One possible reason that they did not want community input is because they knew there would be strong opposition to wasting nearly 1/2 a billion dollars of our healthcare funds. That is why Silver Cross needed to sell the hospital like a can of soda, that is why they keep mentioning children and the partnership with children's memorial. When in fact there will be no new category of services for children. martylepacek@gmail.com
2004 Property for the hospital was transferred (Title document). Issue is a bit confusing but this information is what provided by Silver Cross to the state of Illinois.
2005 Silver Cross begins working confidentally with RTKL architects.
2006 RTKL and Navigant Consulting still going strong, Land studies are conducted on the New Lenox site.
2007 RTKL, Navigant, and New Castle groups were paid to evaluate further. It is determined that one of the best possible usages for the old site is a Medical Center. Like a Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet? I agree the best use for the old site is a hospital, we are in luck there is already a hospital on the site.
2007 July 2007 Silver Cross marketing campaign is in full effect, then after the public was mislead on what the new hospital would actually provide a survey was conducted.
2007 Olinger Group Survey was conducted in August 31 2007 to September 6 2007 the objectives were to understand the public's understanding and opinion of the plan. Several problems: Silver Cross was already misleading the public on what would actually be offered at the new hospital so the survey results would be based on those erroneous facts, second the actual questions of the survey are not in the Certificate of Need document third etc... This type of report would get a failing grade in a first year marketing class.
Hmm if the Toll Road was not approved would Silver Cross still claim they "need" a new hospital? Why would a nonprofit healthcare organization work in secret without community input on a plan that has so much impact? Don't you think community leaders might have some ideas that would be useful? Dont you think all pros/cons should have been discussed in public instead of working in secret? One possible reason that they did not want community input is because they knew there would be strong opposition to wasting nearly 1/2 a billion dollars of our healthcare funds. That is why Silver Cross needed to sell the hospital like a can of soda, that is why they keep mentioning children and the partnership with children's memorial. When in fact there will be no new category of services for children. martylepacek@gmail.com
Testimony
Below is my outline of Testimony to the Illinois Department Of Health Facilities Planning board. The meetings were at City Hall in Joliet on Jan 22 and at City Hall in New Lenox Jan 23.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the panel, Good morning, thank you for being here. This is very important to our community. We have been bombarded with a marketing campaign from Silver Cross for the last several months. Today I would like to discuss some facts. You are finding support for the new hospital based on three main areas. One Children's Memorial hospital, two centrally located in the primary service area, three there will be an increase in the category of services offered:
1. Children's Memorial hospital. Children's Memorial has 13 similar agreements with other community hospitals.11 years with Silver Cross. The facts are that they are decreasing the inpatient beds from 39 to 8, there is not going to be 100 trained Children's Memorial physicians , there is not going to be a Children's Memorial wing of the hospital, zero neonatal beds. Silver Cross needs to immediately quantify why they need to spend nearly one half a billion dollars on such a decrease in pediatric beds.
2. There is support because people are being told that the New Lenox hospital will be located centrally in the primary service area. That is not the same as being centrally located to the majority of the population you serve. Silver Cross has been using a statistic stating that approximately 45 percent of ambulance that arrive at Joliet Silver Cross come from Joliet while 55 percent come from outside Joliet. Well one needs to state where are the 55 percent coming from? A good majority of the those are coming from areas such as Lockport which is closer to the Joliet facility then to the proposed facility out in New Lenox.
3. There is support because there will be an increase in the category of services offered. When in fact there is no evidence in the 1189 page CON application stating such, there are letters to numerous hospitals from the CEO of Silver Cross stating the opposite and I quote " we are proposing to maintain the same category of services at the replacement Hospital that are currently being provided at the existing facility" No level one trauma care, no open heart surgery department, decreasing the inpatient pediatric beds from 39 to 8. Zero neonatal beds Why do we need to spend nearly one half a billion dollars?
