Vista Health Systems breaks ground on Lindenhurst emergency center

After years of waiting for approval to build a hospital in northwest Lake County, Vista Health Systems broke ground Wednesday on what they described as their next best option - a free-standing emergency center.

The Lindenhurst Freestanding Emergency Center, located at Grand Avenue and Deep Lake Road, will provide closer emergency center access for residents of north central and northwest Lake County. Typically, an ambulance drive to transport a patient to a hospital now ranges from 20 to 30 minutes for parts of Lake County, said Lake Villa Rescue paramedic Don Paulsen.

"That's with lights and sirens on," said Paulsen, who stressed the importance of the new center. "The first hour is what they call the golden hour."

Vista hopes to have the $3.9 million center, which will provide 24-hour emergency access, up and running by January 2011. The 4,235-square-foot expansion to Vista's existing outpatient campus will contain six treatment rooms, a trauma room, access to MRI, CT and ultrasound scans and a diagnostics lab.

Barbara Martin, president and CEO of Vista, stressed the company still hopes to build a hospital in the area. She added the state of Illinois has not approved a new hospital in nine years.

"Certainly we had hoped to have a hospital groundbreaking, but that's coming," Martin said. "If we couldn't get a hospital, the next best thing was a free-standing emergency center.

The facility will not include inpatient beds for longer term care, but will have the ability to transport patients via helicopter or ambulance, Martin said.

Vista submitted an application to build the emergency center in May, after several years of attempts to build a hospital.

State legislation to allow for a free-standing emergency center passed in February, and Vista's application was approved in June.

"When something as important as this needed to be done, it needed to be done," said state Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat and sponsor of the bill. "We are going to see a hospital in Lake County in my lifetime."

Lindenhurst Mayor Susan Lahr said she was excited about the facility and the new jobs it will bring to the village. Vista estimates the center will add about 50 jobs.

"I'm so glad today finally came. It's been a long haul," Lahr said. "One word that best describes the way we got here today is perseverance."

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital built a similar free-standing emergency center in November 2009 in Grayslake.