KishHealth center of DCEDC roundtable

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DeKALB - While staff at the old Kishwaukee Community Hospital “would have managed” in their response to the Feb. 14 shooting at Northern Illinois University - which filled the emergency room with those wounded in the incident - having the new building made it easier that day, KishHealth System President and CEO Kevin Poorten said Thursday. And that building wouldn't have been possible without community support, Poorten said. A community campaign raised at least $8.3 million of the $102 million total cost. The hospital also provides benefits to the community, Poorten told at least 100 people attending a business roundtable meeting Thursday at the DeKalb facility. The meeting was held by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. As an industry, health care provides about 16 percent of the country's Gross National Product, Poorten said, up from about 7 percent to 8 percent in the early 1980s. The field employs 5 million people and provides $682 billion in wages and benefits, he said. Locally, the KishHealth System is the second-largest employer in the county, Poorten said, behind NIU. With an operating budget of $190 million for the 2009 fiscal year - which runs from May 1 to April 30 - KishHealth System employs 1,295 people who have an average hourly salary of $25.50. Those employees provide a ripple effect for the county: For every dollar spent by KishHealth System on wages and salary, $1.40 in wages and salaries is generated in other sectors of the local economy, said Joseph Dant, vice president of business development. That ripple effect provides more than $104 million in wages and salaries for the area, Poorten said. The system also likes to give back, Dant said. KishHealth System now accepts more medical and insurance programs, he said, so people who want to receive medical care locally can do so. The hospital system also provided $157,000 in donations to local charities in 2007, Dant said. It also provided about $5 million in charity care in 2007, Dant said, which means it worked with patients who could not pay their medical bills to either reduce the amount owed or forgive it. “We've become more generous with regard to eligibility,” he said, noting that people with incomes of up to 350 percent of the poverty level could receive charity care. By the numbers KishHealth System provided nearly $50 million in salaries and $18.5 million in benefits for fiscal year 2008, which ran from May 1, 2007, to April 30, 2008. Each job in the KishHealth System results in 1.67 in the community, with a ripple effect of 3,457 jobs. About 85 percent of KishHealth System staff live in DeKalb County. There are 222 physicians in the KishHealth System. For every $1 earned by a physician, $1.59 is generated in the local economy. Source: KishHealth System