In the News

News Sun, February 14, 2007

GRAYSLAKE -- Lake Forest Hospital has tossed its hat in the ring increasing bids to provide medical services to west Lake County residents, officials said Tuesday.

Legislation introduced by state Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, would allow the hospital to convert its acute care center at its Grayslake campus on Route 120, west of Route 45, to a freestanding emergency medical facility.

Garrett cited rapid population growth in Lake County over the last few years and increased demand for more emergency services among the reasons a new facility would be welcomed.

"Every Lake County resident needs access to the best possible care in an emergency situation regardless of where they live," Garrett said.

Hospital officials said the expanded Grayslake emergency center could be operational by the end of the year if the bill is approved this spring and signed into law. An estimate on the cost of the project was not disclosed.

"A freestanding emergency centers answers a critical community need in a timely and cost-effective manner," said Thomas McAfee, Lake Forest Hospital president and chief executive officer.

The legislation would also help the hospital expand the Grayslake facility to include 24-hour treatment by emergency physicians, and immediately accept ambulance transports from anywhere in the county. Also included in the plan is a helicopter landing pad.

The acute care center is open 17 hours a day and treats more than 21,000 patients each year.

"Lake Forest Hospital has been a valuable addition to the community, and in a very short time the acute care center has become a vital health-care resource for our residents," said Grayslake Mayor Timothy Perry. "I fully support the proposal."

Grayslake Fire Chief Don Mobley said the possible addition of a new emergency center will take the burden off emergency crews who have had difficulties transporting patients to other area hospitals.

"We have been hampered for years by not being able to transport patients to nearby facilities because they were not deemed official emergency centers," Mobley said. "We will be able to treat patients faster and reduce turnaround time our paramedics spend transporting patients to more distant facilities."

Not surprising, Barbara Martin, president and CEO of Vista Health, which has the county's largest emergency room at Vista Mecidal Center East in Waukegan, said the Lake Forest plan falls "far short of addressing the need for access to comprehensive health-care services for Lake County."

Martin said the Garrett legislation to modify a state pilot program allowing free-standing emergency centers would "short-circuit and disrupt the health-care planning process in Illinois."

"This appears to be special-interest legislation aimed at helping one entity, and an attempt to bypass Illinois health planning and quality regulations whose frameworks are designed to ensure access to high-quality health care for all," she said.

While the idea of a free-standing emergency center may sound good in concept, Martin said it "is really only a stop-gap, partial response to the greater community need for comprehensive health-care services.

"This Band-Aid approach may attempt to pacify some Lake County residents in the short term, but it is not a long-term solution to providing a full range of health-care services to northern Lake County residents," she added.

"If this legislation is approved, it may create a scenario where patients are inappropriately routed to a facility that creates a pit-stop on the way to a full service facility that is truly capable of handling a full range of emergencies," Martin said.