Opinion

Cancer centers good for health, and jobs

Posted August 20, 2008 11:00 pm

The DuPage County Building and Construction Trades Council is calling for the state to approve the two proposed proton cancer treatment centers in Illinois.

At a time when state legislators cannot function as a unit and the future of capital programs remains in doubt it is important for our state's leaders to stop putting up roadblocks for private development that will provide much needed construction jobs.

The health care industry is one of the country's fastest growing. New facilities bring new technology to patients and great opportunities for all workers. These facilities are often very sophisticated and necessitate complex construction which requires the highly skilled labor of a variety of building trades.

At a time when our economy is struggling and many people need better access to health care it is ridiculous for the state to wrap major health-care building projects up in red tape. In recent years the building of new hospitals and health-care facilities has provided much needed work for thousands of construction workers in the Chicagoland area and among these projects are two high tech cancer treatment centers proposed for DuPage County.

The Central DuPage Hospital proton project will support about 400 construction jobs over a two-year building phase and then provide about 100 full-time jobs for skilled health care workers. And if that is not enough, the center will help treat thousands of patients struggling with cancer.

The other proton facility is being built by Northern Illinois University and is a research and treatment center. We applaud DuPage County and DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom for having the foresight to procure this much needed treatment center for the DuPage Tech Park. While we wish that by now their building was well under way, we hope that the university will soon be able to move forward with their project. It's time for the state to stop standing in the way of these projects and help the people of Illinois.

Ken Lambert

Financial Secretary/Treasurer

DuPage County

Building and Construction Trades Council

Warrenville

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