Dedication of New Rush University Medical Center Hospital Set for Dec. 8

CHICAGO, Ill. — Leading Chicago area government officials and other dignitaries will join Rush University Medical Center trustees, leadership, doctors and nurses 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 8 for a special “ribbon cutting” event, signifying the completion of the new hospital building at Ashland Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway. Attendees will also receive a tour of key components of the new hospital.

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.

The dedication ceremonies will precede the actual patient move-in, which will occur in January 2012.

“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,” said Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of 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.”

The unique shape of the new hospital is designed to improve patient outcomes. Long before ground was broken in September 2008, countless doctors and nurses as well as patients provided the design team with their insights on critical features necessary to create a facility that would ensure patient safety and comfort, improve quality and also provide efficient space for staff. Rush’s architects, developed the hospital’s innovative butterfly-shaped design to accommodate those priorities.

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. Rush is one of a small number of leading medical centers in the country and the only center in Illinois to incorporate the interventional platform.

The third floor houses the Mary Jo and John Boler Center for Advanced Imaging. Advances in imaging using MRI, CT, fluoroscopy, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and other methods are revolutionizing how heart disease, cancer and a multitude of other conditions are diagnosed and treated.

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.

Rush’s new Tower will be Chicago’s first full-service, “green” hospital. It was designed to conserve energy and water, reduce waste and use sustainable building materials. Rush is seeking LEED-gold certification for the Tower. LEED recognizes organizations that design and construct environmentally responsible and efficient buildings. Other new buildings at Rush, a new parking structure and Orthopedic Building completed in 2009, were also built with a host of sustainable features.

“From the outset of our planning, we have worked to develop new models of care and to adapt to changes in the healthcare 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 healthcare continuum,” said Peter Butler, president and chief operation officer of 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. The project, managed by Power/Jacobs Joint Venture, has remained on time and on budget, despite the challenging economic environment.

The new Tower will connect to Rush’s existing main hospital building, the Atrium, at 1650 W. Harrison St. Selected areas of the Atrium will be renovated following the opening of the new Tower.

For more information, visit http://transforming.rush.edu.