Media

For Interviews with Clinical Experts

Journalists seeking to interview clinical experts with Memorial Health should direct their inquiries to the Communications & Marketing department.

Anne Davis, Communications Consultant
217-876-3239
davis.anne@mhsil.com

Springfield Memorial Hospital
Springfield Memorial Hospital, formerly known as Memorial Medical Center, is a 500-bed, Magnet®-designated, acute care hospital in Springfield that offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services. Since 1970, SMH has been a teaching hospital affiliated with SIU School of Medicine to provide clinical training for residents. 

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital
Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. formerly known as Passavant Area Hospital, a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence located in Jacksonville, offers inpatient and outpatient services to the residents of Morgan, Cass, Greene, Scott, Macoupin and portions of Brown and northern Pike counties.

Lincoln Memorial Hospital
Lincoln Memorial Hospital, formerly known as Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, is a critical access hospital in Lincoln offering a spectrum of inpatient and outpatient services to the people and communities of Logan and eastern Mason counties.

Taylorville Memorial Hospital
Taylorville Memorial Hospital is a critical access hospital in Taylorville offering a full range of inpatient and outpatient services to the residents of Christian County.

Decatur Memorial Hospital
Decatur Memorial Hospital is a licensed and fully accredited 300-bed hospital with outpatient and inpatient services in Decatur, Illinois.

Memorial Home Health
Memorial Home Health, formerly known as Memorial Home Services, provides home health, hospice and medical equipment services across an 18-county region in central Illinois.

Memorial Care
Memorial Care, formerly known as Memorial Physician Services, is a primary care network serving central Illinois locations in Decatur, Chatham, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Petersburg and Springfield.

Memorial Behavioral Health
Memorial Behavioral Health offers a continuum of behavioral healthcare and rehabilitation services for children and adults in Sangamon, Menard, Logan, Mason, Scott and Morgan counties.

For patient condition reports, please contact the Communications & Marketing department.

Anne Davis, Communications Consultant
217-876-3239
davis.anne@mhsil.com

Any patient medical information released to the news media will be done in strict accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), which requires healthcare institutions to safeguard the privacy and integrity of patients and their personal health information.

Memorial Health works with the media to provide accurate and timely information, while respecting the confidentiality of our patients’ medical information and complying with HIPAA’s privacy regulations.

All media inquiries for information about patients must be coordinated through Communications & Marketing. The following standards have been established for news media inquiries about the status of patients:

• All media inquiries must include the specific patient’s name and exact spelling.
• As long as the patient has not requested that information be withheld, we will release a one-word condition about the patient. (See below.)
• Videotaped or tape-recorded interviews, photographs or any other interaction with a patient requires written patient authorization.
• The patient has the option to expressly state that he or she does not want information released, including confirmation of his or her presence in one of our facilities.
• Public record cases: Patients involved in matters of public record have the same privacy rights as all other patients. For example, the fact that a patient has been transported to the hospital from an accident, crime scene or fire has no bearing on the patient's privacy. The name verification and one-word condition rule still applies.

We are always happy to discuss and explain the HIPAA provisions in more detail or respond to other questions about patient inquiries.

Below are the conditions that Memorial Health will release about a patient:

• Good: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious and comfortable. Indicators are good or excellent.
• Fair: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.
• Serious: Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable.
• Critical: Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.
• Undetermined: No determined condition yet established by physician.

We do not use the term “stable” as a condition.

A patient’s death cannot be reported or confirmed until efforts have been made to notify the patient’s next-of-kin. At that time, and unless a legal representative of the deceased requests that the information be withheld, Communications & Marketing staff will report only that the patient is deceased. No other information will be provided, such as the time or cause of death.

Memorial Health maintains an extensive library of photos for media use. The photos below are a sample of some of the available photos. All photos should be used as provided. Changes to size are acceptable as long as pixelation does not occur. If you’re looking for a specific type of photo that doesn’t appear below, please contact Anne Davis at 217-876-3239 or by email.

All media interviews or photographs with Memorial Health patients, administrators, physicians and colleagues must be cleared through Communications & Marketing. While on the property of any Memorial-owned or operated facility or clinical practice, members of the media must always be accompanied by a Communications & Marketing staff member or authorized Memorial representative designated by that department.

Media crews, reporters, videographers and photographers who enter any Memorial Health property without clearance will be stopped by Security or management staff and asked to wait until a Communications & Marketing staff member can be contacted.

Access to Patient Care Areas

 Media access may be limited or denied to any area of a Memorial Health facility at the discretion of patients’ healthcare teams or individual physicians.

Parking

 When at Springfield Memorial Hospital, media crews must park in lots specifically designated for parking. Public parking is available in Lot 9, which is south of the hospital across Miller Street, and Lot 10, which is southeast of the main entrance to the hospital at the intersection of First and Miller streets.

The circle drive at the Springfield Memorial Hospital main entrance is for our patients. Media are called upon to refrain from parking or otherwise using this area as a pick up or drop off location.

Media crews are prohibited from parking in emergency vehicle parking areas.