Some Danville City Council members are split on whether they will support Carle’s request to close part of Logan Avenue. Carle wants to close a short segment of Logan north of North Street as part of its planned new $70-million dollar medical campus.
Alderman Dan Duncheon opposes the road closing….
{‘’I love Carle’s commitment to Danville, Vermilion County. I see all that. I look at the picture though and I see Logan Street being some landscaping and a quarter of your future development potential,’’ said Duncheon. ‘’I see no impact on your healthcare, on your ability to provide co-located services for better collaboration and still have Logan Street there,’’ added Duncheon.}
Duncheon was speaking at last night’s Danville City Council meeting. Alderwoman Brenda Brown supports Carle’s proposal…
{‘’We look at one of our largest employers that came here years and years ago – the VA Hospital. They closed areas out there, too. Some of those people weren’t happy but later on they appreciated it because, like I said it was one of our largest employers and still is today,’’ said Brown.}
Dr. Jared Rogers, President of OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center (shown in dark coat), noted an internal study conducted by the hospital found that closing the small area along Logan would delay getting patients to the hospital by at least 40 seconds….
{‘’Imagine what you could do with 40 seconds. Imagine what you can do in the back of an ambulance. Imagine what you could do with your six-year-old in the back of your car who is having an asthma attack. You think ‘well, I’ll just take him to the hospital. He needs to go to the hospital’, and he goes south,’’ said Dr. Rogers. ‘’Forty-seconds is a long time, and no matter what you’ve heard that these seconds aren’t meaningful – these seconds are meaningful.’’}
But Dr. Mike Smith, Regional EMS Coordinator for Carle (shown in white coat), says the short delay would not delay medical outcomes….
{‘’The work that has been done in planning – in the process of planning to mitigate any travel time impacts, both for ambulances as well as for private citizens in private vehicles driving to the hospital, causes me to be completely confident that there will not be any actual medical impact by that 30 to 45 seconds that we’re talking about,’’ said Dr. Smith.}
It will be up to the City Council to decide later whether Carle’s request for vacating parts of streets and alleys will be approved for the project.
