Do You Need a Hospital? 



DOES your community need a new 

 hospital? Is the health of the 

 people in your area endangered 

 because of poor hospital facilities? 

 If your answer is "yes", you might 

 then ask "What can I do about it?" As 

 an individual, you can do much but co- 

 operation of the rest of the community 

 is essential. 



Time, effort, and money are the im- 



Eortant contributions that must be made 

 y people in the community to insure 

 the success of a drive for a new hospital. 



How is it done? Let's take a look 

 at the job being done at Jacksonville, 

 Illinois. During the war the people of 

 that community felt that hospital facil- 

 ities were woefully inadequate — hardly 

 able to take care of Jacksonville's own 

 sick and injured without counting in the 

 thousands of rural people dependent 

 upon the city's hospital facilities. 



In 1945 a drive was started to raise 

 1300,000 and $330,000 was pledged. 

 But priorities on materials stopped cold 

 plans for improved hospital facilities. 



About two years later federal funds 

 became available for hospital construction 

 under the Hill-Burton Act. State author- 

 ities came in, surveyed the community, 

 mapped out the area (see map) which the 

 hospital would normally serve, set a min- 

 imum of 200 beds for the hospital, and 

 specified that the hospital must be built 

 from scratch, that no repairs or additions 

 to the old hospital in use would be con- 

 sidered. 



Like many things nowadays, the most 

 staggering thing about a new hospital is 

 its cost. For small communities the cost 

 per bed at today's prices runs about 

 $15,000 to $17,000. The hospital must 

 be fully fireproof which adds an esti- 

 mated $2,000 to the cost per bed. If 

 the area to be served has more than 

 25,000 people, to meet requirements for 

 federal assistance you must plan for four 

 beds per 1000 population and you must 

 abide by the state plan for hospital con- 

 struction which has been approved by the 

 surgeon general of the United States 

 Public Health Service. 



The Jacksonville area as outlined in 

 the Illinois State Plan (see map) includes 

 all of Morgan and Scott counties, and 

 parts of Greene, Cass, and Macoupin 

 counties. Since this area comprises a 

 population of 51,000 (1947 estimate) 

 the formula showed a need for a 200-bed 

 hospital. At $15,000 per bed that 

 amounts to $3,000,000. Rural and city 



Pjlinirf^ 



By JIM THOMSON 



Ass't tditer, lAA tECORD 



hospital committeemen felt the cost was 

 out of the question. They conferred 

 again with state authorities and it was 

 agreed to build about 70 per cent of the 

 total beds needed because there was an- 

 other 80-bed hospital in Jacksonville. 

 Permission was then granted to build a 

 140-bed hospital at an estimated cost 

 of $2,100,000 with expense to be borne 

 thus: federal $700,000; state, $700,000; 

 and voluntary community contributions, 

 $700,000. 



Heading the drive in the rural areas 

 was Warren Brockhouse of Concord and 

 Lawrence T. Oxley, Morgan County Il- 

 linois Agricultural Association general 

 agent of insurance. Both men did an 

 outstanding job and met with a splendid 

 response among farmers and their fam- 

 ilies. Two farmers gave $35,000 each. 

 Close to half of the money raised has 

 come from rural areas. 



Both Brockhouse and Oxley com- 

 mended the county Farm Bureaus in- 

 volved for their excellent cooperation. 

 Oxley was particularly impressed by the 

 remarkable work done by many of the 

 farmer solicitors. Oxley said he believed 

 that many of the men had developed 

 their leadership qualities through close 

 association with the Farm Bureau. "I 

 was never so appreciative of my Farrri 

 Bureau connections," Oxley said, "as I 



was during the hospital campaign. The 

 response was marvelous." 



As of May 1, total pledges and cash, 

 including money pledged in 1945, a- 

 mounted to $850,000. With a reason- 

 able amount of shrinkage, sufficient 

 funds should be assured to complete the 

 job. 



Plans for the T-shaped, three story 

 structure are expected to be approved 

 by late summer with construction to 

 begin early this fall. The site is a tenth 

 of a mile beyond the city limits of Jack- 

 sonville. When completed, the hospital 

 will be the largest built in Illinois thus 

 far under the Hill-Burton Act and will be 

 the largest and most modern hospital 

 between Springfield and St. Louis. 



Some of the things that must be re- 

 membered if you plan to follow the lead 

 of the Jacksonville-area hospital are: (1) 

 The people of the community must feel 

 'that there is a definite need for a hos- 

 pital; (2) A responsible local organiza- 

 tion must be set up; (3) This latter 

 organization must contact the State Health 

 Department at Springfield if grant-in-aid 

 money is to be requested; (4) In re- 

 sponse, the State Health Department will 

 discuss the program with you and tell you 

 whether or not you are eligible; (5) If 

 eligible, they will outline a program of 

 {Continued on page 24) 



TUNE. 1949 



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