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
