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The Review November 4, 2014 ROCK FALLS | GOVERNOR PAYS A VISIT
Quinn checks in Announces $1M grant for Whiteside health department BY CHRISTI WARREN
ROCK FALLS – A chorus of applause erupted inside the Whiteside County Health Department’s Rock Falls clinic Thursday evening as Gov. Pat Quinn, standing beside county leaders, announced that the department would receive a $1 million grant. Whiteside County Public Health Administrator Beth Fiorini applied for the grant in July. It will be used to fund construction of a 5,000-square-foot building at the clinic, where a large parking lot in the back now is. Fiorini hopes to break ground in the spring, with the building being completed around November 2015. The grant is part of the Community Health Center Construction Act, passed by Quinn in 2009, which provides funds to repair outdated buildings, build new facilities, and purchase new equipment for health clinics. “I think this is an investment that is going to pay great dividends in health care, especially in behavioral health
care,� Quinn said. “We want to make sure we cover every aspect of health care – physical, mental, you name it. “We’ve added in our state, in 1 year, 711,000 people now have health care coverage under the (federal) Affordable Care Act, but we have to have places to provide that, you know? And that’s what this is all about.� The health department services 13,000 people in Whiteside County, Fiorini said. And that number has grown recently, especially with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The new facility will help ease overcrowding in the current clinic, and will allow the department to increase behavioral health services. Whiteside County State’s Attorney Trish Joyce, Sterling Mayor Skip Lee, Rock Falls Mayor Bill Wescott, Whiteside County Board Chairman Jim Duffy, and Whiteside County Health Department staffers were among the many people who watched Quinn make the announcement. “I think it’s interesting to note that the need for behavioral health has been growing astronomically throughout our nation,� Duffy said. “Our clinic here has grown 200 percent since we first opened it in 2006, and in 2013 we provided 8,500 behavioral health visits
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Whiteside County Public Health Administrator Beth Fiorini thanks Gov. Pat Quinn after the department was awarded a $1 million state grant to expand the facility. Quinn announced the grant Thursday afternoon at the Whiteside County Health Department clinic in Rock Falls. The money will be used to fund construction of a 5,000-square-foot building at the clinic. to 1,668 patients. ... The new building will facilitate the increased behavioral health services for our patients.� “I am thrilled,� Fiorini said. “It’s going to be great, because right now my psychiatrist comes and sits in an office with social workers. He doesn’t even have his
own office. “We can have more rooms; we can do more visits; and we can also spread out some of the other things. I have six people crammed in an office for billing and coding right now. It’s going to be wonderful.�
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