Elmhurst Memorial Hospital completes move

“Watch the arms. OK now. All right my dear, good luck and I'll see you in a bit.”

With that reassuring send off from nurse Christine Daly, paramedics wheeled Elmhurst Memorial Hospital's last patient into an ambulance bound for the institution's new main campus Saturday.

The 1920s hospital where countless newborns first looked out on the world, families paced the floors as loved ones underwent surgeries, and doctors treated everything from tonsillectomies to appendectomies transformed into an outpatient facility this weekend.

At Elmhurst Memorial Hospital's new main campus four miles away near York and Roosevelt roads, meanwhile, cheers greeted patient Susan Thomas as the ambulance doors opened.

“We saved the best for last,” a nurse said. “Wow,” Thomas said, looking up at the imposing, 866,000-square-foot Prairie-style structure.

“Wow,” she said again, settling into a brand-new bed with a view that showed a far-off Willis Tower in downtown Chicago. “It's beautiful.”

After a week of storms including tornado touchdowns, hospital administrators permitted themselves a moment to exhale at Thomas' arrival under sunny skies.

The Bensenville resident was the 100th patient to be transferred, part of an elaborate choreography involving 20 ambulances and double staffing.

“The weather was our biggest concern but as it turned out, it was a terrific day,” Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare CEO W. Peter Daniels said. “It was about as smooth as it could get.”

Hospital wars

Elmhurst Memorial is one of several regional hospitals reinventing themselves amid a high-stakes, competitive health care climate.

Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton opened a new facility in 2006 as did Elgin's Sherman Hospital in 2009. Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago will finish a replacement — Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital — a year from now.

But getting approval for a hospital that's not a replacement from the controversial Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is difficult — Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital constructed in 2008 being the exception.

Naperville's Edward Hospital still is attempting to build a second campus in Plainfield despite continued denials. The Plainfield project contributed to the downfall of Gov. Rod Blagojevich after federal prosecutors in 2005 linked his associates to shakedowns of Edward's CEO in a pay-for-play scam involving the health board.

Meanwhile this week, Mercy Health Systems again will ask the health board to approve a news 128-bed hospital in Crystal Lake — its first request was granted but approval was rescinded after prosecutors alleged a scheme similar to the one involving Edward had occurred.

Mercy's request goes head-to-head with a proposal from Centegra Health Systems to build a rival 128-bed hospital in Huntley.

Opening day

The hospital soap operas playing out across the region weren't lost on CEO Daniels. Elmhurst Memorial's $450 million investment in its future “puts us in a state-of-the-art position,” he said.

Frank Lloyd Wright decor, earth tones, and an influx of natural light can be as effective as antibiotics, officials said. “We're trying to provide a holistic, healing environment,” Daniels said.

Thomas' room in the original hospital could best be described as institutional. A couple of uncomfortable chairs, drab linoleum with yellow and green walls and a window looking out on a brick wall completed the decor.

On Tuesday when storms cut power, “I looked up and there was water dripping from a pipe that burst,” said Thomas, who is being treated for pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas.

She agreed that surroundings can make a difference.

“My mom died of cancer … I wish she could have had a better (hospital) environment.”

Around 11 a.m., a team of paramedics and nurses readied Thomas for the trip.

Hospital staff started at the crack of dawn, shutting down the ER at the old hospital and reopening at the new campus at 5 a.m.

For employees, the mood ranged from giddy to wistful

“The hospital's pretty much empty — if we feel like a wheelchair race, we can go ahead,” one worker said.

“It's emotional — I can't forget the old place, it's in my heart,” a cafeteria staffer said.

Patient moves began at 6:30 a.m. and finished with Thomas at 11:30 a.m.

“My biggest concern was getting the critical care patients transferred,” ER physician Michelle Meziere said.

Thomas' move went seamlessly. As nurses adjusted equipment and pillows, she settled down and looked at the horizon. “I like the view,” she said.

New patients were already being admitted including two women who were in labor as of midmorning.

Wood Dale mom Michelle Pajda's daughter, Makayla, was born in the old hospital on Thursday but became the first patient in the new facility Saturday, arriving to applause.

“I don't know where to start,” Pajda said of the new quarters. “It's like a five-star hotel.”

The 6-pound, 12-ounce infant slept through the entire trip, Pajda said. “She didn't even know.”