New hospital facility to provide 24-hour emergency services in Cairo

CAIRO, Ill. -- Developers of a 16-bed hospital addition at the Cairo Megaclinic promise the facility will provide lifesaving services to patients and help bring life back to the community by creating 90 jobs.

When the addition opens, Cairo will have 24-hour emergency medical services for the first time. Residents now have to drive at least 30 miles to Cape Girardeau, Paducah, Ky., or Sikeston, Mo., to find an emergency room.

Community Health & Emergency Services Inc., which operates the Cairo Megaclinic, will receive $3 million from the state of Illinois appropriated by the state legislature in 2009 as part of the Illinois Jobs Now plan. Illinois state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, presented the $3 million check to Fred Bernstein, CEO of Community Health & Emergency Services Inc., during a ceremony Wednesday morning.

The state has issued 20-year bonds to provide $13 billion in funds for a six-year capital program. In addition to health care, the program is also funding transportation, higher education and community development projects.

When the new hospital wing of the Megaclinic opens in 2013, it will employ 90 people full time, Bernstein said. About 40 construction jobs will be created, he said.

Currently, the Megaclinic offers medical, dental and behavioral health services as well as radiology and ambulatory surgery. About 75 employees staff the facility now, though some of those employees also work at other clinics in Southern Illinois operated by Community Health & Emergency Services Inc.

The Megaclinic accepts Medicare and Medicaid and offers a sliding fee scale for low-income patients.

The Megaclinic's hospital project will be put out for bids next spring and construction is expected to start late next summer, Bernstein said.

"Everybody is focused on the jobs factor, which is great," Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman said. "... But there's also the lifesaving aspect of this, too. I think that's what I'm focused on more than anything else."

Coleman remembers a time about 20 years ago when he brought his youngest son to the Community Health & Emergency Services clinic as he was suffering an asthma attack.

"Had it not been for Community Health & Emergency Services back then, we would have lost our son," he said. "So now, with Community Health being able to grow into another level of care, it's just going to make things a lot better."

When it comes to health situations like asthma or heart conditions, minutes matter when seeking treatment, Bernstein said.

"You really have to access some care as soon as possible," he said. "The longer it takes you to get to care, an emergent response, the less good your outcome is likely to be. It's directly correlated."

In addition to creating jobs at the hospital facility, having hospital care available in Cairo will help the community attract new businesses that will bring even more jobs, Forby said.

"The governor is on board with this project." he said, adding that "we're working on a port bill, trying to get a big company to come in here. ... They're not going to come here unless you've got a hospital."

Alexander County, which has a population of about 8,000 people, had an unemployment rate of 13.6 percent in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

mmiller@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

13245 Kessler Road, Cairo, IL