HUNTLEY — On July 24, the Illinois Health Facilities Services and Review Board approved Centegra Health System’s proposed hospital in Huntley.
The 128-bed hospital, to be built on the campus near Centegra’s Health Bridge Fitness Center at Algonquin and Haligus Road, would receive its first patients in 2016, according to a Centegra press release.
The hospital will be a full-service facility, featuring an intensive care unit with eight beds, an emergency department with a level II trauma center, 100 surgical beds, non-invasive cardiology services, a women’s center, and a helipad.
After being approved by the Illinios Health Facilities Services and Review Board, Centegra Health Systems can build a hospital on the grounds of its immediate care center (pictured) and Health Bridge Fitness Center on Algonquin Road. (Photo by Mason Souza/Sun Day)
Harry Leopold, Huntley Village Board member and Sun City N.2 resident, said the hospital is a welcome and needed addition to Huntley and Sun City.
“First of all, especially for Sun City, it means a few minutes’ less time to get to a hospital in an emergency situation,” he said.
Sun City residents needing emergency treatment are currently taken to Sherman Immediate Care in Elgin, approximately 10.5 miles from Sun City. Their ride to the new Centegra hospital will be less than six miles.
Leopold said the majority of feedback he has heard from Huntley residents on the hospital has been positive, but he has heard some questions regarding the necessity of the hospital and its cost.
The state board approves or denies the construction of new hospitals on the basis of need for them in the community. Centegra’s Huntley hospital is just the second new hospital to be approved in the state in 30 years.
Leopold was not certain as to whether Sun City was a deciding factor in the board’s decision as to the necessity of the hospital in Huntley.
Beginning with its construction, the hospital is expected to be a boost for Huntley. Centegra estimates the hospital will create 800 construction jobs and employ 1,100 people from the area.
Though there has been talk of the hospital also drawing in retail and restaurant development, Leopold said he was not sure of its impact on that front. Leopold did say he could see the hospital attracting more doctors to set up shop in Huntley and that the hospital fits in with Huntley’s development plans.
“Absolutely it’s part of our comprehensive plan. Our comprehensive plan has indicated the whole area north of Algonquin around Tom’s Market as being a medical complex for years,” Leopold said.
Along with the I-90 interchange project and development along the newly widened Route 47, Leopold sees Centegra’s new hospital as a symbol of a new, fully-grown Huntley.
“It is a very positive step as far as we are concerned in the Village of Huntley,” he said. “It puts us on the map.”
