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Shawnee Health Service gets grant for expanded services

BY THE SOUTHERN

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 9:00 AM CDT

MARION — Shawnee Health Service has been awarded a $656,443 grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This Expanded Medical Capacity (EMC) supplemental funding will be used to develop integrated primary care, behavioral health and oral health services in Marion.

This award will allow Shawnee Health Service, in partnership with Franklin-Williamson Human Service, to significantly improve access to primary care, adult and child psychiatry, counseling, case-management, and oral health care in Williamson County to all persons regardless of ability to pay with a focus on those who are uninsured and underinsured. No person will be denied services due to an inability to pay.

Shawnee will build an addition onto the existing Illinois Centre Behavioral Health building, located behind the Illinois Centre Mall, to accommodate the new services. Space will also be provided to house the growing psychiatry practice, thereby more fully integrating behavioral health, primary care and dental care in the same setting. This project will employ over 80 health and social service professionals and support staff.

“This funding will help improve access to care for those who need it most, which is critically important at a time when 47 million Americans do not have health insurance,” said U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, who announced the funding. “Shawnee Health Service’s dedication to the region is well known, and I will continue to support these efforts.”