New S. Elgin care center becoming more common

It's 10 a.m. on a Saturday and your youngster has a sore throat and raging fever.

Rather than tough it out until Monday or pay big bucks at an emergency room, Sherman Health officials want you to come to their newest location: a 16,000-square-foot immediate care center.

Sherman Family HealthCare will open Monday at the northwest corner of McDonald and Randall roads in South Elgin.

"I was very impressed when I first walked in," Terry Dunning, chairman of Sherman Hospital's board of directors, said during an open house for community leaders Tuesday night. "It's going to be a great addition to the South Elgin Community.

Doctors at the newest immediate care center --Sherman also operates centers Crystal Lake, Elgin and Algonquin -- also can treat broken bones, give stitches and perform mammograms.

Rick Floyd, Sherman president and chief executive officer, said the three other centers saw 122,000 visitors last year. "That should tell us people like the convenience," he said.

A quick tour Tuesday included an X-ray room, state-of-the-art CT scanner, physical therapy room and an enclosed kids area in the waiting room.

Decades ago, an immediate care center would have been a novelty for a hospital or medical group. Today, it's expected.

Rick Wade, vice president of the Chicago-based American Hospital Association, said opening immediate care centers provides more convenience and less cost for patients than the ER.

"People can't get to a doctor on the weekend -- it doesn't happen," Wade said. "If you go to an emergency room and it's not a real emergency, people will be treated before you, and that's frustrating."

Wade also said it can be a good way for health care groups to show their services and staff skills to potential patients.

"It makes people familiar with your hospital without having to go there," he added.

The South Elgin location, 2000 McDonald Road, will be open from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. For more information, call (847) 429-5000.

The immediate care center is just one of the Sherman Health's major projects.

By late 2009, hospital officials hope to open their new $310 million, 255-room hospital on the city's west side at Randall and Big Timber roads.

The 645,000-square-foot facility will have all private rooms and a 15-acre geothermal lake that will help heat and cool the facility.