Durbin, Biggert, Halvorson hail announcement and reaffirm efforts to support local vets

           JOLIET, IL - As part of an ongoing effort to enhance veterans’ health services in the region, Senator Durbin and Congresswomen Biggert and Halvorson today praised the Veteran Administration’s (VA) announcement that substantial progress has been made toward turning the Emergency Room at Silver Cross Hospital into a VA outpatient mega-clinic in early 2012.  Silver Cross Hospital and the VA are currently negotiating an Offer to Sell contract, and recently have reached a verbal agreement-in-principle on a majority of the terms – including purchase price and acreage.     

           Though some details remain under consideration, both Silver Cross and the VA acknowledge they are close to a finalized agreement.

            “All Illinois veterans deserve reasonable access to the benefits and services they have earned," said Durbin. “Today’s announcement is a step closer to the VA gaining a state-of-the-art facility.  It is due in large part to the hard work of local veterans and community members, who have been the driving force behind this idea. They should be very proud we have come this far. I will continue to work with Representatives Halvorson and Biggert, the VA and Silver Cross Hospital to bring this agreement to fruition.”

           "When local American Legion Commanders Jim Canup and Mike Meyers came to me in July of 2008 with the idea of converting Silver Cross into a veterans’ care facility, it was immediately clear that we had a very special and rare opportunity.  Since then, we have made this project a bipartisan priority and worked together to ensure that negotiations proceeded smoothly.  With the VA and Silver Cross close to finalizing the agreement, I am very optimistic that we will soon be able to offer local veterans new, high-quality health care options right here in our community.  We owe so much to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we enjoy, and ensuring our veterans have access to the treatment they need -- where they need it -- is an important part of meeting that commitment,” Biggert said.

           “The announcement of continued progress on this project is very encouraging.   The men and women who served and sacrificed for our country deserve high-quality, locally accessible health care, which a new VA facility at Silver Cross would bring. We’re all working to finally make that a reality, and I want to especially thank the local veterans who are fighting so hard for this project like Jim Canup, as well as Margie Woods and the Healthy Community Commission, Silver Cross Hospital, its board, and its leadership under Paul Pawlak, who are making a tremendous gesture for the local veterans community in pursuing this effort,” said Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson.

           The current Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Joliet has seen a patient-load increase of 22.4% in the past 5 years. The number of veterans enrolling in the VA health care system in Will County alone is expected to rise 29.1% in the next five years. Silver Cross plans to vacate its Joliet facility in February 2012 to move to a new facility being built in New Lenox.

           The acquisition of the Silver Cross facility will mean expanded health services for area veterans, many of whom currently make a long commute to the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago for services not available at local clinics.

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