ROCKFORD

Health partnership eyes better service, less costs

A new partnership between SwedishAmerican Health System and Aunt Martha’s Health & Wellness announced last week would provide area residents with greater access to essential medical services and help reduce escalating health care costs for taxpayers.

The hospital’s partnership with Aunt Martha’s, one of Illinois’ largest community health centers, would establish an on-site clinic at the hospital, replicating collaborative models already in place at hospitals in Woodstock, Joliet, Hazel Crest, Danville and Chicago.

Officials expect to open the health center later this spring, pending approval from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA).

The clinic would offer an integrated, holistic, coordinated approach to primary care, women’s health services, and mental health.

As a patient-centered clinic, it would provide a medical home for many uninsured members of the community who now rely on expensive Emergency Department visits to meet their health care needs. This drives up costs and shifts the financial burden onto local taxpayers.

In fact, the rate of emergency visits involving non-emergency-related cases is 15 percent higher in Winnebago County, compared with the rest of the state, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. County residents pay more than $45 million a year, or nearly $400 per household, stemming from those visits (according to U.S. Census data from 2015).

Aunt Martha’s is submitting an application to HRSA to operate as a community-based Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), which provides comprehensive primary care, preventive care, obstetric services and mental health services to patients, regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay. The Rockford clinic would mark Aunt Martha’s 22nd facility located in Illinois.

ROCKFORD

Park board approves budget with $1 million in cuts

Rockford Park District Board of Commissioners has approved a balanced budget for the 108th consecutive year but made another round of budget cuts to get there.

The district trimmed erased a project $1 million deficit in a planned 2017 budget to achieve a break-even plan.

The 2017 operating budget is $34,879,152, and the 2017 capital expenditure budget is $19,039,837.

Since the 2008 recession, the Park District has made roughly $7.4 million in budget adjustments or annual budget reductions. In order to reduce an approximate $1 million deficit in the 2017 budget, the District analyzed many creative ways to minimize service cuts to citizens.

In December, the Board of Commissioners gave the overall direction to create a budget based on the same tax dollars as 2016, meaning the District will not receive any additional tax dollars in the operating funds.

The resulting tax rate is estimated to decrease from last year’s tax rate of $1.1629 to $1.1581. The Equalized Assessed Value (EAV), tax levy extension, and tax rates are only estimates, as the actual information will not be available until spring.

“We have done the responsible thing for taxpayers, showing our commitment to fiscal responsibility as we anticipate a lower tax rate,” said Board of Commissioners President Ian Linnabary.. “The 2017 budget reflects a team effort to maintain our best in nation status despite our budgetary challenges, and we have fully leveraged the considerable talent of our dedicated workforce to achieve the goal.”

ROCKFORD

Web site honors RU prof with costuming award

For the second year in a row,  Rockford University Professor of Performing Arts Jeff Hendry has received the award for Best Costume Design from Broadwayworld.com for his work on Mamma Mia which ran last summer at Maine State Music Theatre.

In 2015, Hendry won Best Costume Design award for Sister Act and The Music Man.

He has been with Rockford University since 1982 and has worked at a variety of regional theatres on both coasts including the Old Globe Theatre, Champlain Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee Williams Arts Center, and New London Barn Playhouse.

At Rockford University, besides teaching the courses in costume design and designing costumes for all the main stage productions, he teaches in the musical theater program in addition to teaching a variety of other courses such as Introduction to Theatre, Performing Arts Seminar and Senior Seminar, as well as directing a production each year.

Some of the favorite productions which he has directed include, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Pericles, Rashomon, A Little Night Music, Phantom and Angels in America Part 1.

Besides his costuming work at the university, Hendry has designed for the University of Wisconsin at both Stevens Point and Madison where he collaborated with nationally syndicated cartoonist Nicole Hollander on a musical version of her comic strip Sylvia’s Real Good Advice.

ROCKFORD

Heart Healthy Living workshop this month

The University of Illinois Extension will offer a two-part workshop designed for anyone interested in preventing or managing heart disease this month.

During each session — set for Feb. 21 and 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Winnebago County Extension Office, 1040 N. Second Street — participants will receive recipes, watch cooking demonstrations, and learn about proper diet and exercise to better care for their health.

“Lifestyle factors, health conditions, and family history can put people at a higher risk of developing heart disease. You can decrease your risk by educating yourself and making healthy lifestyle choices,” said Diane Reinhold, registered dietitian with University of Illinois Extension. Planning, shopping and cooking for someone with heart disease can be a challenge.  To help meet this challenge,

To register, visit http://web.extension.illinois.edu/jsw/ or call the Extension office at (815) 986-4357.  There is a $20 registration fee, which covers participation in both sessions, handouts and educational materials. Space is limited, so enroll today.

–Winnebago County News Briefs–