 click image for enlarged view Kishwaukee Community Hospital, already straining under the demands of its patient load in 2003, embarked on one of the most expensive new construction projects in the history of DeKalb County. KishHealth System (KHS) raised a $102 million budget for construction, equipment and furnishings for a new 230,000 square feet tri-level hospital. Approximately $60 million of the financing came from tax-exempt bonds. KHS also used cash reserves, ongoing operating revenue and secured a record near $9.5 million dollars in community pledges and donations for the new facility. The all new hospital opened on schedule in 2007. A year later, in a Nov. 20, 2008 letter to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB), KHS notified the state of its intent to close its behavioral health unit at the hospital. Kishwaukee Hospital has provided short-term inpatient care for mental illness for 33 years. The unit had 16 beds when it opened in the 1970s. The state reduced that number to eight beds in 1998 and reduced it again to six beds when the new hospital opened in 2007, according to KHS sources. KishHealth System CEO Kevin Poorten told an audience of more than 100, during a two-hour forum held in the multipurpose room at the DeKalb County Health Department, that it was a “very difficult decision” to ask the state to close the unit. He noted that in recent years it has become difficult to staff the unit because most psychiatrists and clinical staff now prefer to work in an outpatient setting. The Illinois Department of Public Health State Summary released in October 2008 found that there are 33 excess acute mental illness beds in the geographical area that includes KCH. Poorten noted that the number of people seeking mental health services at KCH is increasing, and that $1.7 million has been spent during the last three years on recruiting psychiatrists to come work at the hospital. It was also noted that the mental health unit was not profitable. Reports from the forum indicate that many in attendance were vehemently opposed to the closing of the mental health unit.
Eileen Dubin, county board representative to the DeKalb County Mental Health Board, noted that the “DeKalb County Human Service Delivery in a Challenging Economy” was being conducted by the DeKalb County Community Foundation, Kishwaukee United Way and the NIU Center for Governmental Studies. There is also a study in progress by Health Systems Research at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Rockford to provide the DeKalb County Mental Health Board with an up-to-date assessment as to current mental health needs in the county.
Shrader requested four considerations: (1) [KHS] Withdraw their application to the state seeking to close the unit; (2) conduct a nationwide search for a qualified mental health unit director; (3) let that person hire and train a staff; (4) restore the trust of admitting psychiatrists who have lost faith that this hospital cares about mental health. All reasonable. But KHS should receive financial assistance from the DeKalb County government to help offset its loss of profits for providing an essential and needed health care service. The County has a funding source.  click on image for enlarged view The DeKalb County Infirmary and Farm was originally the home to those who were unable to pay for their own medical attention. Many had no living relatives and no money and when they died they were interred at the expense of the county in the DeKalb County Cemetery on the same property. The buildings have been torn down and the county home is now located on the west side of DeKalb at Dresser Rd and Annie Glidden. The former site known as the DeKalb County Farm is now occupied by the Target shopping center and portions of the Walmart shopping center. In granting the City of DeKalb permission to annex the property a long term sales tax sharing arrangement was worked out in an intergovernmental agreement between the two bodies. Whenever the City of DeKalb increases its Home Rule sales tax, the County receives additional monies. In recent times the City of DeKalb has increased its sales tax twice. The least the County could do is “earmark” their share of those increases towards making sure the community does not lose a vital service for those who need it most. |
Apr 212009
That’s a great idea for a partial funding source Mac. This issue has me, personally, very upset. I agree with Mr. Schrader and Ms. Dubin that our need for inpatient mental health continues to grow in this somewhat isolated (by geographics) community. We had a mental health facility before the community chipped in to build a new $102 million dollar hospital. Now that the community stepped up and contributed, they want to REDUCE our services??? This just doesn’t make sense to me and seems extremely cold.
