Alexian Brothers Medical Center Opens Medical Office Building, Plans Tower Featuring Private Rooms

Alexian Brothers Medical Center celebrated the grand opening of the Eberle Medical Office Building with a blessing and dedication ceremony at the 60,000 square-foot facility, which has become the cornerstone of the hospital's recent expansion.

The May 13 ceremony, attended by staff members, clergy, community officials and area residents, also commemorated the Alexian Brothers' 40th anniversary in Elk Grove Village, Ill.,where ABMC opened its doors May 14, 1966.

The Most Reverend John R. Manz provided a special blessing during the event, which also included tours of the new building and displays of archival memorabilia dating back to the early 1960s.  The Eberle Medical Office Building, which houses physician offices, the Alexian Neurosciences Institute and the new Illinois Gamma Knife Center, is named after the late Brother Florian Eberle.  Brother Florian, who passed away in 1979 after 44 years as an Alexian Brothers, served two separate terms as Provincial of the Immaculate Conception Province of the Congregation of Alexian Brothers, and served as President of Alexian Brothers of America, Inc. It was mainly through his efforts that ABA developed into Alexian Brothers Health System. He was responsible for the bylaw restructuring and the organization of the corporate office that paved the way for ABHS as it exists today. Among those attending the blessing and dedication ceremony were Brother Thomas Keusenkothen,ABHS President; Roger Johnson,ABMC Chief Executive Officer; Brother Richard Dube, C.F.A., Provincial; Craig Johnson, Elk Grove Village Mayor; and Terry Parke, State Representative.

With the opening of the Eberle Medical Office Building, ABMC turned its attention to the next major stage of its ongoing expansion project - the construction of a three-story tower that will add 108 private beds to the hospital and will be situated atop a ground-level ambulatory care mall that will centralize outpatient-diagnostic services now scattered across the hospital. ABHS has filed a certificate of need for the $116 million project with the Illinois Health Facilities Board and hopes for construction to begin this fall.  Plans call for completion of the project in 2009.When it's done, 82 percent of the hospital's rooms will be private, compared with 13 percent today.

The project will enable ABMC to carry out its mission of responding to community needs, Johnson says. In recent years, there has been growing demand for private hospital rooms in the Chicago area and across the nation. "We reach out to everyone who is vulnerable and needing our services," Johnson says."Dignity of the person is a key value of the Brothers. When people come to us, they are at the most vulnerable time in their life. During this time of vulnerability, people frequently to do not want to share a room with a stranger."