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Tuesday, October 1, 2013
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
PETUNIA FESTIVAL
Big crowd boosts revenue Board excited about 50th anniversary fest BY DEREK BARICHELLO dbarichello@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 526
DIXON – The 2013 Petunia Festival brought in enough revenue to make up for 4 years of losses. In turn, that means good things for next year’s 50th anniversary edition, said Andrew Bollman, Petunia Festival Board president. With still more revenue to finalize,
July’s Petunia Festival in Dixon generated between $50,000 and $60,000, Bollman said. The sum of the previous four years’ losses totaled between $50,000 and $60,000. “Our mission isn’t to make money, but instead to put on as good of a festival as possible,” Bollman said. “When we make over what we spend, however, we can invest more into the next year to do bigger events. We try to put on as many free events as we can.” Extreme heat in 2011 led to poor attenSVM file photo dance and caused the festival board to put Thousands of people packed the downtogether a tighter budget this past summer. town Saturday night to hear the 1990s alternative rock band Spin Doctors, this REVENUE CONTINUED ON A4 year’s Petunia Festival headliners.
CGH MEDICAL CENTER
INSURANCE | AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Uninsured can begin enrollment Agencies say they are ready to help BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
You might have heard the debates over Obamacare – the politics, the shouting, the lastminute deadlines. Today, the Affordable Care Act takes flight, unless by some political miracle, congressional Republicans repeal it. The health departments for Whiteside and Lee counties now have counselors in place to help the uninsured navigate the new marketplace for health care insurance. Starting today, people can look at their insurance options at healthcare.gov as part of the Affordable Care Act. In recent months, the federal government has scrambled to get ready for the launch of Obamacare. Much of the preparation has gone down to the wire: County health departments were expecting to get outreach materials from the federal government on Monday, one day ahead of the launch. And counselors received state and federal training only in the past few weeks. Beth Fiorini, public health administrator for the Whiteside County Health Department, said her agency has already received about 40 inquiries about the Affordable Care Act. ENROLLMENT CONTINUED ON A4
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
Val Schweiss, CGH Digestive Health director, stands in the new Digestive Health Center Monday. CGH will show off the building at an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. today.
Hospital focuses on comfort New digestive center unveiled BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
STERLING – When the first patients are treated at CGH Medical Center’s new Digestive Health Center on Saturday, not all of the improvements will be visible. The $2.5 million project, which took nearly a year to complete, was done with the overall patient experience and privacy in mind, said Val Schweiss, director of the Digestive Health Center. “One of the things I hold dear is privacy,” she said. “It’s not always comfortable for people to be seen here. ... Privacy was a big deal.” CGH will have a ribboncutting for the new Digestive Health Center and an open house today. There will
For more coverage Go to www.SaukValley. com to see a video tour of CGH Medical Center’s new Digestive Health Center. also be a groundbreaking ceremony for the $8 million emergency room renovation. The new facility was built, in part, for additional space. The old facility saw about 3,300 patients last year, who averaged 3 hours from arrival to departure. The new facility was designed to shorten that time, by creating a more efficient layout, Schweiss said. The first change patients and their families see at the Digestive Health Center will be a dedicated waiting room, which will have a TV and a complimentary hospitality cart, with some food and beverages. Without a waiting room dedicated for the Digestive Health Center, patients often waited in the cafeteria, the
emergency room or the main lobby, and were notified a doctor was ready to see them by a pager, similar to those at a restaurant, Schweiss said. The new entrance is across the hall from the waiting room. To get into the center, non-medical staff have to ring a bell, and the nurses on the inside can use a camera to see who’s at the door. Inside the center there are nine bays, an increase from the eight in the old center, which was built 18 years ago with six. Two additional bays were added in the last few years, Schweiss said. As a result, Schweiss said she came up with a color scheme and design – blue and tan with prairie grass imagery – to keep the patients comfortable. The new Digestive Health Center has a different feel and look than the rest of the medical center. HOSPITAL CONTINUED ON A5
Emergency room renovation The $8 million CGH Emergency Department renovation and expansion of the space that was built in 1992, will take between 15 and 18 months to complete, said Dr. Paul Steinke, the hospital’s president and CEO. The emergency room has been upgraded with new equipment over the years. It was built to service 14,000 visitors a year, but last year saw approximately 29,000 patients, Steinke said. The work will be done in three phases, with the emergency room entrance moving to the hospital’s east entrance for the second phase. The emergency center will be operational in its current location during the renovations, Steinke said.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN | LOCAL IMPACT
Some offices expected to close doors BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
The Social Security office in Sterling was open Monday. A handful of people were there late morning. Sizable photos of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden hung on the wall. A security guard greeted a reporter walking into the office along East Lincolnway. The reporter asked whether the office would be open today if the government shuts down. He didn’t know, so he asked a supervisor. The supervisor emerged from her office and referred the reporter to an agency spokeswoman in Chicago, who couldn’t be reached for comment. OFFICES CONTINUED ON A4
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 163 ISSUE 107
INDEX
BUSINESS ......... A12 COMICS ...............B6 CROSSWORD....B11
DEAR ABBY ......... A8 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
Today’s weather High 83. Low 54. More on A3.
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.
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