The Sherman Health and Sherman Hospital Boards of Directors are pleased to announce their formal plans to build a replacement hospital at Big Timber and Randall roads and to redevelop the current hospital's Center Street Campus into a vibrant family healthcare facility.
"For 117 years Sherman has served the area's healthcare needs as a locally owned and governed organization," said Terry Dunning, Chairman, Sherman Hospital Board of Directors. "We've always put the community and our neighbors first, and this step will enable us to realize our vision—to continue to become one of the best community hospitals in the nation."
The replacement hospital will be built at the northeast corner of Randall and Big Timber roads in Elgin. This location is approximately four miles away from the current hospital. In addition to the replacement hospital, Sherman officials are dedicated to redeveloping the Center Street Campus into a family healthcare facility with outpatient and immediate care services. One important distinction is that this project is officially designated as a replacement hospital, not a new hospital, by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
Sherman officials cited the following reasons for moving ahead with this project:
- Being a regional medical center resting on just 13 acres of land, with no room to grow with our community in the future.
- A large increase in admissions in the past four years.
- Increased volume in Sherman's Emergency Department, which sees some of the highest volumes in the region.
- Increased costs associated with maintaining the current facility, parts of which date back to 1917.
"Sherman Health's Regional Heart Center sees patients from 30 different states and around the world. We deliver more babies than most other hospitals in the region. And, we're the regional coordinating hospital for disaster preparedness," said Rick Floyd, Sherman Health President & CEO. "We do all of this at a location that is smaller than our Sherman Family HealthCare Center in Algonquin. In order to continue to lead the way, we need to grow."
This announcement follows years of strategic planning that supported the need to build a replacement hospital and concluded that an on-site renovation would not allow Sherman the flexibility or the capacity for growth. Some parts of the Sherman facility date back to 1917, which means that building a replacement hospital would be more cost effective, timely and less disruptive to our patients and neighbors.
Recently, Boldt Consulting Services was hired as the project's program manager. Their role is to guide Sherman through the complex process for a project of this scale. The Board of Directors is also pleased to announce that local architects and construction managers will be used for the replacement hospital and redevelopment of the Center Street Campus. Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in conjunction with the Chicago-based architect firm of Loebl Schlossman and Hackl were selected for their 100 years of healthcare experience. Barton Malow, a construction management firm in Southfield, MI will work with Elgin's IHC Construction Company to assure a quality, on-time replacement hospital and redevelopment of the Center Street Campus.
Over the next several months, the architectural team will be working with teams of employees, physicians and community members to design patient flow, clinical areas and to design a patient-focused facility. "We anticipate filing a certificate of need (CON) for this project in the fall," said Mr. Floyd.
More specific details of Sherman's replacement hospital and redevelopment of the Center Street Campus will be unveiled in the coming months. Sherman officials have said that the replacement hospital will offer better comfort with all private rooms, greater conveniences and easier access and the same commitment to high quality care, all at a modern, attractive facility. A larger, more efficient Emergency Department will accommodate the increasing numbers of patients we treat. And, other amenities will be designed with patient satisfaction in mind.
"Our goal is to engage our employees, physicians, community organizations and government representatives to help make our plans a reality. Together we can carry on the Sherman tradition of excellence and commitment to our community for years to come," Rick Floyd added.
