Silver Cross in the News
Silver Cross: Move will benefit patients, families It isn't easy to leave the Joliet home it has had for 100 years, especially after being named one of the nation's Top 100 health care enters for three years running, Silver Cross Hospital administrators say. But, they add, building a new $400 million "replacement facility" in New Lenox is the best way to put people first in area health care. The plan for a 289-room, 600,000-square-foot facility at the intersection of Interstate 355 and U.S. 6, unveiled last summer, sparked community controversy. Silver Cross Hospital officials point out the positives of leaving its current Joliet location and moving to New Lenox. 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 (below, left) at 143rd Street and Bell Road later next month. The two-story $11.5-million facility is replacing the existing medical center at the same location. A model of the future Silver Cross is on display. But emergency experts at Silver Cross say the New Lenox location will place the new hospital in the center of its main service area, as more than half its patients live outside Joliet. Silver Cross has outgrown its current campus on Joliet's east side, executives say, and simply doesn't have the space to make the upgrades it needs to remain competitive in the current health care arena. Because it would have to be done in phases, adding to the current Maple Road campus would have taken twice as long to build and cost much more, Silver Cross CEO Paul Pawlak said. Silver Cross decision-makers are responding to area demographic trends which show more young families moving into the area. The plan calls for more birthing rooms and a partnership with Children's Memorial Hospital that will bring that hospital's pediatric experts to Silver Cross. "That means our patients won't have to travel to Chicago to get the best doctors for sick children," Pawlak said. Calling it a "generational decision," Pawlak said, "It's easier to make the short-term popular decision than the harder long-term decision." The opening of the Silver Cross replacement facility in New Lenox, which still has to be approved by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, ushers in the newest research and a progressive patient care model, hospital officials say. All 289 rooms will be private and have plenty of room for both family members and movable medical equipment. By bringing equipment to patients, health care teams can minimize the risks of infection and injury. The new design also places nurses stations closer to the people they are caring for. "Nurses want to be with patients, that's why they went into nursing," said Peggy Gricus, vice president of patient care. The new hospital is the best medicine not only for patients, Silver Cross decision-makers say; it also happens to be good business. The replacement hospital project and campus redevelopment would directly create about 1,000 jobs in construction retail and service positions. A boost to Joliet and its taxpayers would be the return of the tax-exempt east side campus back to property and sales tax generating status. Silver Cross has committed to operating an urgent care center on the Joliet campus that will "provide for the poor and uninsured of the East Side," said Ruth Colby, vice president for strategic development at Silver Cross. "Our commitment to our community is deeply rooted," Colby said. Public hearings were held in Joliet and New Lenox in January to gather public input on the proposed move. Silver Cross must get the go-ahead from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board to close the Joliet hospital and build a new one in New Lenox. The board is the same regulatory body that has twice denied attempts by Edward Hospital in Naperville to obtain a certificate of need to build a hospital in Plainfield. The Silver Cross application to the board was completed Dec. 5, and consideration by the state board is tentatively scheduled for its May 20-21 meeting, according to information from the Illinois Department of Public Health. 
|
 IN THIS SECTION:
|