Bob Ritz, president and CEO of St. John’s Hospital, unveiled the project at a news conference March 31 in the Dove Center at Prairie Heart Institute, attended by St. John’s department heads, physicians, nurses and other personnel. Mike Houston, chairman of St. John’s Board of Directors and former mayor of Springfield; Stephanie McCutcheon, president and CEO Hospital Sisters Health System; and Dave Olejniczak, Chief Operating Officer, St. John’s Hospital, participated in the press conference.
A CON application was submitted to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board for the surgery project in late March, and a second CON on the patient rooms will be submitted to the state agency this month for approval. The cost for both projects is $162 million. The surgery project would be completed in 2013; the patient tower completed in 2014.
“Over the past three years we have carefully evaluated how to transform our hospital facilities to best meet the needs of our patients,” Ritz said. “The proposed surgery and patient tower projects are part of our comprehensive Master Facility Plan designed to modernize our campus, enabling us to offer patients and their loved ones an enhanced healing environment while delivering health care services in the most efficient manner.”
If approved, the new surgery department would replace the existing inpatient surgery department, built in the 1970s. It will have 16 surgical suites, be built to span Mason Street, allowing vehicular traffic to flow under the building, much like Prairie Heart Institute spans Seventh Street. The new surgery space will link to St. John’s Pavilion, to the patient tower and to Prairie Heart Institute.
“The new operating rooms will give surgeons and clinicians immediate access to the latest state-of-the art surgery technology, allowing a team member to reach into the ceiling or in a wall to access monitors, lighting and high-tech devices used during a procedure,” said Olejniczak.
Three two-story and four-story buildings at St. John’s will be torn down, as part of the project, and Ritz said there was some discussion about tearing down the hospital’s 13-story patient care tower — some sections of which date back to 1939. “But we decided against it because the building is structurally sound and an integral part of the hospital’s overall design.”
“The tower is a recognized landmark in Springfield,” said Sister Ritamary Brown, OSF, assistant administrator for mission and support services. “Our mission is to care for the sick and the poor. We are gathering artwork, other items for the new lobby. When people enter, we want them to know they are not only in a Catholic hospital, they are in a Franciscan place.”