Sublette’s Deb Schultz presented 2023 Outstanding Business Woman of the Year Award

Shaw Local News Network

Sublette’s Deb Schultz recently was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Business Woman of the Year at the IL Agri-Women annual meeting.

Schultz was nominated by her peers in recognition of her loyalty, devoted service and outstanding contributions to agriculture and the IL Agri-Women organization. IL Agri-Women is a statewide organization comprised of women from all walks of life involving agriculture.

Schultz graduated from Amboy High School in 1982 and then started her 30-plus year career in banking including a 10-year hiatus to stay home with her kids while babysitting several neighbor kids.

Schultz has worked from the teller line to her current position as vice president for North Central Bank in Hennepin and Ladd.

Schultz is a 2012 graduate of the IL Ag Leadership program, IAW VP of Education 2017-19, IAW president from 2019-22.

ST. MARGARET’S

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“For instance, on the day SMH-Peru temporarily suspended inpatient services, there were 300 unfilled job openings across the SMH organization,” St. Margaret’s officials said in the letter. “As a result, SMH has been forced to pay contracted labor agencies almost $16 million of unbudgeted monies in the last 12 months.”

Officials also pointed to how a cyberattack in February 2021 halted billing for a period of time.

In the letter, St. Margaret’s said significant capital investments were needed in Peru’s facility, and, because of that, the original plan to make Peru an acute care hospital and Spring Valley an outpatient center was nixed, and services with the exception of OB and ICU had moved to Spring Valley’s facility. St. Margaret’s also said the Peru hospital had difficulty in attracting and retaining hospitalists to provide care.

St. Margaret’s consolidated its obstetrics into one unit in Peru, but officials said they still lost money.

“For every dollar of delivery, SMH receives ten cents, resulting in a $3.5 million loss annually,” St. Margaret’s officials said in the letter. “It is SMH’s wish to support OB services in the Illinois Valley, if adequate funding is made available from state or federal government sources.”

St. Margaret’s said its hopes relied on gaining the Rural Emergency Hospital status at the beginning of the year. Necessary legislation passed in both chambers and Gov. JB Pritzker signed the bill into law, but the necessary rule making was not ready from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

St. Margaret’s officials said in the letter that the last straw was in December, when St. Margaret’s was notified by its Peru ER physician provider that it had not received payment for August, September and October, totaling $698,000.

St. Margaret’s said it paid these balances by Dec. 30 as agreed, but received a letter Jan. 13 terminating ER physician services in 15 days. Officials said they couldn’t find an alternative to cover the emergency room.

The end result was an announcement Jan. 19 to close the Peru hospital on Jan. 28, officials said.

“We realize our error now in not reaching out to our legislators sooner to inform them of this crisis,” St. Margaret’s officials said in the letter.

Lawmakers have been critical of St. Margaret’s for not notifying them until after the closure announcement. Earlier Monday, Yednock said that if St. Margaret’s had alerted them sooner to the possibility of a suspension of closure, “maybe we have could have helped stave this off.”