Memorial’s not abandoning Belleville. They’ve invested $71 million since 2012.

While Memorial Hospital in Belleville has expanded with a new hospital in Shiloh, become part of the St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare system and has plans for a new Siteman Cancer Center in Shiloh, the hospital’s leaders have invested more than $71 million in the original hospital campus over the past six years.

These capital expenditures were authorized for the Belleville campus after Memorial opened a $24 million Orthopedic and Neuroscience Center in 2011 along Frank Scott Parkway.

“We’re very excited and committed to continuing to invest here in Belleville each and every year and excited about advancing the types of services that are open for our patients and available as we expand health care and try to constantly work to improve access to care,” Memorial Hospital President Mark Turner said.

“We have completed over $71 million of capital investments here in Belleville,” Turner said. “Any up-and-running hospital that has life behind it, it becomes a very capital intensive operation, not only equipment, not only I.T. but also physical facilities.”

Here are highlights of Memorial Hospital projects in Belleville since 2012:

▪  $6.7 million in renovations at Memorial Care Center, the nursing home on the campus. This project was handled in stages so the center could remain open during renovations.

▪  $4.8 million for an operating room that opened in May. It’s called a “hybrid operating room” that features state of the art imaging technology displayed on two large screens next to the operating room table. Also, the Siemens Artis zeego Hybrid system gives the surgeons the flexibility to perform minimally invasive surgeries and major surgeries in the same room during the same operation.

▪  $2.3 million for improvements in a portion of the main hospital building. This work included expanding the number of private patient rooms.

▪  $1.8 million for the da Vinci Si Surgical System introduced in 2013. The robotic technology allows for a minimally-invasive approach for many complex surgical procedures.

▪  $1.75 million for the operating room heating and cooling system.

▪  $1 million for patient room renovations in 2017 and 2018.

The following projects also are scheduled for 2018 in Belleville:

▪  Work started last year on a $1.5 million relocation of the central processing department and this project is expected to be finished this year. Central processing manages the sterilization of equipment for surgical service as well as the sanitization of other patient care equipment. The department is in the basement and is moving to another location in the basement.

▪  $750,000 for the heating and cooling system in a portion of the main hospital building.

▪  $300,000 to continue fire suppression improvements started last year that will continue through 2019.

▪  $270,000 for a medical gas addition at Memorial Care Center. This allows for piped oxygen instead of oxygen tanks in the patient rooms. This is for one wing of the nursing home that does not have piped oxygen.

In 2016, Memorial Hospital East opened in Shiloh at 1404 Cross St. at a cost of $124 million and last year, a $24 million medical office building opened on the Memorial Hospital East campus.

In 2018 and 2019, the combined capital budget for Memorial Hospital Belleville and Memorial Hospital East is expected to be $35.1 million, according to Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Anne Thomure.

On Jan. 1, St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare was allowed by the state of Illinois to take ownership of Memorial Hospital in Belleville and Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh.

The move cements an alliance BJC HealthCare and Memorial initially put together in 2015.

Turner said being part of the BJC system has many advantages for Memorial, “but at the top of the list was improving and increasing access to care for our residents here in St. Clair County.”

Memorial announced last year it is working with BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine to develop a Siteman Cancer Center on the Memorial Hospital East campus. The proposed center would be located in a $38.3 million, three-story medical office building, pending approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. This building also will provide space for physician specialists and services as well as expansion of Memorial Medical Group’s primary and specialty care providers.

This story was originally published January 11, 2018 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Memorial’s not abandoning Belleville. They’ve invested $71 million since 2012.."