By Hayley Graham

Health and Environment Reporter

hgraham@daily-journal.com

815-929-5408

A growing reputation has made for growing needs at Riverside Medical Center. To address the demand, the hospital revealed its plan for a $65 million modernization project Monday. The plan, to be completed in January 2011, will nearly double the size of existing patient areas.

 

While still in the planning stages, hospital officials expect to break ground in June 2009, depending on the approval process. This will be the largest expansion at the hospital since it opened in 1964.

 

"We're committed to the community and economic development, and we're excited to get started on the project," Riverside President and CEO Phil Kambic said. Riverside plans to submit the project to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board for approval this fall. Riverside is increasingly becoming an institution where other local hospitals send patients for certain procedures, which is creating a demand for larger, more up-to-date space. "We're getting the reputation of being a state-of-the-art quality institution," Kambic said. The modernization will address the hospital's need for more space as volume increases and technology changes. The majority of the project will take place at the rear of the hospital.

 

The 160,000 square feet of new construction and 45,000 square feet of renovated space will include 12 newly designed operating rooms, 18 new private intensive care units, 24 new private patient rooms, additional support space, seven modern labor, delivery and recovery rooms, and one dedicated Caesarean section operating room. The architect for the project has not yet been chosen, Kambic said. Riverside will have private rooms that can accommodate patients' family members with a sofa bed, Wi-Fi Internet access and a family-friendly bathroom. Research has shown that when patients have private rooms the healing process is faster and there is less chance of infection and injury.

 

"We're thinking about the plan as how to include the family," said Maggie Frogge, senior vice president of Corporate Strategy. Frogge said the hospital will honor requests from patients who prefer a roommate. Throughout the planning process, hospital officials spoke to patients, family members, doctors and nurses to incorporate their needs. "The biggest thing we learned is to listen to the surgeons, because they see how technology will advance in the future," Frogge said.

 

One of the project's largest undertakings is updating the hospital's operating rooms. Minimally invasive procedures are being used more often, which require more doctors and nurses and larger technological equipment. Since the use of these procedures is expected to increase, the remodeled operating rooms must be larger.