Third Stop, Mercyhealth Hospital Next door to the Outdoor Fitness Court lies the Ice Age Trail. Following that several blocks north leads to the other large health system in Janesville, Mercyhealth. The trail delivers us to their main campus at Mineral Point Avenue and Franklin Street. Mercyhealth has been serving the Janesville community since the opening of the Janesville City Hospital in 1883. Since its humble beginnings 142 years ago, it has evolved and expanded to become Rock County’s largest employer. Mercyhealth’s long history here means it has seen Rock County through multiple pandemics, epidemics, wars and other public health crises. Mercyhealth is also a participant in HEAR and agrees that its work helps guide the health system. “Being part of [HEAR] helps us align our goals with the community’s needs,” says Kara Sankey, Mercyhealth’s Vice President of Operations and Chief Nursing Officer. “The items that they identify always demonstrate what the hardships are and the things that need to be done. Sometimes those pieces, although not diseases in themselves, are so integral to the health of the community.” Mercyhealth’s CHNA was conducted in 2023 and their findings established priority areas of mental health, affordable and accessible health care and maternal, infant and child health. Since then, according to Sankey, Mercyhealth has been successfully addressing those priorities. For example, the system has expanded its behavioral health footprint. “We’ve hired four new physician providers since that (CHNA), and multiple new therapists,” says Sankey. “And then we’ve opened additional locations.” “We identified that there is a subset of uninsured and underinsured groups, and so we’ve been partnering really closely with our free and charitable clinic in Rock County, [HealthNet]. In the next couple of months, we’ll be opening a new behavioral health clinic in the HealthNet location. That way, we will be able to have a behavioral health presence where there is a lack of resources for that population.” A significant health issue among children is the rise of autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 1 in 36 children has autism, a significant increase from 2021 (1 in 44) and 2006 (1 in 110). “We’ve expanded our Autism Services Center in Janesville,” Sankey says. “We had a smaller location, which limited [who] we could take in. We [are now] able to take on more families and [have] a larger platform so we can take in older kids.” Regarding Rock County being designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area, Sankey agrees that a lack of primary care providers is an issue in the area. “When you look at [the data], it’s determining the types of patients that are in those areas to the types of providers,” says Sankey. “And so really looking for primary care is a goal for us, because keeping people out of the hospital is how you keep people healthy. And then maternity care, not only in Rock County but nationally, there is a continued shortage of providers in that area. [Also,] we have struggled over the years to keep up with some of the aging demographics. As the population continues to age, we need more people and staff to take care of them.” “[It’s] getting the right mix of providers. We aren’t medically underserved, but we’re provider underserved.” Since the most recent CHNA, Mercyhealth has placed a large focus on the growth of the workforce, particularly the skilled workforce. “We have been working for the last few years with UWWhitewater and Edgewood College to bring nursing schools to Rock County and then expand our footprint into the school districts,” Sankey says. “We have been offering EMT and CNA programs to the high schoolers, and while that’s not directly related to health, it does create a larger span of workforce so that we’re able to take care of more people. We’ve [also] expanded some of our fellowships and residencies. That gives us providers that we’re training, we’re bringing into the system, and having them stay in our locations to help grow that.” Last Stop, Davis Physical Therapy At this point, we take a half-mile walk back to downtown, going from the county’s largest medical campus to a small, private health provider on West Milwaukee Street. Alaina Davis, owner of Davis Physical Therapy, opened what she calls her “micro-clinic” in 2022 after working in Rock County for four years doing home health services. “Physical therapists (play) a very important role within the medical community,” says Davis. “But for some reason, we just still don’t have a lot of visibility with the general population. That’s something that we’re always continuously trying to improve upon.” The American Physical Therapy Association says physical therapists play a unique role in society in prevention, wellness, fitness, health promotion, and management of disease and 8 | FORWARD JANESVILLE We have been working for the last few years with UW-Whitewater and Edgewood College to bring nursing schools to Rock County and then expand our footprint into the school districts. Mercyhealth’s Autism Center opened in 2024 with expanded space and services A focus on workforce with third-year residents at the Graduate Medical Education Discovery Day
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