PEORIA MAGAZINE April 2022

B U S I N E S S N E W S

BIZ BITS

UnityPoint Health-Methodist will purchase Heddington Oaks, Peoria County’s former nursing home inWest Peoria, for its Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Center. “UnityPoint Health – Central Illinois has had a long-time commitment to behavioral health. We opened Peoria’s first inpatient mental health unit at Methodist Medical Center in 1954. Today, we are the largest provider of behavioral health services in the region,” saidDr. Keith Knepp, President andCEO of UnityPoint Health-Central Illinois. “Our current Child and Adolescent unit does not prov ide us the atmosphere, space or resources we need to effectively treat children and adolescents. That’s why we’re prepared

the number of beds now available. Donations toward the project can be made at youngmindsproject.org/ donate or by calling 309-672-5741. Peoria-based Maui Jim is being sold to Kering Eyewear, a multi-national luxury goods company headquartered in Paris, France. Maui Jim, headquartered in Peoria since 1996 and now located at One Aloha Lane on the northwest side of the city, is the world’s largest independent sunglasses brand. “ The combinat ion of Ker ing Eyewear and Maui Jim is a once-in a-lifetime opportunity for both of our organizations,” Walter Hester, CEO of Maui Jim, said in a press release released by Kering. “Our companies

tomake a significant investment toward creating a new center where the Young Minds Project can unfold.” On average, 60 children are admitted to the inpatient behavioral health unit at Methodist every month, said Knepp. Most of the roughly 2,600 children and adolescents that have been turned away in the last five years had to go to Chicago or were denied the care they needed. Many area school districts, meanwhile, are reporting significant increases in the number of children struggling with mental health issues arising from the pandemic and other pressures. This investment — $25million in total, including the up to $10 million to be paid to the county – will nearly double

64 APRIL 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE