OSF HealthCare has officially unveiled an expansion of its intensive care unit [ICU] at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington. This additional space houses more beds, bigger rooms, updated technology and a unique layout for the staff.
The $17.8 million renovation more than doubles the space previously available in the ICU. There are now 25 rooms and 29 beds accompanied by a wide range of convenient details — from giving the lights a dimmer setting to adding mini nurses' stations outside each room. The latter allows staff to work independently while still being able to keep eyes on their patient as needed. The relocation of the ICU will also allow for additional expansion in the future.
Courtney Bier, director of inpatient services at OSF, said this net-positive was catalyzed by a global net-negative.
“We really saw during the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic that there is a huge need throughout the community for critically ill patients,” Bier said. “We are becoming a regional transfer center, so we’re not only getting patients from within the Bloomington-Normal community but really throughout the entire state of Illinois.”
OSF St. Joseph President Eunmee Shim explained what she thinks draws these out-of-range patients.
“Bloomington, I think, is a well-known town in the area,” Shim said. “We happen to have pretty good resources, but most importantly St. Joseph Medical Center has the services they are needing to get better health care.”
The ICU had been operating at capacity for some time, and the COVID-19 pandemic sent hospitals nationwide into overdrive, according to OSF Eastern region Chief Executive Officer Carol Friesen in remarks at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“As access to specialty providers waned, we needed to step into the gap. And that allowed us to increase our complexity of regional services here at St. Joseph Medical Center,” Friesen said.
The ICU expansion is just one part of OSF’s broader push for innovation across departments.
“[We're] not just limited to procedures that have been advanced in the last five years, but oncologic surgery, and the most recent advances in electrophysiology and cardiac services here at St. Joe’s,” Friesen said. “All of those require additional ICU capacities and additional intermediate ICU capacities to take care of sicker patients."
The ICU is among several capital investments at the hospital, which will include a new chapel and updated labs and equipment.
The improvements are also part of the medical group's efforts to recalibrate care under a regional model. OSF has additional plans to add inpatient behavioral health services in Urbana, moving cardiovascular specialists currently working in Urbana and Danville to Bloomington.
