Your chance to weigh in on Lindenhurst hospital plan
Lake County residents will get a chance to weigh in on Vista Health Systems' proposed new hospital in Lindenhurst during a public hearing Thursday.
The proposal calls for building a 190,836-square-foot, 132-bed acute care hospital near Deep Lake Road and Route 132 on the site of the existing Vista Surgery Center. The cost is more than $106 million.
Vista officials declined to comment before the public hearing at 10 a.m. at Lake Villa Township Community Center West Campus, 37850 N. Route 59, Lake Villa.
For more than a year, Vista has been trying to gain approval for its hospital plan. An earlier proposal for a roughly 140-bed hospital at a price tag of $100 million received an intent to deny in April from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
What cleared the way for Vista was rival Advocate Health Care dropping its proposal for a 144-bed, $251 million hospital in Round Lake because of its merger with Libertyville-based Condell Medical Center in May.
Vista President and CEO Barbara J. Martin said in an earlier written statement the proposed Lindenhurst facility is intended to complement and strengthen Vista's two Waukegan hospitals that have a track record of providing Medicaid and charity care.
Vista is licensed for 407 beds for its two Waukegan hospitals. If the Lindenhurst hospital is approved, the health care provider proposes to eliminate 108 beds at Vista East Hospital in Waukegan to address the planning board's concern about an overabundance of hospital beds in the region.
Vista's latest Lindenhurst proposal was revised to add 32 medical surgical beds - per the planning board's suggestion in September - which upped the project cost.
The deadline for submitting written comments on the project is 9 a.m. Nov. 26. Mail comments to Mike Constantino, Supervisor, Project Review Section, Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, 525 W. Jefferson St., 2nd Floor, Springfield, IL 62761.
The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board will consider Vista's revised hospital plans at its meeting Dec. 16-17. If approved, it would be the first new hospital in Lake County in 30 years.