The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board has approved construction of a two-story addition to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.
“I am very pleased that the State Planning Board was supportive of our efforts to move forward to not only expand our facility, but to provide a more superior setting for our patients,” said George Maroney, hospital administrator.
The need for advanced hospital services is expected to increase in southern Illinois and, because Memorial receives patients from a large geographical area, the number of people needing services at the hospital is expected to grow significantly by 2009. By expanding to meet those needs, patients will not be forced to go out of the area for care.
The $14 million addition will extend the third and fourth floors over the existing two floors on the west end of the hospital. The project will add 22,239 square feet and increase the total number of medical/surgical beds to 85. When finished, the medical/surgical floors will have 67 private and 9 semi-private rooms.
Maroney said the expansion will bring many benefits to patients. The single rooms will have the privacy today’s patients and families want and they will be larger for the advanced medical equipment needed in modern medical care.
“Now that we received authorization from the State to proceed, we will begin the process of organizing and scheduling the project,” Maroney said, adding that once work begins the total construction time should be 18 months.
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