YOUR NEW WHEATON LEADER
County Board hires firm to look at care facility By NATHAN LURZ nlurz@shawmedia.com
HIGH GEAR
Bike Wheaton Festival brings cyclists together PAGE 3
Residents ride bicycles Aug. 8 through downtown Wheaton during the Bike Wheaton Festival parade.
While it weighs what to do with the county fairgrounds, the DuPage County Board also will be taking a look at the future operation of the DuPage Convalescent Center in Wheaton. On Aug. 11, the board approved a $99,500 contract to nonprofit management consultant Center for Governmental Research to present options to manage the care facility as it faces a future of dwindling Medicaid payments and government subsidies. Board member Bob Larsen, who chairs the county Health and Human Services Committee, said the future of the center long had been a topic for discussion. The committee decided to do a comprehensive look when the county upped its level of direct subsidy last year from $2.4 million to $3 million annually. “That shows the numbers aren’t trending the way we’d like them to, despite the best efforts of everyone,” Larsen said. “It’s been an ongoing discussion on how can we best maintain the dust of the facility, maintain the quality of the care that we provide in a model that makes sense for taxpayers.”
Steve Bittinger - For Shaw Media
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015 | $1.50 | MYSUBURBANLIFE.COM/WHEATON
adno=S0256041
Vol. 113 No. 22 | CD | WTL
See FACILITY, page 4