Silver Cross unveils plans for behavioral health hospital
Silver Cross Hospital, in partnership with US HealthVest, unveiled plans to construct a $22 million, 100-bed behavioral health hospital.
An application for the proposed hospital will be submitted to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in the near future. If approved by the state, the proposed $22 million Silver Oaks Hospital will be located on five acres of Silver Cross Hospital's New Lenox campus.
Development of the two-story, 68,000-square-foot hospital will begin this summer, and it will open in 2019.
Silver Cross President and CEO Paul Pawlak said since the closing of the Tinley Park Mental Health Center in 2012 there has been a severe shortage of beds, forcing more than 60 percent of mental health and chemically dependent patients to leave the area for care.
"The lack of resources in Will and neighboring counties has left people going without treatment leading to the increase in addictions to opiates, heroin and alcohol in our community," Pawlak said.
Will and Grundy counties have no inpatient chemical dependency unit or services for women who have been abused or traumatized. Silver Cross currently operates a 20-bed inpatient unit for adults and offers adult outpatient treatment for mental health, chemical dependency and dual diagnosis.
"Last year set a new record for fatal heroin overdoses in Will County," said Larry Walsh, the Will County executive who has been working with Silver Cross and other community leaders to battle the epidemic. "This new hospital will be an important asset as we continue to fight heroin abuse in our county."
By partnering with US HealthVest, Silver Cross will offer inpatient and outpatient mental health and substance abuse services for youth, adults, and seniors. US HealthVest operates Chicago Behavioral Hospital, a 138-bed psychiatric hospital in Des Plaines, and is in the process of developing another psychiatric hospital in Chicago. US HealthVest operates two psychiatric hospitals in Atlanta and will open another psychiatric hospital near Seattle in mid-2017.
Silver Cross also has affiliations with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern Medicine for neurosciences, and Advocate Physician Partners