Financing Completed for Decatur Memorial Hospital

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Health Facilities Authority issued $32.8 million in fixed-rate bonds for the benefit of Decatur Memorial Hospital. The bonds were rated "A+" by Fitch IBCA, Inc. and "A" by Standard & Poor's Rating Services, based on the credit of the Hospital.

The proceeds of the bonds will be used by Decatur Memorial to refinance approximately $7.3 million of outstanding bonds issued in 1991 through the City of Decatur and to finance or reimburse approximately $25 million of building renovations and equipment purchases.

Decatur Memorial is a 317-bed general acute care hospital located in Decatur, Macon County. It employs approximately 1,966 people on a full or part-time basis. Medical staff consists of 254 members whose practices include such specialties as Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Plastic Surgery, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Decatur Memorial is planning to implement a new Open-Heart Surgery program in Spring 2002. No other provider in Macon County presently offers Open Heart Surgery Services.