Despite current economy, hospital projects allude to a healthy future

By MARGARET PLEVAK ( Contact ) Monday, June 14, 2010

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Mercy Health Systems President and CEO Javon R. Bea, left, and Rollie McClellan, chairman of the Mercy Health System Board of Directors, dig a hole for a tree during the groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion at Mercy Walworth Hospital and Medical Center in Geneva Township.

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This rendering shows a view from the northeast of the expanded Mercy Walworth Hospital and Medical Center at highways 67 and 50 in Geneva Township. The three-year project will triple the size of the current center and bring in 70 new jobs, in addition to 350 to 400 construction jobs.

GENEVA TOWNSHIP — A tough economy hasn’t deterred plans for hospital construction and expansion in the area.

SSM Health Care of Wisconsin and Dean Health System will open a new hospital in Janesville in late 2011. Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn is in the final stages of a $20 million renovation. And this month, Mercy Health Systems started a $45 million expansion of Mercy Walworth Hospital and Medical Center on Wisconsin Highway 67 in Geneva Township east of Delavan.

Mercy Walworth’s project will triple the size of the current facility, boosting the number of hospital beds from six to 25, and increasing square footage from 60,000 to 200,000, according to details of the plan, revealed at a June 3 groundbreaking ceremony.

The additional space will include a birthing center, more surgical suites and an intensive-care unit.

Expanding obstetrics services and creating a full-service emergency room will allow more patients to be treated on site, rather than be stabilized and then moved to Mercy Hospital in Janesville or Aurora Lakeland, said Javon R. Bea, Mercy Health Systems president and CEO.

“The guiding force behind this expansion was so that patients wouldn’t have to drive farther for health care and emergency services,” Bea said.

Read the full story in the June 13, 2010 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.

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