Advocate Health Care is broadening its South Side presence through a $1 billion investment that includes expanding outpatient care and building a new hospital on the old U.S. Steel site.
The new, 52-bed hospital will replace Advocate Trinity Hospital, a 263-bed hospital that’s been on the South Side since 1895.
The hospital system hopes the investment closes Chicago’s 30-year life expectancy gap between residents on the South and North sides, Advocate Trinity Hospital President Michelle Blakely told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Over the next 10 years, we hope to change the trajectory of health outcomes on the South Side,” Blakely said. “We are striving to create health and wellness opportunities in a community that has been underserved and suffers from health disparities.”
The new facility will include 36 surgery beds, four ICU beds, eight observation beds, a four-bed dialysis unit and an emergency room with 16 bays.
The $300 million project will sit on 23 acres on the old U.S. Steel South Works site south and west of Lake Shore Drive and north of 81st Street.
Advocate hopes to break ground on the new hospital late next year. The 115-year-old Trinity Hospital at 2320 E. 93rd St. will remain open until the new hospital is complete. Advocate plans on then demolishing the site and putting in a green space.
“This is transformative for the 7th Ward, especially for the South Shore and South Chicago communities,” Ald. Greg Mitchell (7th) told the Sun-Times. “This vacant site has stood as a symbol of disinvestment and missed opportunities that have deeply impacted the entire Southeast Side.”
The investment also includes a $25 million workforce development program that will lead to 1,000 jobs for South Siders within the next three years, Blakely said.
A total of $700 million will go toward expanding primary care and outpatient services. Advocate will open 10 neighborhood care sites in existing community organizations like churches and YMCAs. Advocate plan to open three sites a year over the next few years.
Those sites will help with everyday health services like treating the flu or the common cold, managing chronic diseases, giving yearly physicals and refilling prescriptions. Staff will also connect patients to primary care providers and help them access food, housing and transportation to medical appointments.
“What the community wants is for us to bring the resources to them, and that’s what we’re doing here,” Blakely said.
Advocate will also offer more OB-GYN services and appointments, create a free prescription program for qualifying patients and deploy a mobile medicine vehicle that will provide primary care services throughout the community.
The hospital system will expand its existing Imani Village outpatient clinic at 901 E. 95th St. Advocate will extend the clinic’s hours and add doctors, appointments and services like imaging, specialty care and medication refills.
“This is really exciting because if we have a model focused on prevention first, we’re addressing the root causes of chronic diseases,” said Tony Hampton, a primary care doctor with Advocate.
Hampton said patients without a reliable, nearby primary care clinic often go to the hospital for routine care, an expensive and often unnecessary choice.
“Reducing hospital admissions lowers the cost of health care and improves patient outcomes,” Hampton said. “The ambulatory care model is about reshaping how we think about health care and focusing on why you got sick in the first place and showing you how to prevent diseases and put diseases into remission.”