Rock Falls getting new walk-in imaging center for mammograms, MRIs

ROCK FALLS – Peoria-based OSF HealthCare is partnering with the new Imaging Centers of Illinois to open a retail imaging center in the former Illinois Bank & Trust building, 1609 First Ave., the companies said Monday in a news release.

OnCall Imaging Center will open in the spring in the 7,800-square-foot building, which has been largely vacant since May 3, 2019.

The center will offer non-invasive advanced imaging MRI, CT scans, ultrasounds, bone-density scans, and mammography. Self-scheduling, same-day access, and walk-in appointments will be available, the release said.

The building will be renovated to suit the services that will be offered, some of which still are being determined, said Mat Hanley, vice president of finance for OSF’s medical group.

Imaging Centers of Illinois, which is not part of OSF, formed for the purposes of forming this partnership, Hanley said. The new company was the impetus for opening in Rock Falls, which was one of several locations being scouted.

The building’s location – it’s at the corner of First Avenue/state Route 40 and U.S. Route 30, the busiest intersection in Rock Falls. – and ample parking were a plus, Hanley said, adding that OSF has been looking for a retail imaging opportunity for some time, for the convenience of patients and at the behest of insurers.

There is no other retail imaging center in the area. In Lee and Whiteside counties, comprehensive imaging services are offered only at KSB Hospital in Dixon and CGH Medical Center in Sterling.

It’s also OSF’s first venture into the two counties, Hanley said.

The new OnCall Imaging Center building was built in 2007 by Freedom Bank.

In March 2014, Dubuque, Iowa-based Heartland Financial USA Inc. bought the two Freedom banks in Sterling and Rock Falls from River Valley Bancorp, a Davenport, Iowa holding company.

After that acquisition, they were known as Riverside Community Bank. They then became an Illinois Bank & Trust, which, like Riverside, was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heartland.

Sterling-based Sauk Valley Bank bought the Sterling branch at 2403 Locust St., and the Rock Falls’ branch business only, from Heartland in 2019.

Illinois Bank & Trust retained the Rock Falls building until local reals estate developer Peter Harkness bought it in August 2021 for about $312,000, county records show.

The center will lease the building from Harkness, Hanley, said.

A Help at Home home care office was in the building for a time; it moved to 1101 Warp Road in Dixon in January.