SIU Med School/St. Joseph’s Hospital Announce Partnership

Funding for a new health care service in southwestern Illinois is being provided to St. Joseph's Hospital in Highland, thanks to a partnership between the hospital and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The project is another in a series of the School’s Rural/Downstate Health Initiative (RHI) partnerships.

The grant of $45,073 is helping fund the purchase of a new high speed Internet-based teleradiology system, which replaces an old system that transmitted images very slowly over a standard phone line. Nearly one thousand patients per year are expected to benefit from the new system.

This new equipment will allow radiologists and members of the St. Joseph’s medical staff, including primary care physicians and consulting specialists, to have access to CT, MRI and ultrasound images and X-rays when they are working at their clinics, from home and other sites. This accessibility also will significantly improve the timeliness of treatment for acutely injured patients seen in the emergency department.

"We are very pleased with our partnership with SIU School of Medicine because this grant will help provide a much needed health care service for the residents of Madison County and surrounding areas by helping emergency department and other physicians treat patients more quickly and efficiently," said Claudio Fort, St. Joseph’s Hospital executive vice president, during a press conference announcing the grant.

"SIU is proud to support St. Joseph’s Hospital for this project because it helps bring a cutting-edge service to their patients and increases the likelihood that patients can be treated locally," said John Record, assistant dean for rural and alumni affairs at SIU, who coordinates the School’s RHI program.

SIU School of Medicine has been working with downstate physicians, hospitals and health care agencies to assess health care needs of the region. Additional support for the School's on-going efforts to improve health care in the region has come from the Illinois Legislature through the Rural/Downstate Health Act, which began in 1994. Its goal is to improve health care in the rural and medically underserved areas of the state and is funded with a state supported budget of $1.8 million per year. Nearly 60 RHI partnerships have been developed by SIU.

For more information about the program at St. Joseph's Hospital , call Mel Long, 618-654-5319, ext. 2224, weekdays.

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