Leading Chicago area government officials and other dignitaries will join Rush University Medical Center trustees, leadership, doctors and nurses on Dec. 8 for a special “ribbon cutting” event, signifying the completion of the new hospital building at Ashland Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway.?
The event will take place in the new Edward A. Brennan Entry Pavilion (1620 West Harrison Street), a spacious three- story entranceway that connects Rush’s existing main hospital with the new hospital building, called the “Tower.” The Brennan Pavilion is a centrally-located reception area with circular skylights and a giant four-season terrarium open to the sky at the top.
“This was a dedicated team effort by our exceptional board, incredible staff, and management to create a 10-year plan to address our needs while improving clinical care.” – Dr. Larry Goodman CEO Rush
“Without the phenomenal support from the Chicago-area community, this new building and other improvements would not have been possible. More than 20,000 individuals, including employees and medical staff, made donations. We exceeded the $ 313 million goal of our philanthropic campaign set in 2004 and raised close to $ 375 million for the Transformation and other components of our mission,” Goodman announced.
“The new hospital is the cornerstone of our 10-year campus transformation. The plan reorients our facilities and care around patients and their families. It is designed to reduce costs and improve outcomes and the patient experience.” – Richard Jaffee Chairman Rush Board of Trustees The
$ 654 million new hospital building has 304 individual adult and critical care beds on the top five floors, named the Herb Family Acute and Critical Care Tower. Rush will have a total 664 beds in operation across the existing and the new facilities.
The ground floor will house the McCormick Foundation Center for Advanced Emergency Response, designed to provide an unprecedented level of readiness for large-scale health emergencies from a mass outbreak of an infectious disease, a bio-terrorist attack, or an accident that spills hazardous materials.
The Center houses an expanded emergency department with 60 treatment bays with a surge capacity of 133 percent. Three consecutive floors at the base of the building are devoted to the interventional platform, where diagnostic testing, surgical and interventional services and recovery are located within a short distance of each other resulting in enhanced collaboration between medical specialists while making services more convenient for patients and families.
It includes 42 procedure rooms with enlarged operating rooms to accommodate new technology.
The Tower is the major component of Rush’s 10-year, $ 1 billion campus redevelopment project called the Rush Transformation, which blends new construction, renovations of select campus buildings and investments in leading technology that includes a comprehensive electronic health information system. It is the largest capital project in Rush’s 174-year history.
“From the outset of our planning, we have worked to develop new models of care and to adapt to changes in the health care environment that will better enable Rush to address critical issues regarding access to care, containing and reducing costs, achieving better outcomes and ensuring that the patient is at the center of the health care continuum.” – Peter Butler president & chief operation officer Rush
The new hospital building and the Rush Transformation are being funded by operating revenue, debt financing, philanthropy and city, state and federal grants. Perkins+Will served as the architects for the new hospital.
