PEORIA, Ill. — On the heels of the March passage of the American Rescue Plan, Senator Dick Durbin and 17th District Representative Cheri Bustos joined Peoria Mayor Rita Ali and Heartland Health CEO Sharon Adams for a Friday news conference at Heartland to discuss the financial impact.
The City of Peoria is set to receive $47 million from it, while Peoria County will get $34 million, and Heartland Health is to be granted $3.7 million.
“Your state legislators will breathe a sigh of relief now that the credit rating in the state of Illinois is going to improve. That means the cost of borrowing money and interest rates go down, so that money is spent on critical services, as opposed to interest on debt, so it can have a ripple effect across our state,” said Durbin.
“Why are we doing so much money? Because, at this moment, we desperately need this.
“We need to have these communities feel they can move forward, we need jobs to be created, we need folks to get good paying jobs so they can keep their families together, we need to address the basics in our country.”
Durbin said there’s also a $1 billion provision in the bill to provide scholarships and other federal assistance to the National Health Service Corps.
“Those are medical professionals — doctors, nurses, dentists, and mental health counselors — who go to school and face a debt because of it, and who agree to come and work in areas of need, many times in clinics just like Heartland, to provide essential services, and we then forgive their loans for some period of time, for some amount of money,” he said.
“Well, I put another billion dollars into this, so we can offer scholarship assistance to those going to medical school. That means extending the reach of healthcare at Heartland and many places just like it across the United States.”
Bustos spoke about why Heartland deserves such a healthy lot.
“We’ve lost 23,000 Illinoisans to this pandemic. That is why we have to make sure we invest on getting past this pandemic,” she said.
“The work Heartland Health Services is doing matters. It is not just a clinic.
“It means you look at the whole health of a person, and that’s what the American Rescue Plan is about, as well. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything, and that’s what Heartland Health is all about.”
Bustos also promoted a bill she’s introduce on the House floor called the Social Determinants Accelerator Act.
“That is about getting money to communities to make sure we can get to the bottom of making sure people have access to health[care],” she said.
“It shouldn’t matter if you live on the south side of Peoria, if you live in the Heights, wherever you live, you have access to healthcare.”
Ali said she hopes to use part of the funding to educate citizens about the vaccine.
“The social determinants of health are those economic and social conditions that influence the individual and group differences of health status,” she said.
“They include healthcare, education and job opportunities, housing conditions. They’re all connected in influencing our health status, so it’s important we work collaboratively, we provide services in a comprehensive way such as Heartland Health, and we support one another in terms of addressing the needs of our community.”
Adams said she isn’t sure exactly what all Heartland will do with its piece of the pie, but the sky is the limit.
“Our minds have been whirling about our wishlist we’ve had for years. The things we could do for our patients and our community, and now we have the opportunity to maybe bring some of those to life,” she said.
“One thing we talked about was home monitoring equipment for our patients with diabetes and hypertension to keep better control of their condition so we know what’s going on with their health, in between their visits to us. Also, EKG, ultrasounds in some of our clinics, mobile diagnostic equipment so we can go to the patient instead of them having to come to us.
“Another thing is two-way texting. Not all patients look at their e-mail, but boy, they do look at their text, so this is a great opportunity to communicate and remind them of their appointments, preventative services, all of those things.”
Adams said she also hopes to use the funding to assist patients with transportation, citing inability to commute to appointments as a big reason for no-shows. She said the purchase of bus passes, footing cab fares, or even buying more passenger vans were all possibilities.
In closing, she mentioned the funding will also partially be used to help with substance abuse and mental health programs.
