Sept. 24--DeKALB -- When residents here need to be hospitalized for psychiatric care, they are often treated a long way from home because the local hospital closed its mental health unit six years ago.
Since then the lack of hospital-based mental health services has been an ongoing concern. The issue took center stage Thursday at a public hearing over Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine's plans to take over ownership of Kishwaukee Hospital and affiliated health care providers.
A handful of residents raised questions about how Northwestern plans to address what they consider a major gap in health care. Some were disappointed in what they heard.
Neither executives with KishHealth System nor Northwestern Medicine mentioned bringing back inpatient psychiatric beds to Kishwaukee Hospital. Instead, Mike Vivoda, president of Northwestern Medicine's western region, talked up the expansion of mental health services at Central DuPage Hospital in suburban Winfield, which is part of Northwestern's network.
The expansion will more than triple the total number of inpatient psychiatric beds at Central DuPage from 15 to 48, Vivoda said.
"By joining with Northwestern Medicine, KishHealth patients will also have a seamless pathway to access to advanced specialty care and clinical trials at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and access to the specialized care that is offered in the western region," Vivoda said.
Barry Schrader, a DeKalb resident who opposed closing Kishwaukee's 6-bed mental health unit in 2009, said he didn't hear anything from hospital executives that made him feel better.
"People are being strapped into ambulances and shipped out of the county," Schrader said after the hearing. "That's not going to change just because Central DuPage Hospital is opening more beds."
Residents who need to be hospitalized for mental health services are often transferred to hospitals in Rockford, Dixon and Hoffman Estates, said Joseph Dant, vice president of business development at KishHealth.
Transferring patients out of the area can lead to a lengthier admissions process and is a hardship on families that have to travel more than 40 miles to visit loved ones, residents said.
Thomas Kirts, a retired psychiatrist who previously oversaw Kishwaukee Hospital's mental health unit, said he hopes Northwestern Medicine will re-evaluate the need for inpatient services in DeKalb County, which has a population of about 104,000.
"I understand it can take 12 hours to find a psychiatric bed for people here," Kirts said. "There's plenty of patients out here."
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is taking a look at the merger and plans to consider the transaction at its November meeting.
asachdev@tribpub.com
