Happy birthday Sarah Bush

Sarah Bush has taken a beating over the last couple of years, but this week is one for celebration. Sarah Bush has been open for 30 years at their present location.

Before the opening of Mattoon’s hospital, patients had to travel to Champaign or Decatur for surgeries and other hospital care. Local surgeries were limited mostly to amputation performed in doctor’s offices and the morgue. Other procedures were considered to dangerous to be done outside of hospital. With the crossing of three railroads and two railroad maintenance shops, Mattoon was in dire need of its own community hospital

In 1901, Dr. David McFall founded the Methodist Memorial Hospital in memory of his two sons, who had passed. The hospital opened March 15, 1906 in the former Rudy home at 21st and Richmond. The hospital was tested in1907 when there was a wreck on the interurban line that killed 18 and injured over 50.

Ten short years later, they built a larger facility on the same property. This new facility handled its first major disaster May 26, 1917 when a tornado struck Mattoon killing 64 and injuring 467.

The hospital also sponsored a nurses training program. Nursing students worked 21-hour shifts at the hospital, which included sleeping on cots in patient’s rooms. In 1934, the Methodist Church seized activity with the hospital and it simply became Memorial Hospital, the nursing school was closed more patient beds were added, increasing capacity from 35 to 53.

A major expansion opened May 29,1955 nearly doubling the number of beds in the facility to 103. Even as early as 1965, the need for more beds was being felt as a portion of the cafeteria was closed off and beds added to ease overflow patients.

While Mattoon’s hospital was facing overcrowding, Charleston’s 65-bed facility saw a lack of patients and was short on medical personnel and staff. In 1968, a feasibility study began on building a new hospital to serve both communities. The study came a time Coles County ranked 6th to last in medical care in the State of Illinois.

Sarah Bush opened May 10, 1977. And once again, the new facility was tested by disaster when a tornado struck Lake Mattoon of that year killing five and injuring 56. Since it’s opening, Sarah Bush has added many services, including Ambulatory Care in 1985, Regional Cancer Center in 1989, and an outpatient surgery center.

So I wanted to wish Sarah Bush a happy birthday and remind everyone to come out celebrate with them May 5th. Which is the real purpose of this column. (WARNING, shameless plug) I will be participating in the BBQ cook-off and need every possible vote for my ribs. So vote for “Chris’s Lunchbox” ribs from 3:30-4:30 May 5th. And enjoy the rest of festival as well.
May Sarah Bush serve the community for the next 30 years and beyond. Again, Happy Birthday

Election turnout was pathetic

Did you know there was an election last week? It was hardly a blip on the radar. And the turnout was absolutely dismal. Local elections historically have lower numbers than national elections, even though the local government has a much greater effect on your day-to-day life than national.

Charleston had a 13.5% turnout while Mattoon’s was only 11.3%. One disgruntled candidate told me this week, “I no longer care, and apparently I am in the majority for once”.

To demonstrate how low the numbers were, I am only going to write 13.5% of my column this week.

Careful with Olympic funding

As Chicago continues its quest to host the 2016 Olympics, Governor Blagojevich has promised $150 million state dollars to assist in the bid. The money will only be tapped of the games lose more than $975 million. In comparison, the State of California is offering $250 million for Los Angeles Olympic bid.

These are numbers hard to wrap your mind around. Just a few weeks ago, the Governor was proposing massive tax increases and selling of state assets, including the lottery, to bail out the state’s budget woes. Now poof, $150 mil for Chicago. If the state were to commit this money, what program would suffer?

Why would Chicago, and Illinois for that matter, want to lure the Olympics anyway? What is the attraction of hosting an event that may lose over $1 billion?

Hosting the Olympics puts projects on the fast track. Federal grants for infrastructure usually flow to a host city. And while the Olympics themselves may lose money, these improvements attract development for years beyond the event.

So perhaps it would be money well spent. But why should us downstaters foot the bill for Chicago once again? Based on the number of households, Coles County’s portion of this grant would be about $685,000. Would we see that much return for our investment?

Maybe if they used the University of Illinois as one of its venues some patrons would make there way this far south. Even still, Olympic visitors would need to fill 400 hotel rooms and spend an additional $50 per day in Coles County to break even. And the U of I is currently not being considered as a venue. The University of Minnesota is being considered instead. That is over three times farther away.

The City of Chicago plans on spending $2 billion on the Olympics if chosen. By comparison, Beijing is pouring nearly $40 billion in their 2008 hosting and London’s bill for the 2012 games in now upwards of $18 billion. Both are triple original estimates.

It is to early to tell if the Governor’s pledge will bring reward. But this is definitely another issue to watch. The state is already borrowing money to keep the budget balanced. This new pledge must not put the state further into debt.

The state should insist on all venues to be in Illinois before pledging state funds. And care should be taken make sure those who benefit from the Olympics are those who contribute the most. Downstate Illinois does not need to foot the bill for Chicago once again.

Smoking debate continues

As the debate on smoking bans deepen, the two sides dig in and prepare to defend their positions. The state senate passed legislation this past week to ban smoking in all public buildings. As I stated before, I don’t think the government should be dictating how private companies should be running their business, but I really wouldn’t oppose a smoking ban since I find indoor smoke very irritating.

Because of the pending state legislation, the Mattoon City Council has decided not to address the issue of smoking, regardless of pleas of some citizens to restrict smoking around playground equipment at city parks.

So I’m at the park, with my kids helping them on and off the slide, cigarette in hand. They used to bump into the ember but have long learned to stay away it as it hurts when they touch it. I am sure your kids will learn the same after they run into it a couple of times. It only leaves a small mark and heals up fine in a few days.

Once I’ve sucked the thing almost down to the filter, I am no longer interested in it. I look around for a place to throw it out and assess my options. I could throw it in the trashcan and risk a trash fire; or I could throw the butt on the ground, amidst the wood chips, where the children are playing. I’ll step on it; that will make it safe.

Later, I’ll step on over to the ball field and take in a game. I celebrate the seventh inning stretch with the ceremonial lighting of a cigar. There is nothing like a stogie at the game. When I’m done, I won’t bother the spectators to either side of me by getting up, I’ll just drop the cigar under the bleachers. I’m sure the kids playing under there know to stay away from it. I’m glad sunflower seeds are prohibited at the ball field because those shells are just gross.

If the city is going to allow smoking in the parks, then they need to cater to the smokers. I think they realized this at the last council meeting. It is my understanding they plan on placing butt receptacles and signs requesting no smoking in the playground areas of the parks. This will be a “voluntary compliance policy”.

This seems to be a fair solution to the problem. No ordinance will be passed, but a simple policy to deter smoking around the playground and a depository for cigarette butts to reduce litter around the park.
I applaud the city for this decision and I applaud those who fought make it.