MATTOON -- Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System has submitted plans to the state to build a new heart center and add 20 medical-surgical beds to the hospital.
An application for a certificate of need on the $31 million project was submitted to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in early May.
If approved, the expansion is expected to be built by December 2019.
The addition, which is planned for the southeast side of the health center, will span 65,235 square feet. The ground floor will house staff office space, facility and environmental services, and mechanical rooms. The first floor will consolidate cardiac services, including the addition of a second cardiac catheterization lab, 15 examination rooms for the cardiac and pulmonary clinic, rehabilitation gym, stress testing, echo testing pulmonary, EKG and nuclear medicine.
People are also reading…
The second floor will house 21 additional medical-surgical rooms; however, an existing bed will be lost due to construction. The entire addition will be connected to each adjacent floor of the health center, including a new elevator going to the third and fourth floors.
Erica Stollard, director of planning, explained that through a partnership with Prairie Heart Institute of Illinois, the volume of cardiology services has grown greatly in the last few years. While in calendar year 2013, SBL performed 514 cardiac cath cases, the number had grown to 889 in calendar year 2015. The cath lab performs diagnostic and interventional cases. It is currently staffed by cardiologist Thomas Cahill and interventional cardiologist Amit Dande. A third cardiologist, Michael LaMonto, will be joining the heart center in the fall.
Sarah Bush Lincoln also has experienced inpatient growth as well, growing from 3,989 inpatients medical surgical admissions in calendar year 2013 to 4,911 in calendar year '15. At the same time, the average daily census grew from 53.6 to 61.2. The medical-surgical beds are used to care for adults after surgery and for people with general illnesses such as pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
The $31,184,013 project cost will be financed through a bond issuance, cash, pledges and gifts. If approved by the Health Facilities and Services Review Board, construction would begin in the fall and be complete by December 2019.
The addition will feature a drive-up canopied entrance with a glass and metal facade on the west side and brick on the south and east sides.
