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Editorial: Welcome investment in vibrant, healthy Q-C
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As if Rock Island Mayor Dennis Pauley didn't have enough to crow about in his recent state of the city address, along comes more. On Thursday, Trinity Regional Health Systems unveiled plans for its biggest building project ever at its Rock Island campus and the largest in the system's 40 year history: a $61.3 million, 90,000 square-foot expansion that will transform the hospital's front door. The project is just the latest on the horizon for a city on the rise. It caps a busy couple of months that saw announcement of a new Wal-Mart set to bring $1.4 million in sales tax revenues and a new Fareway Store expected to generate $50,000 more. Among those who will contribute to that total are likely to be the patients and their families who will come to reap the benefits of a three-story annex to the emergency room and cardiac departments at Trinity Rock Island, 270117th St. "I'm probably overly excited because it's a great thing for Rock Island," Mr. Pauley told us Friday. "I really want to thank Trinity for making their expansion in Rock Island." Such contributions add to the vitality of the community. Mayor Pauley said the decision also shows that the leaders at Trinity "believe in the community and want to help the community." The project will not only mean construction and other jobs locally, it will contribute to the health, and thus, the quality of life of the entire Quad-Cities. In announcing the expansion Thursday, Trinity President and CEO Rick Seidler said the need for the new space is clear and the expansion overdue. Emergency Room patient visits were up 7 percent -- to 35,676 -- in 2012 from 2011, he said, and demand for cardiac, emergency and psychiatric patient services is expected to soar an additional 8 percent by 2014. The current cramped quarters makes it difficult to deliver the quality care Trinity patients need and have come to expect. "Our facilities are so small, staff are jumping over cables to work on patients," Dr. Sanjeev Puri, a cardiologist with Trinity said Thursday. "I think there is a great need." Of course, the quality of the service provided by Trinity Rock Island already is first-rate. Indeed, the health system recently announced the Rock Island campus was named one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care and Coronary Interventional Procedures. That American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2013: Health-grades Report to the Nation, evaluated the performance of about 4,500 hospitals nationwide. "We'd like to give the best treatment we can in a state-of-the-art facility," said Mr. Seidler. The expansion should help to do that. We welcome the contribution. Jobs, a better quality of life and a heart healthier community: That's a wonderful combination. Thanks to Trinity Health Systems for making such a major investment to make the Q-C a more vibrant, healthy Quad-Cities. 
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Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: On Monday the 11th inst. on Center Ridge in Mercer County,some citizens got out their cannon to celebrate the taking of Richmond. The gun wasoverloaded and burst. No one was injured, but one 30-pound piece went though thesecond story of a house.
1888 -- 125 years ago: The old folks concert at the Harper Theater last night to benefit St.Luke's Cottage Hospital, attracted a large audience.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Unless depredation by vandals in Rock Island parks is halted,special policemen will be assigned to night duty to protect the flowers and other property.
1938 -- 75 years ago: Station WHBF has received a special citation from Washington forits participation in Air Mail Week, which was observed this week throughout the nation.
1963 -- 50 years ago: A 10-year high in employment in the Quad-City area was reachedat the end of the last quarter, according to an industrial employment barometer releasedtoday.
1988 -- 25 years ago: Pee Wee teams will be able to play baseball and softball as usualon Diamond Three at Dorrance Park this summer, but after that, the ball field is doomed.County crews have put the diamond back in shape after heavy trucks marred the playingfield earlier this spring. Illinois Department of Transportation crews drove onto it to makeborings for the relocation of the junction of Illinois 84 and the Port Byron-Hillsdale road.
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