Harrisburg Medical Center getting needed facelift

After 51 years of loyal service Harrisburg Medical Center will be getting a new look, as well as a planned expansion of the operation.

CEO Rodney Smith held a press conference at the HMC executive boardroom Tuesday morning. He said plans for the expansion began earlier this year. HMC executives invited a consulting company to come and look at disease trends and services needed for this area. They came back with a plan that HMC staff gave to a medical architecture firm, which is working to finalize the expansion plans.

"The emergency room is in desperate need of expansion," Smith said.

Construction of the emergency room, originally slated to handle 6,000 visits a year, happened in 1995. Two decades later, the emergency room gets 13,000 visits a year, he said.

The expansion also includes plans to make changes in the hospital's surgery department, such as constructing new surgery suites and expanding staging for that department. This plan will also implement a new orthopedic service at the hospital.

"We serve a lot of elderly patients and it is hard for them to get out and travel long distances," Smith said. "This is what we are here for to serve our local community."

Now, Harrisburg Medical Center serves five counties and most of the southern half of the state with their behavioral health facility.

The new plan will also include an expansion of the behavioral health center, adding 16 beds to the unit, which stays full every day, Smith said.

The emergency room expansion will add a larger waiting room, private financial consultation rooms and the beds to serve more people needing emergency care. The projected cost run between $12 million and $15 million and will take close to eight months to complete.

Project funding will come from HMC Foundation donations as well as financing through local banks.

"Many banks are interested in the project," Smith said. "Financing will not be an issue."

Groundbreaking will take place late summer early fall, possibly sometime in September, according to Smith.

The project will create several new jobs for Southern Illinois people. The addition of new beds in the behavioral health they will require more nurses, the orthopedic services will also allow for more physicians and nurses.

The state Department of Public Health still needs to finalize the plans before construction can begin.