Edward gets approval for Plainfield cancer center

Even without approval for an actual hospital at its 60-acre Plainfield campus, Edward Hospital officials continue to expand services in the area.

The state's Health Facilities Planning Board today approved Edward's plans for a new outpatient cancer center in Plainfield, officials said.

The project will cost about $18 million and use both new construction and some of the unused space in the existing Edward Plainfield Outpatient Center.

The cancer center will be about 30,000 square feet, which is roughly two-thirds the size of its Naperville counterpart, said Brian Davis, vice president of communications.

The cancer center joins the campus' outpatient medical services center and surgery center, which is slated to open in spring 2008.

Davis said the new building fills a need for the area, but officials also hope it will help with their application to build a full-service hospital in Plainfield.

"We now have a significant presence in Plainfield with one obvious gap," Davis said. "We hope that the hospital component will be approved in December."

Davis said the outpatient cancer center fills a need for patients in the hospital's southern service area of Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Yorkville and Oswego who have to drive to the Naperville campus currently for treatment.

Hospital officials will be back in front of the state board today to pitch a portion of its $100 million, five-year renovation and expansion proposal for its Naperville campus.