WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 03, 2008
by Jenn DankoChicago-> DuPageElmhurst Memorial Healthcare is responding to a commercial healthcare trend that puts patient convenience first.
Healthcare facility developer Hammes Co. is spearheading the development of a new 50-acre integrated campus that will include a mix of inpatient, outpatient and medical office buildings near the intersection of York and Roosevelt Roads in Elmhurst.
"You've got everything you need right in one place," says Dave Connolly, vice president of Hammes Co., developer of the project.
Currently, an 180,000 square foot outpatient facility resides on 15 acres of what will eventually become one sprawling medical campus.
The entire site will be expanded to include an 866,000 square foot inpatient facility stretching over 50 acres of land. The new hospital will also include 259, private-room beds, 15 operating rooms and four special procedure rooms. The building's interior design will use natural light and other features to create a "non-institutional" feel and include amenities such as room service on request.
The current Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare facility is located at 200 Berteau Avenue in Elmhurst and includes 427 licensed beds. Connolly says that while the number of inpatient beds at the new hospital will be cut nearly in half, all of the rooms will be privatized, thus allowing for more efficient care.
"The Berteau campus will still be used for outpatient services and some inpatient care," he notes.
With healthcare development trends leaning towards outpatient versus inpatient services, Connolly says the one million square foot development adheres to the climate of current healthcare trends.
"It's the whole notion of one stopping shopping," he says of the campus. "Visiting patients also have procedures done. In the case of an integrated campus like this, all of the departments will be close together but integrated with other services because patients rarely have more than one morbidity."
In addition to the new hospital, two 90,000 square foot MOBs are being planned to open in the fall of 2011, when the entire campus is slated for completion. One building will be focused on cardiac care and the other on women's services and cancer care.
Connolly says that the location of the new facility trumps the Berteau facility which is essentially located in the middle of developed neighborhood and has no room to modify itself to meet patient demands for more outpatient and medical office-based services.
"The key here is access. We will be adjacent to Roosevelt and York Road, which is a major thoroughfare," Connolly adds.
The hospital and surrounding land will also include extensive landscaping and be surrounded by green spaces, ponds and healing gardens to create a building in a garden concept.
Construction on the new Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare campus broke ground on May 2, 2008.
More Articles
