Silver Cross in the News

Hospital battle costly
The Herald News - Oct. 24, 2007

For decades, Silver Cross Hospital has been the hand that has financially fed Joliet's East Side.

Yet the city that has, for so long, benefited from Silver Cross's efforts and presence is biting the hand that has fed it.

In a desperate attempt to keep Silver Cross in Joliet, the city is spending taxpayer money to hire an outside law firm in an effort to find ways to block the hospital's plan to relocate three or four miles east to New Lenox.

"There's definitely going to be an effort to fight the certificate of need," said Deputy City Manager Jim Shapard.

Joliet City Attorney Jeff Plyman says the case against Silver Cross's relocation is "the highest priority for the city, and we're going to give it all we've got."

The highest priority for Joliet? A desperation effort to keep a hospital from taking steps to improve the quality of health care in the area?

And by the way, Mr. Plyman, how much taxpayer money will be spent "to give it all we've got"?

Obviously, city officials are embarrassed because they weren't in on discussions regarding Silver Cross's future until just before the plans for the move were announced.

So the city has decided to resort to what potentially could be a costly method of retaliation with practically no likelihood of winning this case.

This is a replacement hospital. It's a no-brainer for the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. What's there to fight?

Silver Cross is moving, and the city needs to accept that fact and move on.

Instead of spending money jousting with windmills, Joliet should take every one of those dollars set aside for legal battles and invest them in coordinated plans with Silver Cross on how to utilize the current Silver Cross land on the city's East Side.

If the city can waste money to pay expensive law firms, then surely it can afford significant revitalization projects for the East Side.

Joliet needs to plan for its future and quit lamenting its past.