I would venture to guess that most mental health patients only need a few days in the hospital after a crisis before they are ready and able to come home again. I’ve seen it happen recently that a local mother needed just that, but instead, precious time was wasted trying to find a place for her instead of treating her. Then rides had to be arranged for her and her family to participate in the treatment. In the end, time was wasted, once she got all the way into the city, they let her go in a few days anyway. No family involvement was undertaken as they couldn’t get a ride all the way out to the facility. Her local doctor was not consulted and disagreed with the prescribed medicines. She came back into the community basically untreated and with no one to turn to.
My experiences with the old Kish. Mental Health Unit, while not always perfect, was that the patient was hooked up with local providers whom could offer help after release from the Hospital. Family was involved and also offered direction for help. The patient had a couple of days to recover from the crisis and left knowing who to turn to for help. THAT’s the kind of community I want to be a part of. I only pray that we get back to that.
There is insufficient demand for an inpatient mental health facility at Kish? That’s hard to believe. Could it be with astronomical malpractice insurance rates in Illinois, the MDs and hospitals just don’t want the additional exposure and therefore prefer to treat on an outpatient basis?
If a patient became violent during or after treatment, but had never been an inpatient, would medical caregivers be held to a lower standard of liability by the courts? I wonder.
Whatever the answer, its a real shame our community no longer appears to offer the level of compassion once existing prior to fragmentation of our society by so many competing interests. Closing this mental healthcare unit appears to be a monetary attempt at solving a moral problem. Except it doesn’t solve the problem, only transfers it. Somehow we will still pay, quite possibly in a more severe fashion.
I predict our society will continue to lose important benefits and services (of all kinds) so long as we pursue a man-centered rather than God-centered world as our ideal. There are simply too many people with too many different reference points and not enough time or money to serve them all.
There was a time this country was unique and ultimately capable because its citizens held to a common God-centered view on how to treat each other, including what was ‘right’ vs. ‘wrong’. We held to a belief that Evil did exist. We pursued the Golden Rule. Now, without that common perspective, we are too small to please everyone and are beginning to not please anyone. We doom ourselves to endlessly chasing shadows…dreams and ‘rights’ designed, even redesigned, by we the creatures rather than our Creator.
Our healthcare industry (and other sectors) may look where it can for financial help, but no new revenue source can solve this problem, only forestall it. Let’s reconsider. Discussions must go to policy and actions for creating solutions that last.
A long time ago, a friend of mine was treated in patient at the old Kish Hospital. She received excellent treatment from Dr. Kirts and Dr. Dennison, mostly Dr. Dennison. I visited her there a few times–most people do need to stay a few days. She went from having OCD and trouble functioning before treatment to stable. Later, she married a nice, smart guy, and raising great kids. I am upset beyond words to know that the excellent care that my friend received years ago will not be available to others. I am convinced that her life would have been different and worse had she not received in patient treatment. She was not responding well enough to medication and out patient services. I also know that having local care is critical, because I visited my friend. Had she been sent to Rockford or Chicago, I am not sure if I would have been able to visit her with the work schedule I had then. I doubt it.
I missed this. I belong to the Better Government Association out of Chicago and I had not kept up with their blog. Months ago, their now former Executive Director Jay Stewart (currently working for Gov. Quinn) posted something about the state cutting back on funding for mental health facilities, and that many of those facilities in the Chicago area will close.
I hope I can outsmart the URL blocker, if it works, obviously take out the spaces:
http://www.cloutfairy.com/
OK, I am still behind in following Chicago politics. Those mental health facilities set to close (and some that already closed) will not close. Instead, somehow, federal stimulus money will be used to keep them open, at least for a long while. I do not know all of the details but this is a development that is very much worth looking into for here.
I could not attend the public hearing scheduled for this morning, when most people work. A friend of mine managed to take vacation time to attend. According to my friend, Sheriff Roger Scott gave an excellent speech on keeping the mental health facility open.
I knew someone else who attended. This person became so disgusted that the only way this person would ever consider going to Kishwaukee Hospital would be unconscious, in an ambulance.
Does anyone know if the hearing got recorded anywhere?