PERU – Over the last 1 ½ years there has been a major healthcare issue in the Illinois Valley after the hospital in Peru closed.

OSF, which has locations in Mendota, Ottawa (building another one), Princeton, Peoria, Bloomington, Rockford, and Kewanee, to name a few, bought the building in November 2023 and officially opened OSF Healthcare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center on April 7.

“It’s a very exciting. We are thrilled to be bringing healthcare to the Peru facility. It’s been a whirlwind,” said Saint Elizabeth Medical Center President Dawn Trompeter. “Although we’ve been planning for a really long time, we actually didn’t close on the actual hospital building and the other buildings (former Midtown Plaza complex, Midtown Clinic, and Granville Clinic) until mid-November.

“It has really only been 4 ½ months to really get everything done. It has been a lot. It’s networking. It’s all the stuff in the ceilings. It’s the construction in the emergency department. It’s the refreshing of the walls and the furniture.” 

The opening is Phase 1 of a three-phase plan. Phase 1 includes a full emergency department and inpatient medical with two surgical beds. Only ancillary clinical services to support inpatient and educational services are available in the first phase.

Inpatient services available immediately are diagnostic imaging (CT, X-ray, ultrasound), laboratory, dietician, pharmacy, EKG, and respiratory.

Outpatient services are planned for the future.

“The nooks and crannies we’ve changed, repaired, improved are for Phase 1. We still have lots of exciting things that are going to happen in the other phases,” Trompeter said. “It’s really thanks to thousands of our mission partners across our whole ministry as well as the vendors that we have and everyone who came together to help us.

“I really can’t say enough about the Illinois Valley community because they have been so supportive of this work. I think they’re really excited to have their hospital back open as well.”

During a media tour Friday, April 5, Trompeter, OSF CEO Western Region AJ Querciagrossa, Chief Nursing Officer Heather Bomstad, and department heads led approximately 15 media members, Illinois Senator Sue Rezin, and Illinois State Representative Lance Yednock to display the building’s metamorphosis and new equipment.

“A lot of updates have been done since the last time I was here. They have put in a lot of work in four months’ time. They’re really trying to make it a beautiful, wonderful facility,” Representative Yednock said. “This portion of Illinois has lost two hospitals and now we’re gaining one back. We’re going to have a new hospital in Ottawa as well. Just the challenges of healthcare nationwide, especially rural healthcare, we should be pleased we’re having another emergency room open and going to have a good, strong healthcare presence in the area.

“Compared to being without a facility for a year or more. I’d say they are coming along pretty quick. We were looking at never having another hospital here for a long, long time. I cannot be displeased about the timeline. Of course I wish it would have reopened within a month of the closure, but I think I can say, I’m pleased we’re here within a year or a 1 ½ years instead of three because that timeline was moving as we were still moving along last year.”

Senator Rezin shared some of the same sentiments as Yednock.

The senator recognizes parts of OSF’s phase plan will transcend through the area and the state.

“This is what healthcare for the future looks like. It will be a regional approach. We’re very thankful that OSF decided to come in and cover this huge void we had in the Illinois Valley,” Senator Rezin said. “But more importantly, they took their time to figure out what’s the best way to deliver health care in the region for everyone involved. This is what you’re going to see more and more of in the future.

“Something I learned during the tour is they’ll be using an emergency room doctor when you’re in triage to cut down the ER times. They’ll have a Telehealth ER doctor to first access where you’re at and help move the process along in the ER.

“One of the biggest concerns we have throughout the state is the long ER waits before you’re seen by a doctor. Sometimes it is up to eight hours. OSF is looking at a new model, what the future of healthcare will look like and we’re excited about that.