Clark Bridge on U.S. Route 67
(Photo courtesy of Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Southbound U.S. 67 to be raised through West Alton

The East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG), has approved $3.2 million in funding to elevate a flood-prone section of southbound U.S. Route 67, south of the Clark Bridge, in West Alton, Mo.

The highway is the primary artery between St. Louis County and the Alton-Grafton-Godfrey area of Madison County; however, the southbound lanes, constructed at a lower elevation than the northbound lanes, have been closed six to eight times over the past 10 years, due to high water, according to the EWGCOG.

In addition to increasing potential for head-on collisions as southbound traffic is diverted to the narrow, two-lane, northbound section of the highway, the closure of the southbound lanes adversely affects access to Ameren’s Sioux Energy Center off Highway 94 in West Alton.

The project will involve raising the southbound roadway from the Mississippi River to Machens Road. Included are funds for traffic signals at the intersection of Riverlands Way and U.S. 67, the site of numerous accidents.

This project is being funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), with federal funds totaling approximately $2.8 million and MoDOT contributing more than $425,000.

The EWGCOG board voted Oct 25 to place the U.S. 67 project on its Transportation Improvement Project schedule for 2018-2021. The project is scheduled to be put out to bid in 2020.

Public hearing set on possible opioid suit

The Judicial Committee of the Madison County Board is seeking public input on a proposal to file suit against pharmaceutical companies for cost associated with opioid abuse.  States, cities, counties and other political subdivisions across the nation have been filing suit against pharmaceutical houses over recent months, in the wake of allegations that drug companies have inappropriately marketed opioid pain relievers and failed to adequately advise patients and physicians of risks for overdose or addiction.

Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons last month proposed filing suit against pharmaceutical companies to recover cost associated with an increase in overdose calls. St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly in April filed a 159-page suit Thursday against Purdue Pharma and Abbott Laboratories, accusing them of deceptive advertising and consumer fraud that contributed to opioid and heroin overdoses. Jersey County State’s Attorney Ben Goetten filled a similar suit against Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and others in July.  

While state’s attorneys have authority to file law suit on behalf of their counties, Gibbons and Judicial Committee Chair Michael Walters (R-Godfrey) say they want to gather public input before Madison County files an opioid suit.

A letter to Madison County officials last month, a group known as the Illinois Civil Justice League warned that judgements in such suits often end up going largely to consultant attorneys, with little winding up in the hands of plaintiffs.

Gibbons has said he plans to bring in a consultant law firm with expertise in opioid cases.

Three attorneys with experience in pharmaceutical industry cases – David Cates, Eric Holland and Christopher Cueto – have been retained by St. Clair County as special assistant state’s attorneys to assist with the opioid case there.  If the suit is successful, the three attorneys would receive an industry standard 30 percent of the money from a settlement or 35 percent of the money from a judgement,  Kelly said.

Former Madison County Chief Judge Ann Callis, of Edwardsville, as well as her law firm, Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, have been hired as assistant state’s attorney in Jersey County to pursue to opioid action there. Calls’ fee have not been announced.

The public hearing on the proposal Madison County opioid suit is tentatively set for Friday, Nov. 17 at 1:30 p.m.

Breese hospital earns top safety rating

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese earned an “A” rating in the Leapfrog Group’s 2017 Hospital Safety Grades report, released Oct. 31. The Leapfrog report rates hospitals for patient safety based on data for infections, errors and accidents.

“Errors and infections in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in America, the Leapfrog group notes.  As many as 440,000 people die every year from hospital errors, injuries, accidents, and infections – most of which are preventable, the Leapfrog Group adds. Every year, 1 out of every 25 patients develops an infection while in the hospital.

Ratings for other Metro East hospitals are as follows:

• Anderson Hospital, Maryville – Grade C
• St. Elizabeth Hospital, Belleville — Grade B
• Memorial Hospital, Belleville – Grade B
• Gateway Regional Medical Center, Granite City — Grade C
• Alton Memorial Hospital — Grade B
• OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center, Alton — Grade B
• Passavant Area Hospital, Jacksonville – Grade C

The Leapfrog Group is an independent, national not-for-profit organization founded more than a decade ago by a group of large employers and private health care experts to advance the safety, quality and affordability of health care

Reassessment underway in O’Fallon Township

The St. Clair County Assessor’s Office has begun reassessing commercial and residential real estate in O’Fallon Township.  Employees from the St. Clair County Assessor’s office have begun performing site inspections of properties, which may include the taking of measurements and photographs.

Field assessments in the township are expected to take a minimum of two months.

All field assessors must wear a St. Clair County employee badge. Cars and trucks used by assessor field crews are marked with the St. Clair County Seal.

For additional information on the reassessment process or the assessment of a specific property, contact the St. Clair County Assessor’s Office at (618) 825-2518.

St. Anthony’s to monitor patients from Peoria

Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton has joined parent-company OSF HealthCare’s ConstantCare remote monitoring system, allowing patients in the health center’s intensive care unit (ICU) to be monitored electronically off-site by a team of critical care specialists at a central cage management center in Peoria.

Known as an electronic ICU (or eICU) system, the monitoring technology can reduce mortality rates and complications, decrease length of ICU stays, and better manage health care costs by providing an added level of clinical support, the hospital says.  OSF’s Peoria eICU Center is staffed by a specially-trained team of critical care physicians, nurses and other health care professionals who monitor critical care patients 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week through the system according to the hospital. The health information technology platform has previously been successfully implemented at six OSF HealthCare acute care facilities.

In a separate statement last month, Saint Anthony’s administrators announced they are seeking approval from the State of Illinois to build a $14.2 million free-standing cancer center on their Alton campus.

–Metro East Area News Briefs–