Anderson Hospital planning growth in several areas

    Anticipated growth in pediatric and robotic surgery services is on the health chart of Anderson Hospital in Maryville, as is the opening of a diabetes management center next spring.
    The coming year should be a good one for both the hospital and greater community, President and Chief Executive Officer Keith A. Page said.
     Anderson Hospital is a not-for-profit, 151-bed acute care medical facility that offers a range of advanced health care services, from a state-of-the-art obstetrics unit called the Pavilion for Women to emergency services that treated more than 33,000 people last year.
    More than 200 physicians work with Anderson Hospital to meet the medical needs of its communities, said Page who has been CEO since 2003.
    The hospital has fostered a relationship with SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center to become a leader in pediatric services in Southwestern Illinois, he said.
    Eight years ago, Anderson sought out Cardinal Glennon to bolster pediatric services, starting with a pediatrician in the ER. In the time since, the partnership has grown to include a 7,000-square-foot suite inside the Anderson Wellness Center (the former Maryville Manor building on Vadalabene Drive), near the hospital campus.  
    “The Cardinal Glennon Specialty Clinic brings specialists in Neurology, Orthopedics, Developmental Pediatrics, Pediatric Surgery, Endocrinology and Pulmonology to our children of the Metro East,” Page said.
    Anderson has long had a strong obstetrics service, he said.
    “And those OB deliveries turn into pediatric patients,” he noted.
    Anderson is now working with Cardinal Glennon on Maternal/Fetal Medicine services, for more complicated pregnancies.
    On the robotics front, Anderson is seeing increased use of the daVinci Si surgical system. The hospital was the first in Metro East to employ robotic surgery about three years ago. Urologists popularized it via prostate surgery, then OB-Gyns began using it for hysterectomies. Now surgeons are performing seven different procedures with the robot, including gall bladder surgery.
    With the equipment, faster recovery time is possible since the procedure is less invasive.
    “We’ve continued to develop our robotic program to provide all these procedures; we’re the only hospital on this side of the river using the equipment to this extent,” Page said.
    More than 200 robotic surgeries will be performed this year, he said. Ten doctors on the staff are skilled in the use of the equipment.
    One of Anderson’s biggest projects is the relocation of its outpatient rehabilitative services to the Anderson Wellness Center. A reconfiguration of the existing space is under way.
    “We should be open by the first of March,” he said. The building is already partially occupied by the offices for Cardinal Glennon and Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center.
    Also planned for the building is a 4,000-square-foot diabetes management center that will include lab services, a resource room and a meeting room for education. The idea is to bring a number of related hospital services into one location, coordinated by a staff endocrinologist.
    “We want to provide a place where people can go to best manage that disease,” Page said.
    He noted diabetes is a growing concern in the general population with implications for everything from eyesight to vascular disease to nervous system to vital organs.