Hospitals soothe pain and save lives, which is advertised by Peoria’s well-known medical centers. A less familiar facility is Kindred Hospital on Romeo B. Garrett Avenue, the community’s only for-profit hospital, which some may mistakenly think is where seriously ill or injured people go to die.

It’s not, according to Ted Paarlberg, CEO at Kindred-Peoria.

“Patients don’t come here to die,” he said. “Actually, we’re the opposite of palliative care. [Patients] come here very sick and we make them well.”

Palliative care ranges from keeping terminal patients comfortable to treating severe symptoms and medication side effects, but data show 69 percent of Kindred patients are discharged, most in less than a month.

Based in Louisville, Ky., Kindred Healthcare, Inc. reports $5 billion in annual revenue, according to Dun & Bradstreet, operating 100 long-term acute-care hospitals, 90 nursing/rehab facilities and hundreds of other services in 47 states. The corporation has four divisions: the hospital, home health, rehab care and skilled care, Paarlberg said.

“The reality is that non-profit and for-profit hospitals operate exactly the same way,” said Paarlberg, whose 30 years in health-care management and business, much in the Chicago area, has been in faith-based non-profits as well as for-profit models.

“Non-profits don’t have to pay investors, but hospitals have to operate efficiently, not in the red,” he continued. “If you don’t, you’re out of business. The playing field is level. That said, for the general populace, it’s immaterial.”

With 127 full-time employees, Kindred has an occupancy rate of almost 60 percent for its 50 beds, specializing in continued care, weaning patients off ventilators, and complex care such as dialysis. Most patients are referred from UnityPoint and OSF.

“We have a joint venture with Methodist and a relationship with OSF,” he said. “Peoria’s is a tremendous medical community [but] we’re different. There are no physicians on staff, but they’re in the building every day, doing rounds, and on call 24/7.

“Nobody else [around Peoria] does this,” Paarlberg continued. “Patients can’t get what we do at blended-care [hospitals] where after three to five days, they get people out, and nursing homes aren’t staffed for huge wounds, coping with major infections like we do. We have the experience and passion with transitional care, and give patients aggressive treatment and the attention that’s needed.”

Designated as a specialty-care facility, Kindred has found a niche in the last year, Paarlberg said.

“Frankly, we had a rocky start, with three owners and four CEOs in our first six years,” he said. “It was turbulent. We had no brand, really – it changed every day – and trust and credibility are huge.

“Without a track record, it was an uphill battle [dealing with] disruption,” he continued. “Traditional advertising wouldn’t have helped. Billboards don’t drive our business. Our outreach and ‘marketing,’ I guess, is within the medical community: internal, clinical partnerships, through referrals.

“In some ways, we’re still educating patients and their families so they understand [what we do],” he added. “Expectations are very important.”