By Patrick Yeagle
HSHS St. John's Hospital broke ground for a new outpatient center on June 27.
To be located at 400 N. Ninth St., across from the existing hospital, the new facility will focus on care for women and children.
“Providing access, convenience and the best possible care for our patients has been at the forefront of our minds in this planning process,” said Charles Lucore, president and CEO of St. John’s. “We want to provide an optimal outpatient environment for women and children to receive care and physicians to practice as we carry on the mission of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis.”
The $48.4-million project (PDF) will include a four-story facility with 85,000 square feet of space housing a lab and pharmacy, pediatric rehabilitation, pediatric cardiology services, mammography and other imaging tests, pediatric orthopedics and general surgery, maternal-fetal medicine, a pediatric multi-specialty clinic, obstetrics and gynecology. A skybridge across Ninth Street will connect the new building with the existing St. John's Children's Hospital, and a new parking garage will also be built on the site.
The new facility will offer patients access to providers from SIU Medicine, HSHS Medical Group and St. John’s Hospital.
“This facility will allow our physicians to coordinate in-patient and out-patient specialty care and primary care for women and children in a convenient location to ensure all aspects of care are done effectively and efficiently,” said Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean of SIU School of Medicine and CEO of SIU Medicine.
A café and healing garden are also part of the design. Because the building will sit adjacent to the site of homes razed during Springfield's 1908 race riot, the design of the healing garden will incorporate elements to memorialize that history.
“We are also planning a formal remembrance inside the building to highlight the importance of the site that remains to the south of the site and the HSHS Sisters’ role in the healing process for the victims and the community,” said Dr. E.J. Kuiper, president and CEO of HSHS Central Illinois Division.
The project is slated for completion in August 2018.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