In emergency situations, strokes, heart attacks, trauma, hemorrhaging, where every minute accounts according to the American Heart Association, the Illinois Department of Health, and where every second counts according to Silver Cross hospital, well the majority of people will have to travel farther to reach the New Lenox facility. Approximately four miles or 6 minutes longer, for an ambulance that means they have to travel 12 minutes longer to get back to their service area. These approximate times were submitted as evidence by Silver Cross Hospital, this was before I-355 opened. Now travel time will be worse, travel time will continue to worsen. Response time matters.
The burden of proof. According to Planning Board rule 1130.130 the burden is on Silver Cross hospital, they must prove that they need to leave Joliet, they must prove that they need to leave a population that is increasing and is projected to do so, they must prove that it will be better for citizens to travel four miles farther in emergency situations.
So please when you read letters or hear people speak about support and they state Children's Memorial, Centrally located in the Primary Service area, increased category of services please take my factual information into account. It is not the majority of misinformation that counts but the majority of the facts. Thank you for your time today. All Pros/Cons facts must be heard.
That was the end of my Testimony.
At best Silver Cross is misleading the people as to why they must build a nearly ½ a billion dollar facility approximately four miles away from it’s current location. They are moving from a poor area to an affluent area. They are marketing this as a huge expansion for children when in fact they are reducing the inpatient pediatric department from 39 beds to 8. How many more pediatricians are going to be needed when you reduce the pediatric department?
On the day of the first hearing the CEO of the Hospital and his staff were sitting in the front row. The CEO of the hospital opened the hearing by stating that this was just a technicality and anyone who was opposed to it was really against health care. People of the community took time off from work to express their concerns and the CEO tried to dismiss the people as being irrelevant. It did not work, many people with heartfelt responses spoke out opposing this bad Silver Cross plan. Silver Cross has been working in secret since at least 2005. Silver Cross did not want any community debate on the issue. This was the only opportunity we had and the CEO of Silver Cross was trying again to dismiss us. Silver Cross wants to walk away from the community instead of embracing the challenges.
Day two of the hearings I was not planning on speaking but felt compelled to when three gentlemen gave testimony in support of the hospital because of the expanded partnership with Children’s Memorial. In all three cases under the same set of circumstances if the new hospital was built the same three children would still have to go to Chicago for treatment.
The CEO again was in the front row and said nothing. He did not correct the gentlemen. One of the three cases in question involved open heart surgery for a child. The new Silver Cross in New Lenox will not have an open heart surgery department, and certainly not a pediatric open heart surgery department. The people are being mislead.
Below was my testimony of day two I hurriedly prepared:
"A Village Trustee talked about an Illness with their Child, In 2005the child needed to be air lifted to Children's Memorial Hospital. In 2005 a partnership with Children's Memorial was already in place, still the child had to be airlifted because the type of medical need was not available at Silver Cross. Given the same set of circumstances that child would still have to be air lifted to Chicago. The New Lenox hospital will not have the category of service needed to treat that type of illness.
Another New Lenox citizen had a child with an illness that required open heart surgery. The operation had to be done at Children's Memorial in Chicago. According to the Certificate of Need Application the Silver Cross in New Lenox will not have an open heart surgery department, they will have to seek open heart surgery else where not in New Lenox.
So I ask the question under the same set of circumstances can that child be treated at the New Silver Cross?. The obvious answer is no. This is nearly a half a billion dollar project we need to know exactly what new services will be offered. These services must be quantified by Silver Cross. All Pros/Cons all FACTS must be heard the media needs to start asking questions."
I think it is wrong to move the hospital but more importantly I think it is morally wrong to market/mislead the public. martylepacek@gmail.com
Ladies and Gentlemen of the panel, Good morning, thank you for being here. This is very important to our community. We have been bombarded with a marketing campaign from Silver Cross for the last several months. Today I would like to discuss some facts. You are finding support for the new hospital based on three main areas. One Children's Memorial hospital, two centrally located in the primary service area, three there will be an increase in the category of services offered:
1. Children's Memorial hospital. Children's Memorial has 13 similar agreements with other community hospitals.11 years with Silver Cross. The facts are that they are decreasing the inpatient beds from 39 to 8, there is not going to be 100 trained Children's Memorial physicians , there is not going to be a Children's Memorial wing of the hospital, zero neonatal beds. Silver Cross needs to immediately quantify why they need to spend nearly one half a billion dollars on such a decrease in pediatric beds.
