Anyone only passing through Charleston City Hall Wednesday might have assumed they had wandered smack into a medical emergency.

Approximately 100 health care representatives and area residents spilled out of the building’s council chambers into the hall during a public hearing held on the Carle Foundation Hospital’s proposed surgical center.

More than 47 people testified for Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center against opening an outpatient surgery clinic on Route 16 between Charleston and Mattoon.

Approximately 50 testified for the Carle Clinic Association during the five hour-long hearing, saying a new surgery center would serve a health care need in the community.

About 30 percent of those in need of medical attention are not seeking care at Sarah Bush, leaving the county to seek treatment elsewhere, said Cathy Emanuel, vice president of business development of the Carle Foundation.

That percentage is closer to 22 percent of patients leaving Coles County for inpatient care, while approximately 800 annually seek outpatient care at the Carle facility in Urbana, said Kim Uphoff, director of development at Sarah Bush.

The center has been an issue of community debate for weeks. Wednesday’s public hearing followed a presentation on the center given to the Charleston Rotary Club Tuesday.

The Carle Foundation must receive a permit from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board to develop the center at the old Advantage Internet building in the Coles Business Park.

The Carle Foundation approached Sarah Bush earlier this year about the proposed center and the hospital did not express support, Uphoff said.

Even though some patients have to seek specialists elsewhere, the percentages show a need for the proposed surgical center, Emanuel said.

“I think it would be a shame to deprive the community of this service,” she said.

Emanuel said even though the center is expected to pull about 1,000 patients from Sarah Bush, 700 from the Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, are expected to seek care in Coles County if the center opens.

The center could be a reality in May 2005, but it would only be acting as a “niche provider,” said Gary Bannett, president and CEO of the Carle Foundation.

The Carle center is looking at the area primarily to make a profit, he said.

“This is about cherry-picking profit,” Bannett said.

Of the physicians who plan to practice at the center, 88 percent do not intend to offer care to new patients on Medicaid, Uphoff said.

The Urbana Carle facility does currently offer care to patients without insurance and those on Medicare or Medicaid.

Of the crowd in the hall chambers, most opponents of the surgical centers said there just is not a need for the facility.

“I have not seen this many people in this room since the proposal to raise the bar entry age from 19-21,” Eastern President Lou Hencken said.

Hencken, a member of the Board of Directors at Sarah Bush, said many in favor of the center will say it provides patients with an alternative and convenience, but it is not just like any other business that might come to the area.

There will be consequences.

Sarah Bush could lose $1.7 million from its bottom line if the center opens in Coles County, said public relations director Patty Peterson.

The hospital will have to look into dropping approximately 70 jobs and cutting into programs, Bannett said.

The Carle Foundation does not see the center as “skimming the cream,” or only taking from the most profitable areas of medical care.

“We had a lot of people who told us ‘we really support this project, but we’re afraid to stand up and say it,'” Emanuel said.

Sen. Dale Righter, D-Mattoon, and Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mattoon, testified against the surgical center.

Righter talked about the possibility of Sarah Bush’s diminishing profits during his testimony.

“This issue becomes far more serious, however, when a community hospital such as Sarah Bush is exposed to a strictly for-profit facility, which according to the pending application would only duplicate and not enhance upon health care services.”