SBL Cardiology and
Bed Expansion Project
Sarah Bush Lincoln is moving forward with its plans to build
a new Heart Center and add 20 medical surgical beds to the
hospital with construction set to begin in December.
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 cath lab, 15
exam rooms for the cardiac and pulmonary clinic, rehab gym,
stress testing, echo testing, pulmonary function testing, EKG,
and nuclear medicine. The second floor will house 20 additional
medical surgical rooms. 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, 514 cardiac cath cases were
performed, 889 were performed in calendar 2015. The cath lab
12 healthstyles
november 2016
performs diagnostic and interventional services. Interventional
Cardiologist Amit Dande, MD, Cardiologist Thomas Cahill,
MD, Cardiologist Michael LaMonto, DO, and Allyson Gough,
APN-BC, currently staff The Heart Center.
Sarah Bush Lincoln has experienced inpatient growth as well,
growing from 3,989 inpatient medical surgical admissions in
calendar year 2013 to 4,911 in calendar year 2015. 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 post-surgery
and for people with general illnesses such as pneumonia and
congestive heart failure.
The total cost of the project is $31,184,013 and will be financed
through a bond issuance, cash, pledges and gifts. It should be
completed by December 2019.
The addition will feature a drive-up canopied entrance with a
glass and metal façade on the west side and brick on the south
and east sides.