NWI's rural areas lack enough dentists, doctors, emergency care

In Schneider, Lake County's southernmost town, and unincorporated Shelby, there are no physician's offices, no hospitals and no drugstores.

It's a complaint heard often by Margot Sabato, executive director of South County Community Services, who often deals with patients with no transportation.

"Usually, we bring them to Crown Point, and that's 20 miles, or we go farther to specialists located at the major hospitals," she said. In DeMotte, an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital is 25 minutes away.

"The training for our paramedics is so much more different from those in the city," said Diana Haberlin, trustee of Keener Township in Jasper County. "If someone has had a stroke or a heart attack or is bleeding profusely ... they have to sustain life for that patient for 25 minutes."

The Indiana State Department of Health has designated about 30 percent of those living in rural Indiana as medically underserved.

According to the Indiana University School of Medicine, there are 40 medical specialists and 40 dentists for every 100,000 rural Hoosiers, of which there are nearly 2 million. Their urban counterparts have 134 medical specialists and 60 dentists per 100,000 residents.

Russell Franzman, Boone Township trustee, said he's afraid medical care options for those living in Hebron and other parts of the Porter County township may be diminishing.

Franzman said folks in south Porter County rely on a contract with the Porter Valparaiso Hospital Campus for ambulance services.

"They don't make money with it. Will Porter County hospital continue ambulance service? It's a concern," Franzman said. Porter Health's move to a new facility farther east is another worry.

"When they move, they'll be closer to Chesterton than here," he said of Hebron. "We need some center, some place, to stabilize a patient."

St. Anthony Medical Center's new Franciscan Point outpatient center at Interstate 65 and U.S. 231 is only eight miles from Hebron, but it does not provide emergency medical care. It provides treatment of minor injuries and illnesses, as well as diagnostics, rehabilitation and sports medicine.

Joe Dejanovic, St. Anthony Medical Center's marketing and communications director, said, "St. Anthony has been expanding its services to outlying areas for the past three years." In addition to Franciscan Point, construction is under way for new physician offices in DeMotte, he said. "While we have considered an expanded presence in Lowell, we have no definitive plans to build at this time," Dejanovic said.

Many Schneider and Shelby residents go to Lowell for family physician care, pharmacy needs and eye and dental care.

Keener Township's Haberlin, who works in health care, has a prediction. "What I can see happening is, slowly, the hospitals are reaching out with satellites ... I think we'll see fewer and fewer hospitals and more of the satellites ... but those satellites are not for emergencies."

Stimulus dollars fund rural hospital expansion

Jasper County Hospital in Rensselaer recently received a $15 million economic stimulus loan for a major expansion and renovation project at the hospital to be completed in late 2011.

"Our mission is to serve Jasper County patients," Mike Bayci, Jasper hospital vice president of support services, said. But, he added, 16 Indiana counties have no acute care hospital, including neighboring Newton and Benton counties. "We're trying to reach out to other communities, too," he said, noting the hospital serves folks in DeMotte, as well as Shelby in south Lake County.

Of the 90,000-square-foot hospital, the oldest portion of which was built in 1963, 9,000 square feet will be renovated, and 26,000 square feet will be added.

Bayci understands the value of a rural hospital. "If Jasper County Hospital were to close, it would be a 40-minute drive to the nearest hospital," he said. "How could you anticipate surviving cardiac arrest?"