Friends of Odell Public Library will host Mick Welding, Marketing Director for Morrison Community Hospital and Pam Pfister CEO, in a program updating the planning and construction at the hospital. Anyone traveling up hospital hill has seen the vast amount of dirt being moved for the $18 million dollar 8,200 square foot expansion. This informative program will be held Monday, September 9 beginning at 6:30 PM in the Program Room at Odell Public Library.
With a target date of mid 2020 for completion, the new addition will add five new emergency bays with enclosed rooms and a new trauma bay for the more seriously injured. When the Emergency Department was built in 1943, the hospital served nearly 43,000 residents; however, that number has long been surpassed and nearly doubled. The ER will be upgraded to accommodate more patients with improved privacy.
Not only will the ER be changed but also the Lab Department will be moved to the front of the building for easier access, and the Therapy Department will move from the ground floor also to the front of the building so all outpatient care will be on the same floor.
A new operating room will be added to make a total of three. Mr. Welding explained, “ We are looking at the possibility of orthopedic surgery.” On the new southeast addition’s second floor, eight private medical –surgical rooms will bring the total of those rooms to 16.
Morrison was only one of 40 rural community projects that received a low-interest loan from the USDA Rural Development Office. Morrison’s loan is the second largest project of 17 states and the only one in Illinois. “To say we are excited is an understatement, said CEO Pam Pfister.
Join us for this informative evening about your community’s hospital’s exciting plans, upgrades and construction.