Edward expansion efforts in Plainfield continue

PLAINFIELD, Ill. — Despite having been rejected by state officials in an effort to build Edward Plainfield Hospital, the addition of facilities and expansion of services continues on the Edward Plainfield campus at 127th St. and Van Dyke Road.

On Monday, Sept. 14, residents will have access to Edward Plainfield Emergency Room, an upgrade of the current immediate care facility. Edward Plainfield Cancer Center begins seeing medical oncology patients on Sept. 1. Radiation therapy in the Cancer Center opens in December.

"With the addition of the ER and Cancer Center, Plainfield area residents will have access to nearly every outpatient service they could need," says Pam Davis, president & CEO of Edward. "And we'll continue to review the regulatory and economic environment to find the best time to bring forward another proposal to build Edward Plainfield Hospital."

Edward Plainfield ER

The Edward Plainfield ER will be staffed and equipped to handle a wide range of issues, from conditions currently handled in the immediate care to more complex emergencies.

“The new Edward Plainfield ER will be open 24/7 to take care of small emergencies, like high fevers and stitches, to more serious emergencies, such as asthma attacks and broken bones,” says Dr. Pete Schubel, medical director of the new ER. “We’ll also be there to handle orthopedic emergencies and serious sports injuries.”

The 7,900-square-foot, $5.7-million Edward Plainfield ER will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  Prior to the opening, the facility will continue to operate at an immediate care level.

The ER will be led and staffed by the team that operates Edward’s Naperville ER, one of the busiest in the nation. The Naperville ER is rated in the top one percent for patient satisfaction, according to a recent independent Press Ganey survey and among the highest percentage of certified ER nurses in the nation. Edward’s ER team has also been recognized as the most preferred for ER services in the region, according to a 2009 National Research Corporation survey.

The new facility, with 15 treatment stations, has an ambulance bay to receive basic life support (BLS) ambulance traffic. An advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) ambulance will be on-site and available 24 hours a day, year-round to transport cardiac and critical care patients, once they've been stabilized, to Edward Hospital in Naperville.
 
Edward Plainfield Cancer Center

Edward Plainfield Cancer Center, an $18-million, two-story, 30,000-square-foot facility, adjoins Edward Plainfield Outpatient Center and will offer convenient, comprehensive outpatient medical and radiation oncology services similar to those offered at Edward Cancer Center in Naperville. About 30 percent of those patients are from the Plainfield area.

The center will open in two phases. Medical oncology, on the second floor, will begin providing services on Sept. 1, including chemotherapy, clinical trial enrollment and treatment support.

Radiation oncology, on the first floor, will be available to patients in December and have the capability to deliver the most sophisticated and precise radiation treatment options available to target and remove tumors, including image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) delivered by the Trilogy linear accelerator.

The center features an eco-friendly rooftop garden, which is also designed to assist in treatment and healing. The garden will be visible and accessible to patients in the medical oncology area on the second floor and will feature a waterfall, a variety of trees and plants, a putting green and a trellis overhang to provide shade. Construction and landscaping of the rooftop garden is expected to be complete in December.

For more information, visit www.edward.org/plainfield.