Silver Cross in the News
Silver Cross looks to enhance care JOLIET -- Will County is projected to be the second largest county in the state by 2030 with a population explosion reaching 1.1 million. And, Silver Cross has exciting plans to make sure the hospital will be ready to meet the health care needs of all area residents. Silver Cross will seek approval from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board in May to build a 289-bed replacement hospital in New Lenox. The hospital's plans have already received tremendous support from the community including elected officials, patients, businesses and organizations from Frankfort, Homer Glen, Lockport, Manhattan, Mokena and New Lenox. "Silver Cross Hospital has been a key partner in promoting health and well being in the community," said New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann. "By moving the hospital closer to the center of its primary service area, Silver Cross will improve access to care for thousands in the region." The new 70-acre campus at I-355 and U.S. 6 in New Lenox will feature a state-of-the-art 289-bed hospital. The family-friendly patient rooms will all be private and significantly larger to accommodate the latest technology brought to the patient's bedside. With much input from patients, nurses, doctors and other health care professionals and industry experts, the replacement hospital is designed to greatly enhance the quality of care provided. Nurses will spend less time walking back and forth between departments and more time caring for patients. "Nurses go into the profession to take care of patients," says Peggy Gricus, vice president of Patient Care Services at Silver Cross. "However, with the hospital's current layout, staff spends up to two hours per shift chasing down supplies and transporting patients. The new hospital's design provides for greater efficiencies, which will allow nurses to spend more time caring for patients at the bedside instead of running up and down the corridors." "The improved design will enhance patient safety, improve outcomes and provide an environment that promotes healing." '100 Top' care Silver Cross already has a long history of providing the highest quality health care in the region. For the past three years, Silver Cross has been recognized as a 100 Top Hospitals National Award winner by Thomson (formerly Solucient), a leading source of health care intelligence. The designation recognizes 100 hospitals annually for excellence in patient safety, clinical outcomes, treatment standards, efficiency, growth in services, and financial stability. Silver Cross is one of only 40 hospitals in the nation to achieve this accomplishment in the 14-year history of the 100 Top Hospitals award. "We are now at a crossroads," says Paul Pawlak, President and CEO of Silver Cross Hospital. "Looking to the future, we have the responsibility to ensure that we are able to continue to serve our patients and the community with 100 Top healthcare for the next 100 years. Yet, the reality is our facility is aging and can't keep pace with 21st century technology. It would be irresponsible to keep investing in facilities that will not provide our patients with a superior experience." Hospital partnership When the replacement hospital opens in 2011, families will have convenient access to even more pediatric specialists from Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. For the past 11 years, Children's Memorial pediatricians have only been caring for newborns and children in the hospital 24 hours, seven days a week. With the additional space at the new hospital, Children's Memorial doctors will have offices on the New Lenox campus. Parents will no longer have to travel to Chicago to see pediatric specialists. Karl and Gayle Maurer, of New Lenox, were excited to learn about the expanded partnership with Children's Memorial. Their 5-year-old son was born with serious health conditions, including a heart defect that required months of recovery at Children's Memorial. The couple spent almost every waking moment at the Chicago hospital while family and friends looked after their other three children. "When a child is as sick as our son, the distance between home and hospital is more than just an inconvenience," says Karl Maurer. "It adds indescribable levels of stress to what is already an insanely stressful situation. Words cannot express the peace of mind that Will County families would experience if there were pediatric specialists a few miles away instead of 40 miles." New Lenox School Board President Beth Brouwer agrees that having more specialists right here in Will County will save many families from making the trip to Chicago allowing them to stay close to home, work, school and their support system. Since Silver Cross announced its plans to build a replacement hospital in the Center of Will County at I-355 and I-80 other major academic institutions have also approached hospital administrators about opportunities at the new facility. "They are eager to treat the people of Joliet, New Lenox and Will County in a more accessible state-of-the-art facility," says Pawlak. Pending approval from the state, Silver Cross plans to break ground this summer for a physician office building opening on the new hospital campus in 2009. Medical centers The residents of Homer Glen and surrounding communities will soon get a glimpse of the hospital's improved services when Silver Cross opens a 30,000-square-foot medical center at 143rd and Bell Road later next month. The two-story, $11.5 million facility is replacing the existing medical center at the same location. "The original building was not designed to accommodate the population growth and advancements in service and technology," says Pawlak. "Over the years, we have seen an increasing number of patients from the area use more outpatient services at the hospital, so we wanted to make these services available closer to home." The Homer Glen medical center will offer high-tech diagnostic imaging including MRI, CT and X-ray services and several primary and specialty care physician offices. By the end of the year, area residents will be able to receive walk-in urgent 24 hours, 7 days a week at the new and improved center from the same group of physicians that treat 50,000 patients a year at Silver Cross Hospital. In designing and creating the model of care at the new center, Silver Cross conducted several community focus groups and solicited input from the medical community. "We learned that patients want their care to be personalized yet uncomplicated, so we have invested in trained staff and technology to make each patient's experience seamless," says Theresa Quinn, director of ambulatory care. "We recognize that in today's society, everyone's time is valuable. Therefore we want to give our patients options in how they access our services while providing them with the very best Silver Cross experience possible." Last spring, Silver Cross received state approval to build a similar yet larger facility in Frankfort--just northeast of U.S. 45 and U.S. 30. Silver Cross will break ground later this year and plans to open the Frankfort facility in 2009. To learn more about how Silver Cross Hospital's expansion plans or show you support for the Replacement Hospital, visit www.silvercross.org or call (815) 740-1100. For a referral to a physician on staff at Silver Cross, call (888) 660-HEAL. Silver Cross is a not-profit healthcare provider serving the residents of Will, Grundy and Southwestern Cook counties since 1895. 
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