The third new hospital in Illinois in more than 35 years will open its doors Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. When Centegra Hospital-Huntley accepts its first patients at 7 a.m., the community will have access to the full range of health care services all on one campus in Huntley, Ill.

“Patients want the best care right here close to home,” said Michael S. Eesley, chief executive officer of Centegra Health System. “Our team lives here, works here and takes great pride in serving our friends and neighbors.”

Centegra Hospital-Huntley is a 128-bed all-private room hospital that includes a Level II Trauma Center, 100 medical-surgical beds, eight intensive care unit beds and a 20-bed Family Birth Center. Pediatric inpatient specialists from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago will be at the hospital around the clock to provide children access to the highest level of inpatient and emergency care. Patients also will receive care in state-of-the-art operating suites, and emergency and diagnostic care will be provided in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.

The hospital’s campus is also home to Centegra Health Bridge Fitness Center and a medical office building that offers Centegra Immediate Care, the Centegra Back & Spine Center, physician offices and outpatient services. A second medical office building is under construction and is expected to be open in spring 2017.

While the campus itself is in McHenry County, it is a boon to thousands of Kane County residents in the Huntley area.

“This unique campus will now provide patients and families everything from wellness and preventive care to the highest level of acute medical treatment,” Eesley said. “It is the culmination of years of careful planning to provide our patients and their families the care they need right in their own back yards.”

Centegra purchased 110 acres of property in Huntley in August 2006 with the intention to develop a campus that would bring sophisticated health care to the community. In August 2008 the first two facilities on the campus opened. As Huntley and its surrounding communities continued to grow, Centegra Health System identified a need to build a full-service hospital to provide a higher level of care to patients and their families. In 2010 Centegra Health System filed an application for a Certificate of Need with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to build an acute care facility in Huntley. The board approved the Certificate of Need in July 2012 and in February 2014 Centegra Health System broke ground on the new hospital.

More than 800 construction jobs were created in the two years it took to build the facility, and more than 50 percent of the subcontractors were from McHenry, Kane and Lake counties in Illinois. Eesley said more than half of the new hospital’s employees come from other Centegra locations, and so far about 400 new jobs have been created. He expects that number to double as the hospital volumes increase.

Thousands of community members have toured Centegra Hospital-Huntley in the past months, taking advantage of events that have welcomed them to look inside the Emergency Department, the Centegra Hip & Knee Replacement Center, the retail pharmacy and the made-to-order café. Eesley said the community’s enthusiasm has added even more excitement to the team of doctors, nurses and other employees who will open the hospital’s doors on Tuesday.

“We are ready to bring Centegra’s unique combination of high-quality services and passionate caring to our newest patients,” he said. “Our vision has become reality, and we look forward to serving this community for generations to come.”

Centegra Health System is committed to meeting the health care needs of the residents of greater McHenry County and northern Kane County and to making services available in multiple and convenient locations, including hospitals in McHenry, Woodstock and Huntley, Immediate and Physician Care Centers, Centegra Sage Cancer Center, Health Bridge Fitness Centers and the highly anticipated Centegra Hospital-Huntley.

SOURCE: Centegra Hospital-Huntley news release