The timetable is now set for the construction of the new 237-milllion dollar Good Samaritan Hospital and adjoining Surgery Center in Mt. Vernon.
The President of Good Samaritan Regional Health Center Mike Warren says bids will go out in January, with groundbreaking on the 30 month project expected to follow in April. “The hospital will have 134 beds and consist of a garden level, five floors and numerous patient entrances surrounded by convenient parking,” he says. “A medical office building will be connected to the hospital will include many out-patient diagnostic services and also a surgery center.”
The CEO of St. Mary’s/Good Samritan Phil Gustafson called the project their own stimulus plan for the community. “It will employ 275 full-time construction jobs over a 30 month period,” he says. “This will create 112 additional permanent health care jobs in the hospital and another 40 estimated in physicians offices.” Gustafson feels the project will also create the need for ten additonal physicians. He says with the project Good Samaritan will truly become a regional referral center, serving not only Mt. Vernon, but the entire Southern Illinois region.
Administrative Medical Director Dr. Daniel Hoffman says he is most excited because of the improved patient care, including all private rooms. “The design of the facility promotes healing,” he says, citing color choices, natural lighting and the overall layout of the planned hospital.
Mt. Vernon Mayor Mary Jane Chesley thanked St. Mary’s/Good Samaritan officials for chosing Mt. Vernon and making the project a reality. “We’re a progressive city,” she says. “The spotlight is on us for growth and development in the future.”
The new campus will be located on Veteran’s Memorial Drive, directly adjacent to the new Interstate 57-64 Interchange. Construction will be a cooperative venture beween McCarthy Building of St. Louis, Lipps Construction of Mt. Vernon and Shores Construction of Centralia. The budget also includes tearing down the current Good Samaritan Campus and returning it to the neighborhood for redevelopment. The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board approved the project earlier this year.
