Monday, June 16, 2025
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Local Professionals Discuss Community Health
Healthcare leaders from across the county gathered last week at On the Hill Events to deliver candid, forward-looking assessments of the local healthcare system during the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce’s “State of Our Healthcare” forum, hosted by Chamber executive director Courtney Chapella.
The event brought together panelists from Major Health Partners (MHP), Renovate Counseling Services, the Shelby County Health Department and Jane Pauley Community Health Center. The discussion centered on trends, community needs and long-term investments to address access and affordability of both physical and mental health services.
MHP CEO Ryan Claxton outlined on-going efforts to update their Intelliplex facilities. “We built our new hospital just eight years ago, and we’ve already outgrown it,” Claxton said. A master site facility plan is in the works, which will identify a combination of facility changes to multiple buildings and could potentially result in some new construction, depending on what direction the hospital administration and board of directors take.
Claxton also emphasized MHP’s significant investment in mental health care, growing from three providers to 21 in recent years, and underscored the increasing challenge of anxiety and depression in patients aged 40 to 65.
Marc Hackett, CEO of the Jane Pauley Community Health Center, shared that roughly 70 percent of patients who come in for primary care also require behavioral health services. “It’s critical we continue to integrate mental and physical health,” Hackett said.
Bonnie Spallinger of Renovate Counseling Services stressed the importance of early intervention. “Healthy people take care of their mental health before it becomes a crisis,” she said.
Amy Reel, Director of Nursing at the Shelby County Health Department, highlighted some positive trends. “In the last four years, we’ve seen an increase in both adult and pediatric vaccinations,” she said.
Technology was also a discussion topic. MHP has made an investment of over $6 million to advance its robotic surgery program, positioning itself at the forefront of surgical innovation in the region. In early 2025, MHP celebrated a milestone with the completion of its 100th procedure using the ION robot, a cutting-edge tool in pulmonology utilized by Dr. Sirikonda. The organization has also expanded its robotic capabilities to include complex spine surgeries, now performed by its new team of specialized spine surgeons. Additionally, MHP successfully launched the Intuitive DaVinci robotic system in 2025, enabling enhanced precision in general surgery, urogynecology, and OBGYN procedures. These technologies offer patients clear benefits, including smaller incisions, reduced complication rates, faster recovery times and shorter hospital stays.
The panel also addressed funding concerns, particularly with Medicaid reimbursements and the possible reduction of supplemental programs that sustain many of MHP’s outreach initiatives. “Ten percent of our hospital’s revenue comes from these programs,” Claxton explained. “If they’re cut, essential services and staff could be at risk.”
The event concluded with a call for continued collaboration and advocacy to protect and expand healthcare access in Shelby County. Community members are encouraged to complete the Community Health Needs Assessment.
“We've developed a lot of new programs because of the results from the previous community health needs assessment,” Claxton said. “We take these to heart.”
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NOTEBOOK:
HOOSIER NEWS: Ball State University is freezing tuition and fees for the next two years, after a strong recommendation to do so from state officials. As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, students will see an increase in room and board costs. Tuition and mandatory student fees will both be frozen at the current level, which is in line with a first-of-its-kind recommendation from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE). That’s despite state public colleges losing 5 percent in state support, and being required to hold back an additional 5 percent. Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns said April’s dismal state revenue forecast forced many quick changes. “And the change between what we were predicting on April 15 to what we found out by May 15 was a $20 million swing to the negative,” Mearns said. Ball State’s state revenue cut is about $14 million per year. “And then,” Mearns continued, “if we had simply raised tuition next year to the rate of inflation, of about 3 percent, that’s another $6 million in revenue.” (Indiana Public Radio)
NATIONAL NEWS: Just a few weeks of testing remain for the hotly anticipated Vera C. Rubin Observatory, situated on a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes. It has the largest camera in the history of astronomy — a 10-meter-by-10-meter steel cube — with a 1.5-meter lens, a unique three-mirror structure and a collecting area of 6.67 meters. The camera weighs 350 metric tons, and will canvas the entire visible sky from the Southern Hemisphere every three nights, producing 20 terabytes of data every single night that the computer scientists are still figuring out how to sift through. That is 350 times the data produced by the James Webb Space Telescope every day. In its first year alone, the camera will collect more data than has been collected from every telescope in the history of astronomy combined, and it will do this for at least 10 years. (Scientific American/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights
Nov. 20, 1964, Part I
Janet Grigsby was named the DAR Good Citizen, an award presented annually by the Mary Mott Green Chapter of the Indiana Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The other top vote-getters were Teresa McKenney and Shelby McRoberts.
Dale Kesterman was the winner of the Kiwanis football medal. Dale kept busy with his job at the Standard Food store and work on the family farm. “Dale is also interested in music, which is shown by his continuous singing of ‘Chug-a-Lug,’ as noted by his friends.”
Mrs. Elsie Shambach was a new teacher at SHS. She had previously taught at the junior high school and Major Elementary. Mr. William McKinley was the new chemistry teacher at SHS.
