HOSPITAL SISTERS HEALTH SYSTEM
St. Joseph's Hospital, a critical access hospital in Highland, Ill., has broken ground on a $60 million-plus replacement campus about 1 mile away from the existing hospital. The new 25-bed facility will open in summer 2013.
The hospital, about 30 miles east of St. Louis, will have an emergency department, surgery center, rehabilitation department and imaging unit. The campus will include a medical office building.
Peggy Sebastian, St. Joseph's Highland's president and chief executive, said it is St. Joseph's mission to provide its rural population with state-of-the-art care, and the new building will enable the hospital to continue to provide such care. The 63-year-old legacy hospital has not always been conducive to technology upgrades. Also, its physical plant is outmoded.
Sebastian said, "We believe in Catholic health care, and we believe there are palpable differences in the services that patients receive here. We're excited to have the opportunity to advance our Catholic mission in the new hospital." St. Joseph's has yet to determine what will become of its existing campus after the move.