2. There is support because people are being told that the New Lenox hospital will be located centrally in the primary service area. That is not the same as being centrally located to the majority of the population you serve. Silver Cross has been using a statistic stating that approximately 45 percent of ambulance that arrive at Joliet Silver Cross come from Joliet while 55 percent come from outside Joliet. Well one needs to state where are the 55 percent coming from? A good majority of the those are coming from areas such as Lockport which is closer to the Joliet facility then to the proposed facility out in New Lenox.
3. There is support because there will be an increase in the category of services offered. When in fact there is no evidence in the 1189 page CON application stating such, there are letters to numerous hospitals from the CEO of Silver Cross stating the opposite and I quote " we are proposing to maintain the same category of services at the replacement Hospital that are currently being provided at the existing facility" No level one trauma care, no open heart surgery department, decreasing the inpatient pediatric beds from 39 to 8. Zero neonatal beds Why do we need to spend nearly one half a billion dollars?
In emergency situations, strokes, heart attacks, trauma, hemorrhaging, where every minute accounts according to the American Heart Association, the Illinois Department of Health, and where every second counts according to Silver Cross hospital, well the majority of people will have to travel farther to reach the New Lenox facility. Approximately four miles or 6 minutes longer, for an ambulance that means they have to travel 12 minutes longer to get back to their service area. These approximate times were submitted as evidence by Silver Cross Hospital, this was before I-355 opened. Now travel time will be worse, travel time will continue to worsen. Response time matters.
The burden of proof. According to Planning Board rule 1130.130 the burden is on Silver Cross hospital, they must prove that they need to leave Joliet, they must prove that they need to leave a population that is increasing and is projected to do so, they must prove that it will be better for citizens to travel four miles farther in emergency situations.
So please when you read letters or hear people speak about support and they state Children's Memorial, Centrally located in the Primary Service area, increased category of services please take my factual information into account. It is not the majority of misinformation that counts but the majority of the facts. Thank you for your time today. All Pros/Cons facts must be heard.
That was the end of my Testimony.
At best Silver Cross is misleading the people as to why they must build a nearly ½ a billion dollar facility approximately four miles away from it’s current location. They are moving from a poor area to an affluent area. They are marketing this as a huge expansion for children when in fact they are reducing the inpatient pediatric department from 39 beds to 8. How many more pediatricians are going to be needed when you reduce the pediatric department?
On the day of the first hearing the CEO of the Hospital and his staff were sitting in the front row. The CEO of the hospital opened the hearing by stating that this was just a technicality and anyone who was opposed to it was really against health care. People of the community took time off from work to express their concerns and the CEO tried to dismiss the people as being irrelevant. It did not work, many people with heartfelt responses spoke out opposing this bad Silver Cross plan. Silver Cross has been working in secret since at least 2005. Silver Cross did not want any community debate on the issue. This was the only opportunity we had and the CEO of Silver Cross was trying again to dismiss us. Silver Cross wants to walk away from the community instead of embracing the challenges.
Day two of the hearings I was not planning on speaking but felt compelled to when three gentlemen gave testimony in support of the hospital because of the expanded partnership with Children’s Memorial. In all three cases under the same set of circumstances if the new hospital was built the same three children would still have to go to Chicago for treatment.
The CEO again was in the front row and said nothing. He did not correct the gentlemen. One of the three cases in question involved open heart surgery for a child. The new Silver Cross in New Lenox will not have an open heart surgery department, and certainly not a pediatric open heart surgery department. The people are being mislead.
