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Healthcare

Thanks in large part to a major presidential election, healthcare has taken center stage as a major issue for the country as a whole. In Joliet, with its population nearing 150,000 and as the third-fastest growing community in the entire state, a strong emphasis has gone into developing the healthcare quality and availability. While Washington tries to do its part toward helping solve the healthcare dilemma, Joliet’s residents continue to do their parts, too.

As JD Ross, executive director of the Will-Grundy Medical Clinic, put it, healthcare is so important because “most of us are just one termination from being uninsured, and that’s because most people in this country, the vast majority, receive their health insurance through their employer.” Though termination is not a situation anyone likes to consider, developing an adequate safety net like Will-Grundy Medical Clinic for those who cannot otherwise afford healthcare is a great reassurance.

Patients must meet certain qualifications to receive service, but afterward receive free-of-charge care thanks to a fully volunteer staff and without federal or state funds. Instead, the institution relies primarily on fundraising efforts such as the June 7th walk at Joliet Junior College, the first fundraiser of its kind for Will-Grundy, or the annual dinner, golf outing and mail campaigns. Using those funds, Ross endeavors to provide the ailing working-class poor with adequate healthcare so people can “be restored to be productive citizens, not only taking care of themselves and their families, but becoming tax payers and taking care of all of us.”

Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center is one of several hospitals that work alongside Will-Grundy Medical Clinic to provide comprehensive care for those in need. To further in its efforts to bring communities of healing and hope to Will County, Provena Saint Joseph is constructing a new tower intending to hold 199 new patient beds with patient, family and caretaker areas provided in every room. The new tower will also feature a dedicated neuroscience floor, further enhancing its dedication to treating neurological issues. “We’ve got the only 24-7 neurosurgery coverage in Will County,” says Rich Matula of Provena Saint Joseph, also mentioning focuses on “a comprehensive heart care program, including open heart…and women and children.”

Nearby the new building, the hospital will also feature a healing garden, a place where “patients and their families can kind of get some time out in nature, some solitude,” says Matula. “Not just to heal the body, but also to heal the spirit and uplift their emotions.”

Another institution boasting a new building is the Will County Health Department, which recently moved to a new 33,000-square-foot building at 1106 Neal Avenue in Joliet. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, it can never deny a patient due to a lack of funds and still manages to aptly serve the entire 847 square miles of Will County. With service hours six days a week and for two evenings a week, the Will County Health Department has become “the medical and dental home for more than 39,500 patients since 2006,” says Vic Reato. In addition, he noted that they offer “everything from environmental health programs to mental health, addictions services, forensics, [and] Maternal and Child Health.” Clearly, Will County Health Department offers a host of necessary services to a great deal of people that need it in the Joliet area.

Silver Cross Hospital made recent strides to provide more services to the county, too, by teaming with Children’s Memorial Hospital to provide a number of services at the upcoming New Lenox Children’s Memorial location. The new state-of-the-art facility will allow patients in Will County to circumvent long trips to downtown Chicago for specialized care, instead of relying on expertise closer to home.

Healthcare continues to develop as an issue on a national scale, but as Joliet citizens have surely noticed, it’s not an entirely new issue for them. Fortunately, long before legislation may even begin to pass on a national level, Joliet citizens already enjoy many advancements in healthcare quality and availability. Considering the initiatives its healthcare institutions have taken, Joliet looks to enjoy that advantage for years to come.