Fall Wind-Up Court members and escorts were Tom Howell, Kathy Harmon, Stan Adkins, Linda Owens, Richard Huber, Manarda Payne, Greg Moore, Cheryl Wickliff, John Sorrell, Joyce Caughey, Tom Allen and Debbie Stine. The dance, held at the Elks Club, was attended by 250 students.
Several rabbits had made their home in the center court outside the student center, visible from Miss Bodem’s room. “While gazing through this window during convocation, Steve Rowsey suddenly asked Miss Bodem if she would like to know what the rabbits were doing. Miss Bodem, trying to avoid the subject, hastily replied with the negative. Steve, however, paid no heed to her answer and replied that they were eating grass - greatly relieving Miss Bodem.”
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This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2005: Blackstone Charhouse, a restaurant specializing in steaks, was set to open at 1831 E. Michigan Road, in the former Dynasty Restaurant location.
Denny Miller, former Tarzan actor, held a book signing for his release, “Didn’t You Used to Be What’s His Name?” at Three Sisters Books & Gifts. Miller had been the first blonde “Ape Man” when he starred in a remake of the Tarzan movie. Denny’s father, Ben Miller, had starred on Waldron’s state finalist basketball team in 1927. Ben Miller attended Indiana University and eventually moved to California and taught at UCLA.
1995: Judith Galbert was hired as new principal of Triton Central Elementary School. She was succeeding Tony Strangeway.
Five Shelby County students were honored for their academic achievement by WTHR, Kroger and Bank One. They were Joseph Fox (Southwestern), Lori Orban (Triton Central), Amie Williams (Waldron), Kate McDaniel (Shelbyville) and Will Longstreet (Morristown).
1985: At 11 a.m., Mayor Dan Theobald turned on a valve to begin filling Shelbyville’s almost-complete, one-million gallon water tower and first station, located on W. McKay Road. At a rate of 180 gallons a minute, the tank would take about four days to fill.
1975: Country Ford, East State Road 421, held a free country western show on their lot, featuring Ronnie Robbins (son of Marty Robbins), Chuck Dean, Brenda Joyce and Art Burge.
1965: “Emergency ambulance driver Meredith Mann had another race with the stork last night - and the stork won,” The Shelbyville News reported. Mann realized there wasn’t time to take Emma Johnson, 23 Grissom Lane, to the hospital, so he helped Mrs. Johnson deliver the baby girl at home. James Pickett and Charles Fewell assisted.
An aqua-ammonia mixing plant was installed at the home of fertilizer dealer Caryl Smith. The 34,000-gallon storage tank held gaseous anhydrous ammonia, which farmers could apply to their crops with little loss and no crop burn. It was the first such tank installed in Shelby County.
1955: The 25-foot-long bridge over Buck Creek in Waldron collapsed. A cement truck had made it safely over the bridge before it buckled. A detour would be in place for two weeks while steel girders were installed.
Former SHS and IU basketball star Bill Garrett, who had also played for the Harlem Globetrotters, was hired to teach at Harry E. Wood School in Indianapolis.
1945: Twenty more Shelby County men were accepted for military service. They were John Branson, Jesse Baker, Dale Good, William Carmony, John Landwerlen, Charles Shepherd, Max Mitchell, Stanley Huhnke, Royce Waltz, John Slifer, Homer Wertz Jr., Charles Williams, Jack Lambert, Marion Anderson, Thomas Thornburg, Paul Shaw, Kenneth Anspaugh, Alfred Hogan, Martin Lewis and Donald Guseman.
1935: A Tennessee man was found beside State Road 29 about a half mile north of the Red Seven in an unconscious condition and suffering from a throat ailment. About a year prior, the same man had been discovered on a local street with the same issue. He had been treated at Major Hospital and then sent back to Tennessee by train.
1925: Local furniture manufacturers were busy getting out samples for the summer furniture expositions opening Chicago and Grand Rapid. All of the Shelbyville factories would be represented at the shows. Most of the plants had already loaded their samples onto trains for shipment.
1915: “The vicinity of West Mechanic St. near Conrey St. was a scene of great excitement Tuesday night between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.,” The Republican reported. “It had been reported that burglars were in the neighborhood, and as a result all of the residents were out. Mrs. James Ives, 458 West Mechanic St., was sitting on her porch when she heard a noise, and walking to the side of the house saw a man. Well, the man had no business there, so Mrs. Ives screamed. Simultaneous with the scream, the man at the side of the house began to run. He ran through the Whaley garden, and Mrs. Ives ran in the opposite direction. Her lusty calls for the neighbors soon brought them out, and the hunt was begun. In the meantime, a call had been sent to police headquarters, and two patrolmen responded to aid in the search for the prowler in the night. The array of firearms and other arms shown by the posse was immense. Everything from an air gun to a double-barreled repeating shotgun was carried in the crowd, and with the utmost seriousness. After beating the bushes for some time, the search was given up. No trace of the marauder was found. The police hid themselves back to headquarters and the neighbors and Mrs. Ives to bed.”
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OBITUARIES
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