Below was my testimony of day two I hurriedly prepared:
"A Village Trustee talked about an Illness with their Child, In 2005the child needed to be air lifted to Children's Memorial Hospital. In 2005 a partnership with Children's Memorial was already in place, still the child had to be airlifted because the type of medical need was not available at Silver Cross. Given the same set of circumstances that child would still have to be air lifted to Chicago. The New Lenox hospital will not have the category of service needed to treat that type of illness.
Another New Lenox citizen had a child with an illness that required open heart surgery. The operation had to be done at Children's Memorial in Chicago. According to the Certificate of Need Application the Silver Cross in New Lenox will not have an open heart surgery department, they will have to seek open heart surgery else where not in New Lenox.
So I ask the question under the same set of circumstances can that child be treated at the New Silver Cross?. The obvious answer is no. This is nearly a half a billion dollar project we need to know exactly what new services will be offered. These services must be quantified by Silver Cross. All Pros/Cons all FACTS must be heard the media needs to start asking questions."
I think it is wrong to move the hospital but more importantly I think it is morally wrong to market/mislead the public. martylepacek@gmail.com
Satellite Campus
Silver Cross had a concept of a Satellite campus in New Lenox. I think it is a great idea. Silver Cross can build it or perhaps another medical institution the important thing is that emergency room healthcare is needed in close proximity for more of our population. The emergency room is the core of the community hospital program. Community hospitals cannot and should not try to compete with major research/teaching institutions. All studies have indicated this fact. Community hospitals can treat routine/serious illness's but they do not have the resources, brain trust, nor expertise to deal with complex health issues. What is really needed is more procedures in place to determine when a patient would be better served at a major hospital. There should be more referral programs in place so that the patient does not have to do the footwork when seeking expert care. Silver Cross dismissed such an idea for more emergency care, if true healthcare is the goal then they should want to work with other hospitals in providing the best possible care for the population. Why not have another hospital provide emergency care in New Lenox? Strokes, heart attacks, trauma, this is when every second counts between life and death!! Yes keeping the Joliet hospital and building a satellite campus with room for expansion out east is a great idea. The hospital out east could be a collaborative effort with many hospitals in the region so that the best possible plan is implemented for all.
Ideas, Opinions, Possible Solutions
These are my opinions and ideas, most other items posted on this site were about facts. Despite what you heard one of the main reasons for trying to close down the Joliet East Side Hospital is because the Joliet population is on a per capita income basis less affluent than that of the location in New Lenox that they are proposing to move. The Joliet population is expected to grow, that means more poor, more uninsured, more medicare, more medicaid patients. Silver Cross currently provides care for these patients and it can be ecomically challenging. So instead of brainstorming ideas to deal with the challenge they decided to walk away. This is a nonprofit organization, an established hospital with tens of millions of dollars and over 1200 acres of Will County property given to them by benefactors yet they want to leave even though they can continue to serve the current community for many years.
There is an epidemic of people using the emergency room for basic care, so we need solutions and ideas to this solve the problem not organizations walking away:
Are these ideas feasible? Brainstorming helps if the ideas are not feasible than feed on them and develop solutions, walking away is not a solution.
1. Have a urgent care side by side with the Emergency room department - that way valuable resources would not be used on patients with no emergency need. A triage situation, might be very valuable. Proper medical personnel can determine if emergency or urgent care is needed.
2. Silver Cross has spent over 10 million dollars promoting and developing the new hospital, a total waste of healthcare funds - this money could have been used to put nurse practioners in urgent care centers in various underserved neighborhoods. Then patients would not feel the need to go to the emergency room for basic care. If a nurse practioner was paid $100,000 per year, ten would cost 1 million dollars. Just think of all the healthcare that could have been provided with ten million dollars.
3. Silver Cross needs to educate the community on what is urgent care and what is emergency care.
4. Silver Cross needs to educate the community on the benefits of health insurance.
5. Perhaps it might be feasible for Silver Cross to expand their own HMO insurance program for people in the community. They could directly receive premiums.
6. Many more preventive care programs are needed this will not only help the general healthcare of the public but will reduce costs to hospitals and insurers.
