In the News

News Sun, March 20, 2007

GRAYSLAKE -- Amid stores and single-family homes, Lake Forest Hospital's $40 million three-story facility here looks majestic on land where once was cornfield.

But the need of that facility is felt acutely by the people who live nearby.

"We served more than 21,000 people last year," said Dr. Margaret Lynch, chairwoman of the hospital's emergency medicine of the Outpatient & Acute Care Center on Belvidere Road, just west of Route 45.

The hospital is looking to convert the center into a free-standing emergency facility, she said.

With 44 acres, the 130,000-square-foot center that opened in 2004 has plenty of space to accommodate a heliport, a requirement for a free-standing emergency facility.

State Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, has introduced a bill to make the conversion a reality, possibly by the end of this year.

"Every Lake County resident needs access to the best possible care in an emergency situation, regardless where they live," said Garrett, who chairs the Senate Public Health Committee.

"With this legislation, Lake Forest Hospital can quickly expand our Grayslake facility to include 24-hour treatment by emergency physicians and immediately accept ambulance transports from the region," said Thomas J. McAfee, president and chief executive officer.

Pending approval of the bill, an emergency center will be established that will include ambulance bays and a landing pad for a helicopter, McAfee said.

Currently, the center, staffed by more than 50 physicians, is open 17 hours a day. Among services it offers are cardiac, radiology, MRI and CT exams, mammography, laboratory and physical therapy.

Grayslake Mayor Timothy Perry called the center "a vital health-care resource for our residents," and that an emergency center will be a "tremendous asset, not only for Grayslake, but for all of Lake County."

Grayslake Fire Chief Don Mobley said his department has been "hampered for years by not being able to transport patients to nearby facilities because they were not deemed to be official emergency centers."

A new emergency center, he added, will "reduce turnaround time our paramedics spend transporting patients to more-distant facilities and fighting traffic."