Advocate Eureka Hospital put efforts on mental health, hosting community mental health first aid classes and providing a representative to the Woodford County Health Department Mental Health Subcommittee. (Photo courtesy of Advocate Eureka Hospital)

The work of Advocate Eureka Hospital in Eureka and Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal were integral in Advocate Health Care’s $686 million contribution in charitable care and community services in 2015.

The multi-million figure accounts for free and subsidized care and initiatives, programs and services to meet the needs of Eureka, Bloomington-Normal and surrounding communities. Many of those needs were determined through community health needs assessments.

The list of health care is long. Focusing on mental health, childhood obesity and obesity among low-income individuals with diabetes, BroMenn Medical Center, among other efforts:

• Provided 26 heart rate monitors that were used in conjunction with an evidenced-based physical education program entitled SPARK (Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids) at Ridgeview Community Unit School District;
• Trained 276 community members of McLean or Woodford counties in mental health first aid and 104 in youth mental health first aid;
• Held a free presentation entitled “Managing Life Better by Understanding Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes and Obesity.”

Eureka Hospital also focused a portion of its efforts on mental health, hosting mental health first aid classes and providing a staff member to serve on the Woodford County Health Department Mental Health Subcommittee.

Approximately 2,736 McLean and Woodford county high school students were screened by BroMenn Medical Center and Eureka Hospital physicians and staff through the Young Hearts for Life program. Young Hearts for Life screens high school students at no cost for unidentified genetic disorders that place them at high risk for sudden cardiac death.

Advocate Health Care, Illinois’ largest integrated health system, provided benefits to communities across the state, including charity care – free or discounted care for the uninsured and underinsured – and care without full reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, as well as language assistance services, volunteer programs and medical education and training.
Advocate’s contributions included not only hospital-based services, such as trauma care, but also community health focused activities. For example, Advocate funded school-based health centers that provide physicals to low-income, uninsured and underinsured children, immunization clinics focused on ceasing the spread of preventable illnesses, and health education and screenings to identify at-risk individuals and to prevent or promote self-management of disease.

— Eureka hospital part of Advocate’s charitable care —