Jacksonville Memorial Hospital celebrates 150 years, plans capital projects
By Ben Cox
Many rural hospitals are facing uncertain financial futures, but Jacksonville Memorial Hospital appears ready to weather the incoming storms.
According to the American Hospital Association, the federal One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R. 1) will result in $50.4 billion in reduction in federal Medicaid spending on rural hospitals over the next decade.
The AHA goes on to say its recent annual report that 48% of rural hospitals across the country operated at a financial loss in 2023, with 92 having closed their doors or ceased inpatient services within the last decade. It’s a pretty grim picture.
A new nuclear medicine camera is included in equipment at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital.
Jacksonville Memorial Hospital President and CEO Trevor Huffman says that people in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas shouldn’t worry about JMH closing or be in fear of services being cut. In fact, Huffman says that new services are being added to the hospital.
“I would say the biggest project that we are undergoing at this point is our imaging renovation,” Huffman says, “It’s centered around a new nuclear medicine camera that we have and we needed to gain some more space for the new technology, which kind of caused a domino effect through the entire imaging department. Every room just about is getting renovated down there [in the imaging department]. It is a very large project, so we can bring in that updated nuclear medicine camera.”
Huffman says the hospital usually highlights any major renovations or upgrades totaling over $5,000 but the replacement and recycling of outdated equipment is a constant process. Many of the projects are not glamorous and part of the ongoing maintenance of operating a hospital — like recent roof replacements at JMH, which Huffman says cost upwards of one million dollars or more due to rising material and labor costs.
Trevor Huffman is the president and CEO of Jacksonville Memorial Hospital.
However, other projects, Huffman says, are more to ensure the hospital stays on the cutting edge of medical technology and being able to provide the best service to patients, “A recent project that is underway is replacement of our telemetry monitors in our ER. This was a high priority project that helps ensure we can meet the needs of the ER patients and colleagues.” Huffman highlights the hospital’s transition towards a new digital medical system as being “transformational” to the hospital, which was also a significant investment. JMH will be moving toward the Epic system, a widely used electronic health records system used in healthcare, which will go live in 2027. “This will improve our operations from the point a patient wants to schedule for a service to the point of discharge,” Huffman says, “It is more than just an IT project. It is truly an operational project that will improve our efficiency and make access to healthcare easier for the communities we serve.”
With the changes coming on the horizon to Medicaid, Huffman wants to ensure the community that the hospital is doing well financially. “We don’t have a huge open checkbook type of thing. I would say being part of a larger health system [that] we’re always kind of looking inward at what our [financial] strategy is. But we’ve definitely been aggressive with investments in a lot of areas making sure we have the most up-to-date technology,” Huffman says.
Huffman is thankful for the hospital’s more than 80 volunteers and the services they provide to both patients and colleagues alike. He says the Jacksonville Memorial Foundation also assists with some smaller purchases and helps with the hospital’s future.
The foundation helps provide monetary support to nursing students ensuring a pipeline of colleagues to JMH continues into the future and further strengthening the bond between JMH, Illinois College and the greater community.
“The foundation allows us to do a little bit more,” Huffman compliments, “And what we really utilize the foundation for a lot is to help support our colleagues by advanced training for them or even recruiting new colleagues. That is always one of the main focuses is making sure we have the workforce that we need to meet our community needs. I always see the foundation being crucial in that effort.”
Huffman says the foundation and the volunteers help with the partnership with the Mia Ware Foundation for community events, the JMH blood drives, colorectal cancer screening kit giveaways and community outreach events. Huffman says the preventative care events are especially crucial because they help cut medical costs for the community by preventing the need for more services by keeping them healthy and screening early for disease.
As far as new services being added, Huffman says that the Senior Life Solutions program was established in Jacksonville in May. It is there for certain seniors 55 and older who qualify that need some help with mental health. “We’ve just started the program where we have a nurse involved. We have a licensed clinical social worker, and then we tapped into a partnership that we have with SIU Psychiatry to provide a psychiatrist as well. It’s a day program where you can come in at like nine o’clock in the morning, staying until mid-afternoon. They have lunch here and all that in kind of group settings as well as individual sessions with the specialists.”
Huffman says the addition of services and capital improvement projects should squelch some of the rumors that have been circulating in the community that more service cuts were coming to JMH or that JMH may close its doors to inpatient care. He says he wants the community to be reassured they can always come to JMH and get quality care, “We’re very stable and we can see it. That’s the kind of reassuring message I hope people will hear.”
Speaking of the future, the hospital will celebrate its official 150th anniversary this November. An entertainment celebration and dinner are being planned for the community and hospital colleagues both past and present to mark the occasion. Huffman says, though, that the work isn’t done as they are in the process of planning for the future. He says that the hospital system’s 5-year plan expires at the end of this calendar year and they are in the process of creating the next strategic plan with new Memorial Health President and CEO Dr. Mandy Eaton.
Huffman says there’s nothing he can definitively point to in the next five-year capital plan at this time but he says that the hospital is planning to be around a long time, “As we continue to celebrate our 150th year anniversary, we are doing our part to insure we have another 150 years ahead of us.”
