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DeKALB – KishHealth System has taken over operation of nonprofit mental health provider Ben Gordon Center, the DeKalb-based health system announced Wednesday.
Ben Gordon Center began operating Sunday as KishHealth System Behavioral Health Services under the umbrella of the health system, according to a news release. The two nonprofit organizations entered into merger talks in September.
Terms of the deal weren’t provided.
KishHealth System President and CEO Kevin Poorten said the addition would improve care in DeKalb County.
“The bringing together of the two organizations allows the health system to place a greater emphasis on the coordination of behavioral health and physical health, focusing on the person as a whole, providing a continuum of care that benefits each patient,” Poorten said in a news release. “Both organizations’ leadership and boards of directors felt it would bring higher quality health care to members of our community.”
Since 1968, Ben Gordon Center had provided mental health services such as outpatient addiction and eating disorder treatment, counseling and support groups, adult and adolescent counseling, and prevention and community education services. The center operated five facilities in DeKalb County including a main building at 12 Health Services Drive, near Kishwaukee Hospital. The center, which employed more than 40 counselors and therapists, had struggled financially.
“We felt it was time to approach KishHealth System,” Mark Leach, chairman of the center’s board, said in a statement. “The mental health and substance abuse services so necessary to this community will be preserved with the financial strength and commitment of KishHealth System.”
Kim Volk, director of KishHealth System Behavioral Health Services, will oversee the department. It was not clear what role, if any, former Ben Gordon Center President and CEO Michael Flora would play going forward. Flora could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
“The Mental Health Board has had a long and supportive relationship with the Ben Gordon Center and looks forward to working with KishHealth System to provide the best place for clients to receive behavioral health care,” Deanna Cada, executive director of DeKalb County Mental Health Board said in a statement.
KishHealth, which includes Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, Valley West Hospital in Sandwich and more than a dozen other area clinics and health facilities, is set to join Northwestern Memorial by the end of the year. KishHealth System is valued at as much as $362 million, but the acquisition price will be zero, according to the application.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is expected to consider the proposed change at its Nov. 17 meeting.