St. Mary’s Janesville Hospital to Break Ground

JANESVILLE, WI —  July 16 — Today SSM Health Care of Wisconsin and Dean Health System announced plans for proceeding with construction of the new St. Mary’s Janesville Hospital and Dean Clinic Janesville. Ground will be broken on the new $150 million project, which includes a 50-bed hospital and an adjacent clinic, in October. Completion of the project is now set for late 2011.

SSM Health Care had announced in February 2009 that the St. Mary’s Janesville project was being put on hold, along with other cost-saving measures, due to worsening economic conditions worldwide. However, with the stabilizing of financial markets, SSM’s financial situation has improved enough over the past few months to proceed with construction.

“It’s a great day for Janesville and a ray of hope for our local economy,” said Mary Starmann-Harrison, regional president and CEO, SSM Health Care of Wisconsin. “We’re ready to move full speed ahead and get this medical campus up and running.”

“We’ve been extremely busy for the past several months planning all aspects of the project and now we’re getting all of the necessary approvals in place to start moving some dirt,” said Kerry Swanson, president of St. Mary’s Janesville Hospital.

Two other SSM hospital projects will remain on hold. However, SSM remains committed to those to two projects at St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City, Mo., and St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Inc.’s Mount Vernon campus.

SSM will continue to monitor financial conditions and will proceed with these projects as soon as it is fiscally responsible. A construction timetable for these projects may be determined by the end of the year.

St. Mary’s Janesville Hospital, located at the southeast corner of the I-90 and Highway 11 interchange, is a partnership between Madison-based SSMHC of Wisconsin and Dean Health System – SSMHC of Wisconsin’s physician partners. Currently 50,000 patients are served by Dean physicians in the Janesville area, including 20,000 Dean Health Plan members.