April 27, 2024
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State license awarded for Peru hospital

OSF announces Department of Public Health approval

By Tom Collins
Workers with TNT Lawn and Snow dump rocks for new landscaping on the main entrance of the former St. Margaret's Peru and Illinois Valley Community Hospital on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 in Peru. OSF Healthcare will open the Emergency department on Sunday, April 7, at 7a.m.

Workers with TNT Lawn and Snow dump rocks for new landscaping on the main entrance of the soon-to-be-reopened Peru hospital on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. OSF HealthCare announced it was awarded a license by the Illinois Department of Public Health, keeping OSF on pace to open the emergency department at 7 a.m. Sunday, April 7. (Scott Anderson)

OSF HealthCare cleared an additional regulatory hurdle in its effort to reopen the Peru hospital, still targeted for Sunday, April 7.

On Wednesday, OSF posted on one of its Facebook pages, OSF HealthCare – Illinois Valley, that the network moved “another step closer to opening OSF Saint Elizabeth – Peru.”

“The Illinois Department of Public Health conducted a licensing survey at the Peru hospital on March 5, and we received our license. Our phase one opening will include emergency services and limited inpatient beds, with additional programs and services to come in phase two. Stay tuned for updates as we start making a difference in Peru.”

Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski said Wednesday that he was pleased with the announcement.

“This is another giant step forward,” Kolowski said. “This just goes to show better days are ahead for the region.”

The April 7 opening date, which was announced Jan. 29, looks increasingly solid. That timeline was issued a year after the former Illinois Valley Community Hospital, then St. Margaret’s, closed in Peru.

“We are currently completing the IDPH life/safety survey process,” said Dawn Trompeter, president of OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center. “There are no other regulatory hurdles we need to meet to open the ED and limited inpatient services on day one. Once we are open, [the] joint commission will complete a survey, as well, before we will expand to 12 inpatient beds and provide outpatient services.

“We do not foresee any obstacles at this point and feel confident we will open on April 7.”

Diagnostic imaging, a laboratory, a pharmacy, EKG and respiratory services will be available to patients in the emergency department and inpatient unit, OSF has said. There still are elements that will need to be finalized before the official opening.