After years of planning, debate and contention, West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park is nearly ready to open its new $24 million emergency room facility.
The hospital says the new ER, located at the intersection of Humphrey and Ontario, is three times the size of the hospital’s old emergency room, but it won’t open for business until sometime in December. The hospital is shooting for Dec. 8, but that will depend on when West Sub gains an occupancy permit from the Illinois Department of Public Health, hospital officials said. Construction is nearly complete. The hospital will host an open house tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. for community leaders, neighbors and elected officials. They also plan to host an open house for the entire community from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 21. The new ER has 25 private rooms and other features include an enclosed port that holds four ambulances, a bigger waiting room, and a CT scan machine dedicated just to the ER. Officials estimate that the department will have about 100 employees and will bring an increase of 3,000 to 5,000 patients per year. The original ER was built in 1913 and was last modernized in 1998.