7. Internship, training programs for the east side community.
There are many alternatives. Unfortunately Silver Cross decided to work in secret and did not have open discussions in the community. If they did they could have received valued opinions which could have turned into great ideas which could have turned into solutions.
Silver Cross is very concerned about what their peers are doing and how they measure up to their peer group, when instead they should focus on how they can be leaders for the particular community they are a part of. Silver Cross should set the standard for others to follow, anyone can quit and walk away, or take a community hospital away from the community and put into a corn field.
Silver Cross provided the community with consulting information about possible uses for the current site. (supermarket, nursing home, home, college campus, community center, community park) The most important aspect they missed was that perhaps such projects may be feasible if Silver Cross Hospital was the anchor for such projects, yes the anchor. Silver Cross and emergency room care must stay on Joliet's East Side. Yes Silver Cross along with the heavily traveled Briggs Street Corridor might be a great area for development. Silver Cross could change the way the nation looks at decaying neighborhoods, Silver Cross could be the catalyst for urban renewal. Instead of walking away Silver Cross should embrace the challenge. Silver Cross break the mold and get to work, a supermarket in the hospital campus complex? college classes for the community?, nursing home care?, scholarships for the community?, healthcare job training programs for the community?, a park and community center? Yes to all, think big, be bold, can Silver Cross be the catalyst for a total reivitalization of a neighborhood? The Briggs street corridor brings many into the community along with the hospital itself. Do something spectacular anyone can walk away and build out in a cornfield. Landlocked? Joliet has helped to close two streets for your needs. They will continue to assist with your needs in the future. A project this big would need much assistance and hard work but according to your consulting firms it is doable. Silver Cross stop your bad plan to leave Joliet and get to work building a great multipurpose complex on Joliet's East Side.
The above are ideas, I know that some people with no "supposed connection" with Silver Cross have picked apart and distorted items that were written in the past. Again the above are just ideas. So please, I dont need any Silver Cross administrator, associate, or foundation member attacking these broad concepts. martylepacek@gmail.com
There is an epidemic of people using the emergency room for basic care, so we need solutions and ideas to this solve the problem not organizations walking away:
Are these ideas feasible? Brainstorming helps if the ideas are not feasible than feed on them and develop solutions, walking away is not a solution.
1. Have a urgent care side by side with the Emergency room department - that way valuable resources would not be used on patients with no emergency need. A triage situation, might be very valuable. Proper medical personnel can determine if emergency or urgent care is needed.
2. Silver Cross has spent over 10 million dollars promoting and developing the new hospital, a total waste of healthcare funds - this money could have been used to put nurse practioners in urgent care centers in various underserved neighborhoods. Then patients would not feel the need to go to the emergency room for basic care. If a nurse practioner was paid $100,000 per year, ten would cost 1 million dollars. Just think of all the healthcare that could have been provided with ten million dollars.
3. Silver Cross needs to educate the community on what is urgent care and what is emergency care.
4. Silver Cross needs to educate the community on the benefits of health insurance.
5. Perhaps it might be feasible for Silver Cross to expand their own HMO insurance program for people in the community. They could directly receive premiums.
6. Many more preventive care programs are needed this will not only help the general healthcare of the public but will reduce costs to hospitals and insurers.
7. Internship, training programs for the east side community.
There are many alternatives. Unfortunately Silver Cross decided to work in secret and did not have open discussions in the community. If they did they could have received valued opinions which could have turned into great ideas which could have turned into solutions.
Silver Cross is very concerned about what their peers are doing and how they measure up to their peer group, when instead they should focus on how they can be leaders for the particular community they are a part of. Silver Cross should set the standard for others to follow, anyone can quit and walk away, or take a community hospital away from the community and put into a corn field.
