13 new emergency rooms at Lutheran General

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital officials Wednesday cut the ribbon on a $40 million renovation and expansion of their Park Ridge emergency room.

The Simms Family Emergency and Trauma Center increases the capacity of both the adult and pediatric emergency departments - needed, hospital officials have said, because of an increase in the volume of patients.

The expansion has 13 new rooms: nine for adults, two for children, and two for observation. There's now a total of 40 rooms in the ER, officials said. It has earned a pediatric critical care center designation from the state.

"Our clinical leaders were intimately involved in the design of the new space," said Douglas Propp, the hospital's chair of emergency medicine, in a news release. "The work space optimizes open communication and collaboration. In addition the use of natural light creates a warm and friendly environment, hopefully appreciated by all. The treatment areas have been created to best meet the needs of our patients and their loved ones."

It's the first major construction project for the hospital in nearly six years, and took 18 months to build. It opens for patients Tuesday.

The center is named for the Simms family of Park Ridge, whose members have donated more than $5 million to the hospital in the past 50 years.