SIH in the Community

What is a Community Benefit?

We make every effort to fulfill our not-for profit mission to “improve the health and well-being of all of the people in the communities we serve.” Besides providing charity care and financial assistance to patients, we want to positively impact our communities by extending care beyond hospital walls and into the neighborhoods where people live and work.

Community benefits are the programs and services that SIH offers to meet these community health needs, in partnership with coalitions, public health departments, schools, workplaces, faith communities and other community agencies and groups. The Community Benefits Department seeks to bring health-related programs to the areas where they are most needed and to address the issues identified in the SIH Community Health Needs Assessment.

• Issue #1 – Access to Care, focusing on non-emergent medical transportation
• Issue #2 – Behavioral Health, focusing on mental health and substance misuse
• Issue #3 – Chronic Disease Prevention, Management & Treatment, focusing on cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes

$173,159,208 –Given Back to the Region in FY 2023 Through Community Benefits (improving health and quality of life extends beyond diagnosis and treatment. This includes community health education and outreach services.)

SIH Community Benefit Programs

• Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network (HSIDN) | Community Coalitions & Action Teams
• Take Charge of Your Health: Live Well, Be Well | Diabetes and Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
• Courage to Quit Program | Smoking Cessation
• Adult & Youth Mental Health First Aid
• Camp B.E.T.A | Camp for Youth with Type 1 Diabetes
• Nutrition Education & Healthy Cooking Demonstrations | Mobile Kitchen
• Community Outreach, Wellness Screenings and Education
• Southern Illinois Tobacco Disparities Partnership (SITDP)
• Medical Legal Partnership of Southern Illinois (MLPSI)
• School Health Programming | Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC)
• And much more

Total FY 2023 SIH Community Benefit: $173,159,208

• $747,574 – Community Health Improvement
• $1,169,675 – Grants, Contributions, Sponsorships
• $698,709 – Community Building Activities
• $1,732,004 – Subsidized Health Services
• $2,154,949– Medical Education and Research
• $162,005,270 – Unfunded Portion of Government Sponsored Medical Care
• $4,363,255– Charity Care (Free or Discounted Care to Those in Need)

Addressing the Opioid Crisis in southern Illinois

As the impact of the opioid crisis has dramatically increased across the nation, southern Illinoisans are also seeing the negative effects of this trend. According to the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program, southern Illinois has higher rates of patients being prescribed an opioid and higher rates of overlapping opioid prescriptions as compared to other regions. Prescribers in southern Illinois also prescribe more opioids of 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per patient per day than any other region in Illinois. SIH has been working collaboratively with stakeholders to address the drug and opioid epidemic in southern Illinois.

One way we are working to reduce the sharing of prescriptions is by providing free medication disposal drop-off locations in SIH hospitals (Carbondale Memorial, Herrin Hospital, St. Joseph's Memorial) and the SIH Cancer Institute. Thousands of pounds of medications have been disposed of since the program began.

Outside of the hospital walls, SIH has partnered with many agencies and organizations in the community to address the opioid crisis. A Substance Abuse Resource Guide has been developed.  Numerous town hall meetings, educational activities, trainings, certification courses, action team, coalition, and substance abuse task force meetings have been held.  SIH staff are providing Narcan and training targeted to medical First responders and law enforcement.  Staff are also participating in action teamsand coalitions in order to address the crisis. various counties in otfrt to To learn more about the Opioid Crisis in Southern Illinois, click here. To find SIH Locations to pick up NARCAN, click here.