Our Vision

Our vision is to improve the physical and economic health of individuals, families in Adams, Brown and Hancock Counties, and the region in which we live and work.

Goals

• Improve the health of individuals, families and future generations

• Provide economic support and stimulus

• Help seniors live more actively and productively and stay in their homes longer

• Build life-long health habits for children by promoting sports, fitness and healthy choices at a young age

• Support the tri-county region as a place of choice for spending family recreation time and dollars

• Support area school athletics and community athletic programs with new and year-round sports opportunities

• Provide attractive space for community use

• Enhance value of the region for economic development as support in attracting and retaining good employees/employers and maintaining a stable population

• Be self-sustaining through active participation and memberships

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The Project 

A 33,000-square-foot wellness and community center located on 5 acres on Highway 24 on the eastern edge of Camp Point. The West Central Illinois Community Centers (WCICC) is designed as Phase II of a regional Community Centers project that includes the Mt. Sterling YMCA. The cost of the project is $3.6 million. The WCICC will include a Teen Center, three community multipurpose rooms, two pools (a cool water 6-lane lap pool and a warm water therapy pool), a fitness track with weight and exercise area, locker rooms, offices and room for future development of a gymnasium. Programming will include: Senior Programming, Youth Programming, Intergenerational and Family Activities and Exercise, Aqua-therapy, and Healthy Choices and Wellness Education

Regional Partnerships

Many community groups, agencies, and service providers will work together to provide the health activities and programming that will take place in the center. Some of those groups include: The rural school districts, the YMCA of Quincy, University of Illinois Extension Service, Head Start, PACT, Area Agency on Aging, senior citizen centers, county public health departments, Illinois Department of Health and Human Services through Teen REACH and mental health services, John Wood Community College, rural nursing homes, park districts, daycare providers, industries, churches, community organizations, rural health clinics, rural hospitals rehabilitative services and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Center for Rural Health Education and Research.

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Who We Will Serve:

The Need for A Rural Health Center

While the WCICC will effectively serve families who seek fitness and recreation opportunities on a membership basis, the WCICC will be much more than a community and fitness center. Important programming will address critical needs of rural health, senior adult health and youth at risk in our area.

The service area for the proposed wellness center includes the four community school districts of eastern Adams County, Brown County, and southern Hancock County . Of the 3,442 students enrolled in 1999, 442, or 12.8% live in poverty and nearly 40% qualify for federal food subsidies.

Eighteen percent of the region's 19,000 citizens are elderly, half again more than the state's average of 12% elderly.

Of the rural elderly, 17% live in poverty

The region has many low-income senior housing facilities, as well as residential facilities for mentally ill and physically and developmentally adults. Four nearby rural nursing homes will benefit from therapies offered through the center.

Governance and Operations

The WCICC is a 501(c) (3) non-profit governed by a local board of regional representatives. Once it is built, the WCICC intends to operate the center under contract with the Quincy YMCA. A business plan shows how, through membership estimates based on the actual experience of the Mt. Sterling YMCA, the WCICC will be self-sustaining.

Phase Two, located east of Camp Point, Illinois will have a regional aquatherapy center which will serve both locations. It will include a community gym, locker rooms, a multipurpose room, weight and exercise room, teen center, offices and an aqua-therapy complex. The aqua-therapy complex would be centrally located within the region between the four school districts and four nursing homes at the phase two campus. The aqua-therapy complex will include two pools. One pool that can be used for exercise classes, cardiovascular training, swimming instruction, water sports and family activities. The other part of the complex will be a warmer therapy pool that will house the arthritis exercise classes and therapeutic interventions for the population with disabilities.

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Leadership

Steering Committee

Margie and Roger Mohrman, Camp Point - honorary co-chairs
Earl Bricker, County Extension Office, Economic Development
Jerry Gunn, Camp Point
Anne Hunsaker, Camp Point
Deanne Miller, Golden
Troy Parks, Loraine
Penny Padgett, Camp Point
Dr. Debra Phillips, Golden
Paul Pogue, Ursa
Jim Thompson, Quincy
Dan Wilson, Golden

Board of Directors

Dr. Debra Phillips, Golden
Martin Cook, Superintendent, Central School District
Dan Gannon, Augusta
Anne Hunsaker, Camp Point
Gerhard Jung, Bowen
Deanne Miller, Golden
Michael Owen, Superintendent, Southeastern School District
Penny Padgett, Camp Point
Jan Pritchard, Clayton
Roman J. Salamon, Camp Point
Ed Teefey, Mt. Sterling
Pastor Jim Trutwin, Golden

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