Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center recently celebrated the grand opening of the hospital’s new, six-story inpatient tower in Zion, Illinois. The 168,078-square-foot, $84-million expansion is inspired by the patients it will benefit, and will serve as the centerpiece of a campus-wide modernization spurred by 48 percent, five-year new patient growth. The new tower offers 72 single-occupancy inpatient oncology rooms, and common space designed to bring comfort and convenience to patients. Dewberry designed the new inpatient tower, while Riley Construction built the facility.
Amenities include family lounges on each floor, an outdoor courtyard and garden, a patient bistro and dining hall and a culinary demonstration kitchen where patients and caregivers learn healthy cooking strategies. The inpatient tower will also incorporate 48 guest quarters, hotel-like accommodations for outpatients and family members and caregivers of inpatients so they are close to loved ones, set to open in June of 2016. The rooms will be located on the fifth and sixth floors of the new tower and will bring the total number of guest accommodations to 185 rooms, which is in addition to the over 300 rooms available through partnerships with local hotels.
“It’s exciting to see this beautiful expansion come to life,” said Rose Sajuan, a 20-year breast cancer survivor and Cancer Fighter who first came to CTCA in the mid-90s. “My experience with CTCA at Midwestern has been wonderful, and knowing other patients will have similar opportunities through the care provided in this new space is simply awesome.”
Sajuan also served on the Cancer Fighters Construction Team, a group of CTCA at Midwestern patients who guided the inpatient tower construction from conceptual planning to the grand opening. The group advised on room design, furniture and finishes, and much more for eight of the 19-month construction process, taking the idea of patient-influenced design to a new level.
When the project first broke ground in April 2014, patients and caregivers, family and friends and hospital staff signed a “Beam of Hope” that visitors now walk under while entering the main lobby of the hospital.
Before the inside walls and flooring were complete, construction workers, staff and visitors left even more messages of encouragement underneath the hospital’s now smooth and polished surfaces. From the foundation to the highest structural beam to the compassionate staff of clinical experts ready to serve, the hospital is literally built upon thousands of messages of inspiration meant to offer strength and courage to those fighting cancer.
For more details, visit cancercenter.com/landmark.