Silver Cross provided the community with consulting information about possible uses for the current site. (supermarket, nursing home, home, college campus, community center, community park) The most important aspect they missed was that perhaps such projects may be feasible if Silver Cross Hospital was the anchor for such projects, yes the anchor. Silver Cross and emergency room care must stay on Joliet's East Side. Yes Silver Cross along with the heavily traveled Briggs Street Corridor might be a great area for development. Silver Cross could change the way the nation looks at decaying neighborhoods, Silver Cross could be the catalyst for urban renewal. Instead of walking away Silver Cross should embrace the challenge. Silver Cross break the mold and get to work, a supermarket in the hospital campus complex? college classes for the community?, nursing home care?, scholarships for the community?, healthcare job training programs for the community?, a park and community center? Yes to all, think big, be bold, can Silver Cross be the catalyst for a total reivitalization of a neighborhood? The Briggs street corridor brings many into the community along with the hospital itself. Do something spectacular anyone can walk away and build out in a cornfield. Landlocked? Joliet has helped to close two streets for your needs. They will continue to assist with your needs in the future. A project this big would need much assistance and hard work but according to your consulting firms it is doable. Silver Cross stop your bad plan to leave Joliet and get to work building a great multipurpose complex on Joliet's East Side.
The above are ideas, I know that some people with no "supposed connection" with Silver Cross have picked apart and distorted items that were written in the past. Again the above are just ideas. So please, I dont need any Silver Cross administrator, associate, or foundation member attacking these broad concepts. martylepacek@gmail.com
Format for letter to planning board
Send this letter now, just tell the truth. We dont need to mislead the planning board, Silver Cross has been doing that for months. It wont work, the truth always works in the long run.
Send to:
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second Floor
Springfield, IL 62761RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project
Your Name
Address
City State Zip
Content of letter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Signature________________________
Again just tell the truth - Here are some concepts, any short truthful letter will help even if it is only one sentence long. If it is true and from the heart it will speak volumes.
These are concepts dont copy them, (the planning board has plenty of form letters from Silver Cross asking for support using canned letters with inaccurate information). Use these concepts as a guide, maybe pick one or two of these ideas, just dont copy the whole list we need real people with real letters.
Joliet's population is rising we are a medically underserved community, closing the hospital will make the situation worse.
Doctors with offices on the current campus will close those offices, therefore we will have less doctors in our community.
In Emergency situations when every second counts we will have to travel 3.5 to 4 miles farther, about 6 minutes average time . During Strokes or Heart Attacks time is especially important.
Response time for an ambulance in transit may increase because they will be out of circulation 12 minutes longer on average.
Because of laws regarding transit to the nearest hospital by time, some emergency patients will not even be sent to the new hospital
The Joliet hospital has easy and closer access using the Briggs Street Corridor via I-80 from the South. Residents of West, South and Central Lockport have easy and closer access from the using the Briggs Street Corridor The Joliet Community has easier and closer access through many major streets leading to the Joliet Silver Cross hospital
The new lenox hospital will be farther away from the majority of people it serves
Tell the planning board you dont like being mislead into believing the new hospital was for children when in fact they are downsizing the pediatric department, slashing pediatric beds from 39 to 8, that you dont like being mislead into believing there would be more category of services, that you dont like being mislead into believing it was closer to the majority of the population
It is not needed to spend nearly a half a billion dollars of our healthcare funds on an unneeded structure
It will be harder for seniors and poor of Joliet to reach the hospital
The new lenox hospital will not have any new category of services
The new hospital will have less square footage
The new lenox hospital will not have a new category of services for children
Children will still have to go to chicago for serious illness
A community hospital should not try to compete with research hospitals
Only 1.7 percent of the new lenox hospital will be dedicated to children's memorial
There has been a partnership in place with children's memorial for the last 11 years
One 1/2 a billion dollars could be spent on doctors and nurses instead of unneeded structures
The current structure in Joliet is adequate for community care
Expansion can be done on the current site
A poor neigborhood will be impacted further because of the move
It will be more difficult for the poor to reach the new lenox hospital (many of the poor only have one car or no car)
I-355 traffic will increase because of volume along maple road, I-355, and I-80. This will make travel times during emergencies increase in length overtime.
It will cost more for the majority to drive to the new lenox hospital, not only for patients but visitors and employee's to.
Many benefactors that left their money through estates to the hospial in Joliet would never have approved such a closure
etc......
