Good Samaritan sees two projects mark its 40 years in Downers Grove
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove sees the coming year as a milestone, marking its 40th anniversary and finishing two multimillion-dollar construction projects. More than a year ago, the hospital broke ground on a $78 million, three-story, 110,000-square foot addition on top of its existing West Pavillion. It will house 96 private patient rooms. Afterward, the existing 300 semiprivate rooms also will be converted to private rooms.
Elsewhere on the campus, Good Samaritan broke ground in late summer on a $13 million Cancer Care Center that continues construction with state-of-the-art technology and expanded care for cancer patients, said hospital President David Fox.
"These projects represent the last of our major projects for the foreseeable future," Fox said.
Both the Cancer Care Center and the new private room pavilion are expected to be open by 2017. The projects are being paid for by fundraisers, profits and the issuances of some bonds, Fox said.
In July, Good Samaritan also opened the Deb and Alan Feldman Cardiovascular Pavilion, which expanded its cardiac rehabilitation and diagnostics area.
These projects come at a time when the hospital will mark its 40th anniversary in 2016, and it plans a yearlong celebration.
"Forty years is a major milestone and we wouldn't be where we are today without the support of the community; for that we are grateful," Fox said.
The projects taking place in Downers Grove are not uncommon in the health care industry. Growing competition has many suburban hospitals on a building spree, adding private patient rooms, new cardiac and oncology centers and robotic surgery equipment, among other amenities patients are demanding.
New hospital construction and hospital mergers are the driving forces in health care today, as the industry has been shaken by competition and new federal regulations.
Good Samaritan is part of Oak Brook-based Advocate Health Care, which is expecting to hear later this month whether its merger with NorthShore University HealthSystem will be approved by the federal government. The merger would represent one of the largest in the state and the newly combined system would be called Advocate NorthShore Health Partners. It would then service about 3 million patients annually at 16 hospitals, including Good Shepherd in Barrington and Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
Before announcing the intent to merge with NorthShore, Advocate also merged with Elgin-based Sherman Health Systems in 2013, which includes Sherman Hospital.