OSF HealthCare
Plenty has changed since Saint Anthony Hospital was founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis at the corner of East State and Summit streets in Rockford in 1899.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the system’s commitment to providing quality care to patients throughout the northern Illinois area. OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, a 254-bed tertiary care facility located in Rockford, is a member of OSF HealthCare, an affiliate corporation of The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, and a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
OSF Medical Group primary care physicians can be found at several locations, including Belvidere, 1954 Gateway Center Dr. The clinic offers PromptCare, 3-D mammography, bone density testing, CT scan, labs, MRI, physical therapy ultrasound and X-ray, along with three family practice physicians.
In addition, OSF is a regional medical center with Level I Trauma Center with a privately owned helicopter. OSF provides cardiovascular services, including Rockford Cardiovascular Associates and is the only Rockford hospital providing Transaortic Valve Replacement.
“OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center has been committed to the Rockford region for more than 117 years,” said OSF President Paula Carynski. “As the needs of the community grow and change, so, too, have the services OSF provides to the region. We are proud that our patients can receive world-class care right here at home.”
Many projects are starting to take shape that will further enhance OSF’s quality of care. The largest is the construction of a 144,247-square-foot, four-story North Tower, which is attached to the existing hospital building. It will house 78 private rooms for medical and surgical beds. In the existing hospital, semi-private rooms will be converted to private rooms, allowing for a total of 190 private rooms when the project is completed in 2018. In addition, some ambulatory services will be offered on the first floor of the new North Tower, including PromptCare and the relocation of Women’s Services: mammography, ultrasound and bone densitometry. The project has created 650 to 700 construction jobs.
“Enhancing the experience for our patients, families, employees and medical staff is always at the forefront of our planning,” Carynski said. “Private rooms and a more modern setting will truly help with that endeavor. We are also very pleased to be able to make such a tremendous investment in our community through this expansion.”
In 2015, OSF Surgical Group-Rockford was established, creating the largest multispecialty surgical group in the region. In addition, the Patricia D. Pepe Center for Cancer Care, located on the medical center campus, was expanded last year to meet increased patient needs and their comfort.
Last fall, the OSF Medical Group opened the OSF Center for Health-Parkview. The two-story clinic, located at 1502 Parkview Ave., is home to primary care and physical therapy services, as well as a health fitness center.
“We’re excited about all of the projects going on at OSF,” Carynski said. “It’s a busy time around here, but, ultimately, it’s going to provide a better experience for the patients and the communities we serve.”
Boone County is fortunate to have quality health care facilities like SwedishAmerican a Division of UW Health Medical Center/Belvidere for patients and medical professionals alike. Just ask SwedishAmerican podiatrist Dr. Mike Corcoran. The Rockford native received his residency training in Milwaukee, before returning to Northern Illinois to work. He has been with SwedishAmerican since 2012.
Corcoran specializes in everything from surgery and sports injuries to flat foot reconstruction. His services are in great demand – he sees patients in Belvidere four days a week.
“Belvidere is a great small town,” Corcoran said. “It is an excellent place to practice medicine and I have really gotten to know my patients well. SwedishAmerican has brought so many services here. Prior to opening, patients would have gone to Rockford, Madison or Chicago for this type of care. Relative to the size of town, care in Belvidere is far above the average of other similar-sized towns.”
As a Division of UW Health, SwedishAmerican Medical Center/Belvidere has served the community for eight years. Since bringing hospital-based care back to Boone County in 2009, the center has continued to introduce new services. In addition to 24-hour emergency care, surgery and an inpatient unit, Medical Center/Belvidere offers a full range of outpatient services, including physical therapy, infusion services, echocardiograms, an anticoagulation clinic, sleep medicine, and laboratory and pulmonary function testing. The Medical Center/Belvidere’s infusion room offers a quiet, private area 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with many amenities to help meet the needs of our patients and families. The Medical Center/Belvidere infusion services is also certified to offer a unique drug called Tysabri, used to help MS patients with their symptoms.
Medical imaging services have been especially popular with area residents and the region. In addition to offering digital X-ray, DEXA scans (osteoporosis), ultrasound and digital mammography, the facility introduced mobile MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in 2013 and replaced its CT scanner with a cutting-edge, 128-slice unit in early 2014, giving patients access to the same advanced technologies in Belvidere that are offered at SwedishAmerican Hospital in Rockford.
The Medical Center/Belvidere offers outpatient Contrast CTs and non-contrast CTs Monday through Friday, 24 hours a day, and outpatient CTs on weekends. X-ray, laboratory and echocardiogram services are offered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The staff provided access to services when it is convenient for customers and their families.
However, Medical Center/Belvidere offers area families more than technology. The facility’s Outpatient Specialty Clinic is utilized by specialty physicians from Rockford and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The clinic provides patients with local access to orthopedic surgeons, pulmonologists and a liver transplant physician from UW-Madison.
In addition to Medical Center/Belvidere, SwedishAmerican serves residents of 12 counties in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin through a dedicated and caring staff, a major acute care hospital and a free-standing outpatient cancer center in Rockford, a network of 30 primary care and multi-specialty clinics and the region’s largest home health care agency.
Mercyhealth (formerly MercyRockford Health System) was formed in January 2015 through the merger of Mercy Health System and Rockford Health System. Today, Mercyhealth is a vertically integrated, nonprofit, multi-regional health system comprising five hospitals, a wholly-owned insurance company, more than 8,000 partner employees, 600 W2 partner physicians and over 85 primary and specialty care medical centers and clinics across more than 50 communities in 15 northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin counties. Mercyhealth provides over 75 physician specialties, including neonatal and pediatric intensive care, perinatal care, neurosurgery (brain and spine), heart and vascular care, cancer care, plastic and reconstructive surgery, trauma and orthopedics.
