Time is now for new CL hospital

If you live in McHenry County, chances are you’ve heard a lot about hospitals lately.

Mercy Health System has proudly served the people and families of McHenry County since 1995 with 16 medical facilities and hundreds of doctors and support staff throughout northern Illinois.

The President of the United States recently presented Mercy with the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award — the highest level of recognition for performance excellence an organization can receive.

Mercy wants to build on that level of service, that commitment to the community and that proven success in providing quality health care by constructing a new nonprofit hospital in Crystal Lake at Three Oaks Road and Route 31.

For that to happen, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning and Services Review Board must determine that a new hospital is needed. Our proposal is based specifically on the facts and data showing the need for a hospital in Crystal Lake. It would serve close to 164,000 people, representing 46 percent of the county’s population who currently have no hospital, full-service emergency room or hospital-based outpatient services.

If the state grants its certificate, Mercy would break ground later this year. That translates to approximately 800 construction-related jobs in 2011 and 850 full-time hospital jobs when the facility opens in 2014, along with hundreds of millions in generated revenue.

A competing bid is calling for a new hospital in Huntley. But that bid would not see construction until 2014. In Crystal Lake, the need is now.

Mercy’s focus has always been on serving the community by providing quality, affordable health care where the most people live where it’s needed. And right now, that’s in Crystal Lake.

For more information about our proposal, visit www.mercyhealthsystem.org.

Rich Gruber

Vice President

Mercy Health System