SEND IT NOW, PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THE HOSPITAL, SEND IT NOW DO NOT DELAY
What else can you do? Plenty!!! Write to the Herald News or call the open line and state your opposition to closing down the Joliet Hospital, email this blog to your friends and family, engage your friends and family in dialogue about the pros/cons in closing down the hospital, ask people to send letters to the Planning Board. If you were to get 10 people to write letters to the planning board just think of all the difference you could make. Every little bit counts, everyone of us counts. We just need to do our best. Updated March 25 martylepacek@gmail.com
Send to:
Jeffrey S. Mark, Executive Secretary
Illinois Department of Public Health
Health Facilities Planning Board
525 W. Jefferson Street, Second Floor
Springfield, IL 62761RE: Silver Cross Hospital – Replacement Hospital CON Project
Your Name
Address
City State Zip
Content of letter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Signature________________________
Again just tell the truth - Here are some concepts, any short truthful letter will help even if it is only one sentence long. If it is true and from the heart it will speak volumes.
These are concepts dont copy them, (the planning board has plenty of form letters from Silver Cross asking for support using canned letters with inaccurate information). Use these concepts as a guide, maybe pick one or two of these ideas, just dont copy the whole list we need real people with real letters.
Joliet's population is rising we are a medically underserved community, closing the hospital will make the situation worse.
Doctors with offices on the current campus will close those offices, therefore we will have less doctors in our community.
In Emergency situations when every second counts we will have to travel 3.5 to 4 miles farther, about 6 minutes average time . During Strokes or Heart Attacks time is especially important.
Response time for an ambulance in transit may increase because they will be out of circulation 12 minutes longer on average.
Because of laws regarding transit to the nearest hospital by time, some emergency patients will not even be sent to the new hospital
The Joliet hospital has easy and closer access using the Briggs Street Corridor via I-80 from the South. Residents of West, South and Central Lockport have easy and closer access from the using the Briggs Street Corridor The Joliet Community has easier and closer access through many major streets leading to the Joliet Silver Cross hospital
The new lenox hospital will be farther away from the majority of people it serves
Tell the planning board you dont like being mislead into believing the new hospital was for children when in fact they are downsizing the pediatric department, slashing pediatric beds from 39 to 8, that you dont like being mislead into believing there would be more category of services, that you dont like being mislead into believing it was closer to the majority of the population
It is not needed to spend nearly a half a billion dollars of our healthcare funds on an unneeded structure
It will be harder for seniors and poor of Joliet to reach the hospital
The new lenox hospital will not have any new category of services
The new hospital will have less square footage
The new lenox hospital will not have a new category of services for children
Children will still have to go to chicago for serious illness
A community hospital should not try to compete with research hospitals
Only 1.7 percent of the new lenox hospital will be dedicated to children's memorial
There has been a partnership in place with children's memorial for the last 11 years
One 1/2 a billion dollars could be spent on doctors and nurses instead of unneeded structures
The current structure in Joliet is adequate for community care
Expansion can be done on the current site
A poor neigborhood will be impacted further because of the move
It will be more difficult for the poor to reach the new lenox hospital (many of the poor only have one car or no car)
I-355 traffic will increase because of volume along maple road, I-355, and I-80. This will make travel times during emergencies increase in length overtime.
It will cost more for the majority to drive to the new lenox hospital, not only for patients but visitors and employee's to.
Many benefactors that left their money through estates to the hospial in Joliet would never have approved such a closure
etc......
SEND IT NOW, PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THE HOSPITAL, SEND IT NOW DO NOT DELAY
What else can you do? Plenty!!! Write to the Herald News or call the open line and state your opposition to closing down the Joliet Hospital, email this blog to your friends and family, engage your friends and family in dialogue about the pros/cons in closing down the hospital, ask people to send letters to the Planning Board. If you were to get 10 people to write letters to the planning board just think of all the difference you could make. Every little bit counts, everyone of us counts. We just need to do our best. Updated March 25 martylepacek@gmail.com
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