A team of physicians and staff at Mercyhealth Belvidere, located at 1747 Henry Luckow Ln., serves the community with a passion for making lives better. The medical center offers family practice, urgent care, lab and X-ray services. The family medicine physicians include: Dr. Meredith Ulmer, who lives in Boone County with her husband and son; Dr. James Phoenix, a long-standing Boone County resident; and Dr. William Sandoval, who is bilingual in both Spanish and English.
In January 2019, residents will soon have access to a new 188-bed hospital specially designed to serve women and children across the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin region. The new, $505 million state-of-the-art facility will feature a state-designated regional perinatal center, a Level 3 (the highest level) neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric and pediatric intensive care units, high-risk maternity care and pediatric emergency services. It will also include a Level 1 (highest level) trauma center and an adult sub-specialty hospital, with plastic and reconstructive surgery, brain and spine care, endocrinology, orthopedics, pulmonology and heart services and more.
Its technologically advanced operating suites and surgical services will support a full range of inpatient and outpatient surgery, including minimally invasive surgery, image-guided surgery and robotic surgery. The facility will also include a comprehensive diagnostic center with lab and imaging; multi-disciplinary physician care clinics, serving adult and pediatric patients; and a comprehensive cardiac, peripheral and neurovascular interventional laboratory. This new facility will help ensure patients in Belvidere, and the surrounding Boone County, have access to the care they need, close to home.
The Crusader Community Health Belvidere, located at 1050 Logan Ave., Belvidere, was established in 2004 as one of five Crusader Community Health locations in Northwest Illinois. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, the clinic provides access to primary health care to low-income and at-risk populations. An affordable sliding discount based on family size and income is available for the uninsured. Medicaid, Medicare and many private insurance plans are accepted. The clinic is staffed by eight medical providers with specialties in family medicine, pediatrics, women’s health and dental care for pediatric patients. Due to the large percentage of Hispanic patients, three medical providers speak Spanish. The Crusader Belvidere is open Monday through Friday with evening hours on Mondays and Thursdays. New patients are being accepted. Call (815) 490-1600 for more information.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford is internationally recognized as a leader in medical education. As a collaborating center to the World Health Organization each year, its competitive academic curriculum and acclaimed research opportunities attract top students and faculty worldwide to its scenic 20-acre campus. The college offers quality medical education, provides exceptional health care to the community and impacts the future of medicine through advanced research.
Since 1955, the Rock River Valley Blood Center has been providing blood products and services to Boone County. Highland and Saint Joseph hospitals were among the first in the area to seek out a partnership with the blood center, which subscribes to a community-based blood banking philosophy. That means community donors know the blood they give stays in the community first to help patients that are family members, friends and neighbors.
Working together with the blood center allowed for better patient care and access in Boone County. Despite the eventual closing of both hospitals, the blood center remained ingrained in the community supporting numerous organizations through financial, human and community resources and support. In 2008, the blood center opened the Belvidere Donor Center, further substantiating its mission to remain a fully committed partner to the people of Boone County. The blood center continues to be the only supplier of blood products and services to all of the medical facilities in Boone and Winnebago counties.
DaVita Kidney Care, a leading provider of dialysis services in the country, opened a new facility in Belvidere in 2015. The new center is available six days a week and provides multiple shifts per day. The center has 12 stations and the capacity to treat approximately 72 patients.
Patients have the opportunity to continue to work and go in to dialysis either before or after treatment three times a week, for three to four hours a shift. Having that flexibility in treatment for patients helps them to live an active life and continue to work. DaVita Kidney Care has more than 2,100 centers nationwide and has 15 centers in the neighboring counties with 29 centers in the state of Illinois.
Boone County offers multiple locations for walk-in care, including the Boone County Health Department, Crusader Community Health and Physicians Immediate Care. No appointments are required at Physicians Immediate Care and most clinics are open seven days a week, up to 12 hours a day, to treat non-life threatening illnesses and injuries.
Heritage Woods of Belvidere is the only affordable assisted living community in Boone County. The community, which is designed to serve adults 65 and older of all incomes who need some help to maintain their independence, is located on the north side of Squaw Prairie Road, east of Illinois Hwy. 76.
Heritage Woods is an alternative to a nursing home or to struggling alone at home and will especially benefit seniors who cannot afford private pay assisted living. The community opened in April 2011.
Northwoods and Maple Crest Care Centres are members of the Symphony Post Acute Network, one of the county’s most innovative leaders in the delivery of post acute care and management services. As a family-oriented operation, Northwoods and Maple Crest take a uniquely personal approach to delivering the highest quality outcomes possible for their guests. Northwoods is among the first in the region to attain Joint Commission Certification for the new Post Acute Care Programming, which is a validation of their commitment to improving patient care.
Northwoods, Maple Crest and the other facilities that make up the Symphony Post Acute Network, collaborate with physicians, nurses and discharge specialists to provide the best possible outcomes for their guests. The staff of nearly 200 are dedicated to the goal of consistently improving their level of care. Both short stays and long-term care are available.
Through innovative solutions like the Stabilize, Treat, Assess and Transition (STAT) program, Maple Crest and Northwoods have made great strides in improving patient care, reducing length of stays and preventing 30-day rehospitalization. Maple Crest and Northwoods provide a complete range of rehabilitation treatment combining the disciplines of physical, speech, respiratory and occupational therapy. Maple Crest Care Centre is a preferred provider for OrthoIllinois.