Photo 1 - CH Urgent Care Groundbreaking_web
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Franciscan Health breaks ground on new urgent care clinic in Chicago Heights

Franciscan Health broke ground on Wednesday to mark the start of the construction for its new urgent care clinic in Chicago Heights.

The new Franciscan Health Urgent Care center is scheduled to open in the last half of 2022 and will be located on the southwest corner of Lincoln Highway (14th Street) and Otto Boulevard, the site of the former Franciscan St. James Hospital, which was demolished in 2019.

Plans call for a modern, free-standing brick, masonry and glass building with accents of metal on the exterior designed by Anderson Mikos Architects, Ltd. The new free-standing facility will include 11 exam rooms, a triage room, a procedure room, laboratory space and an imaging/x-ray area in its approximately 10,200 square feet of space.

The new facility will be easily accessible from all of Chicago Heights, as well as the surrounding Southland communities of Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Glenwood, Park Forest, South Chicago Heights, Steger and more.

The groundbreaking ceremony was led by Allan M. Spooner, president and CEO of Franciscan Health’s South Suburban Chicago Division; Sister Jane Marie Klein, OSF, chairwoman of Franciscan Alliance, Inc., and Chicago Heights mayor David A. Gonzalez.

“Throughout the years, Franciscan Health has successfully fulfilled its mission by adapting to the latest advances in healthcare,” Spooner said. “Recent years have brought dramatic changes. As a result, today’s patients have come to expect easily accessible, high quality ambulatory care.”

“This groundbreaking continues the legacy the Franciscan sisters started 111 years ago,” Sister Jane Marie said. “This new freestanding urgent care center will serve the immediate needs of the Chicago Heights community. It will be built on the firm foundation of our mission and Franciscan values.”

“On behalf of the City of Chicago Heights, our elected officials and our residents, I want thank Franciscan Health for their commitment and assurance that there is going to be affordable healthcare on this site,” Gonzalez said. “This is just the start of developing this whole parcel.”

The fact that Franciscan Health chose to construct its new urgent care facility on the site of the former Chicago Heights hospital campus is no accident.

“This investment on the grounds of our former hospital campus is excellent evidence of our ongoing commitment to the Chicago Heights area,” Spooner said. “It is part of our mission-driven, modern system of care that includes centralized emergency, inpatient, outpatient and specialty care in Olympia Fields, plus primary, preventive and urgent care services at sites throughout the Southland.”

The new facility will replace the existing Franciscan Urgent Care located at 30 E. 15th Street in Chicago Heights, which remains open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. throughout the project.

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