Provena project meets needs, plans for future

For years, the nursing staff at Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin has watched the $97 million tower rise from the ground.

Now, their anticipation has hit fever pitch as the 163,000-square-foot facility is on the cusp of opening.

"I had a person in here (one of the new 99 private rooms) the other day that said all we need is a fireplace," said nurse and fourth-floor manager Jill Meyers during a tour Tuesday morning. "We are thrilled, we are so excited."

The project, which began in 2005, is touted as a modernization and expansion.

In the end, it will result in 139 overall private rooms, the newest ones with amenities like a large bathroom and shower, a flat-screen TV and large picture window.

These days, medical leaders strive to make hospitals feel more like home for patients.

Each floor also is designed to allow the staff to personalize their care for patients.

For example, nurses aren't confined to a central area. They have computers on wheels that they plug into small desks just outside each patient's room.

In addition to four state-of-the-art operating rooms, Provena St. Joseph also boasts the only hybrid cardiac catheterization lab in the area.

Basically, it allows doctors to perform a variety of procedures -- even surgery -- if a high-risk heart patient takes a turn for the worse.

"The doctors are very much looking forward to it. You plan what you're going to do with a patient, but sometimes the road veers a little bit," said Leanna Ireland, the cardiac cath lab's lead radiological technologist.

Most patients will notice larger exam rooms so they aren't shuffled back and forth if they need multiple tests.

Instead, doctors and nurses will bring equipment to the patients.

Kathleen Mika, director of cardiopulmonary services, said the larger rooms give the hospital flexibility to grow and adapt as technology improves.

"It's with an eye to the future," she said. "This gives us flexibility for those new procedures."

The hospital performed more than 7,000 cardiac-related procedures last year.

Hospital officials had hoped to open the four-story building to patients this coming Sunday.

But the Illinois Department of Public Health still must give Provena officials a final permit to move equipment to the new location, said Alex Bacchetti, regional vice president of planning and marketing for Provena's northern Illinois region.

Hospital officials have planned an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The hospital is at 77 N. Airlite St. For details, call (847) 695-3200 or visit provena.org/saintjoseph.

The next new area will be open come fall, when construction on a 25,000-square-foot Regional Cancer Care Center is scheduled to conclude. Crews broke ground on the $7 million facility last year.