HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital Beginning Emergency Department Renovation

HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital is beginning the first phase of a three-phased renovation of the Emergency Department. Hospital officials say the renovation will provide more safety, security and privacy for patients in a more efficient design. The first phase of the renovation will begin on Tuesday, February 6.

This phase of renovation will include closing the current outpatient entrance located next to the Emergency entrance on Mulberry Street. The Emergency entrance (the south most door under the canopied entrance), will remain open for access to the Emergency department.

The outpatient entrance (the north door under the canopied entrance) will be closed starting February 6, which means that patients and their family members coming to the hospital for outpatient testing or surgical procedures should enter the hospital through the Prairie Heart Institute covered entrance off of Maple Street. This entrance will be the hospital’s new outpatient entrance moving forward, even after the Emergency department renovation is completed. Patients should park in the designated patient parking areas in front of the Prairie Heart entrance or in the outpatient parking area immediately south of the ambulance garage. Valet parking services will be available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The Emergency Department renovation is designed to improve patient and visitor safety while enhancing patient experience. The hospital previously vacated the registration area located next to the Emergency department by decentralizing registration, allow patients to register in their areas of service. That provides the room for the Emergency department to expand its square footage through this renovation, from approximately 8,000 square feet to 13,000 square feet, and will include 17 private rooms, the same number of beds that currently exist in a smaller area.

Private patient triage, confidential registration functions, and more restroom facilities will be provided with this renovation. The revised layout of the nurses’ station will allow staff to have a line-of-sight to each patient treatment area. Also with this renovation, the security office will be relocated to the entrance of the Emergency department to improve the safety and security of the department. The renovated department will also provide rooms designed to help keep behavioral health patients safe, with special furnishings and equipment. The cost of the entire renovation, including life safety improvements, will be $6.6 million.

Deb Murbarger, Director of Emergency Services, Convenient Care and Respiratory Care, shared why the hospital is renovating the Emergency department. “The current Emergency department opened in 1992 which is over 25 years ago. While it was state-of-the-art then, we are making improvements to enhance safety, security, and efficiency of the department,” she explained. “We are focused on making sure the over 24,000 annual visitors to our Emergency department and their families have the highest quality care in the most comfortable, safe environment possible.”

The second and third phases of the Emergency department renovation will begin as each previous phase is completed. Dennis Baker, Director of Facilities Management, explained, “Since we can’t close the Emergency department down to conduct the renovation, we have to phase it so that the physicians, colleagues and EMS can continue to provide emergency services to those who need them,” he said. “So when one phase of the renovation is completed, the physicians and staff will move their operations into the area that was just completed, once the Illinois Department of Public Health approves, and we can begin the next phase, working on the area that has been vacated.”

The entire three phases are expected to be complete in December 2019. Murbarger expressed, “We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience as we undergo this renovation project. Our ultimate goal is to enhance the Emergency department for everyone who needs it.”

For more information about HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital’s Emergency department renovation project, contact Dennis Baker, Director of Facilities Management, at 217-347-1245 or emaildennis.baker@hshs.org. More information about the renovation project, including a campus map and parking directions, can be found at stanthonyshospital.org.