Lake County Economic Alliance educates Region professionals with Healthcare Roundtable

On Thursday, August 27, business professionals and community leaders from across the Region gathered in Hammond’s historic BANC Calumet building for the Lake County Economic Alliance (LCEA) Healthcare Roundtable. Attendees were served breakfast and coffee as a panel of healthcare leaders discussed the future of healthcare and its economic impact on the county.

Chris Salatas, President and CEO of the Lake County Economic Alliance, views these relationships as the key to developing the area’s economy.

“The importance of the LCEA is to help build a cohesive shop for people looking to invest in Lake County specifically. We work with state agencies, the county, and local governments, as well as our investor members on helping them find the best sites available. We are an interconnected society, and none of these projects or industries operate in a silo on their own,” Salatas said. “By bringing healthcare to the table, we expand opportunities for community growth and development. We can attract all the jobs in the world, but without a quality healthcare system at the core of our communities, it is all for naught.”

Lake County’s growing healthcare industry represents the interconnectedness of business. A healthy and strong community needs healthcare and the industry itself created opportunities for all different fields.

Gary Warfel, Chairman of the LCEA’s Board of Directors, noted the steady, incredible growth of the healthcare industry, and explained how it connects to the local economy at large.

“What a lot of us don’t realize is that, with the growth in health, because baby boomers are now going through the healthcare market in mass, millennials are seeking healthcare increasingly as a profession. It’s this huge growth in the healthcare industry, which is basically going to bring in a lot of other ancillary businesses, architects, engineers, skilled trades workers, and more. It really becomes a catalyst for growth,” Warfel said.

The panel included several Lake County healthcare professionals who discussed changes that new technology, such as AI, will have on the industry and resulting growth throughout the region.

Matt Doyle, CEO of Methodist Hospitals, detailed the importance that the healthcare industry has within a community’s economy.

“We are an economic engine,” Doyle said. “We not only support the community from a healthcare perspective, but we’re a driver when you think about jobs, when you think about construction projects, supply contracts, just a number of different things. There’s a number that we’ll use — for every dollar spent in healthcare, it gives somewhere between $8 and $12 back into the local business community.”

While the panel discussed much about the economic importance of healthcare and the developing technology around it. They also touched on the value of serving the patient first and foremost.

“If we do the right thing in serving the patient, that then serves the community,” Doyle said. “If we keep that as our North Star, then the strategic decisions that we make are going to be good for the overall region itself.”

For more information on the LCEA, you can visit lcea.us.