Skip to content

July 28 groundbreaking held for HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital’s new surgical center

| |

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital ceremonially broke ground on the future location of its new outpatient surgery center and medical office building. Shown from left are Dr. Sarah Gass, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member; Dr. Scott Couch, general surgeon and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member; Nathan Klitzing, chair of O’Fallon – Shiloh Chamber of Commerce; Eric Van Hook, mayor of the City of O’Fallon; Chris Klay, president and CEO of HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and HSHS Southern Illinois Market; Father Jim Deiters, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Church and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member; Julia Yank, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member; and Barbara Cempura, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member.

 

By MELISSA CROCKETT MESKE
Managing Editor, Illinois Business Journal
[email protected]

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon hosted a ceremony to celebrate the groundbreaking of its new outpatient surgical treatment center and medical office building on the hospital campus. The groundbreaking and blessing ceremony took place starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 28. The hospital’s Certificate of Need (CON) received unanimous approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board (HFSRB) in March 2025 for the addition of this project on the hospital’s campus.

The ceremony was held on-site (1 St. Elizabeth’s Blvd.), at the north end of the O’Fallon hospital grounds near the roundabout. The accompanying map further shows where the groundbreaking event took place, and also the proximal location of the new facility.

Hospital leaders, including HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and Southern Illinois Market President and CEO Chris Klay, shared information on the hospital’s $50 million investment before participating in a traditional “turning of the dirt.” Klay was joined by hospital board members, O’Fallon – Shiloh City and Chamber of Commerce members, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Foundation Leadership Council members, contractors and other HSHS leaders for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Father Jim Deiters, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Church and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Board member, provides a blessing as a part of the July 28 ceremony.

Construction began immediately and is anticipated to be completed in spring 2027. The project is a $50 million investment that demonstrates both Hospital Sisters Health System’s and St. Elizabeth’s ongoing commitment to expanding access to local care and meeting the need for high-quality health care for patients and the region.

The three-story, 70,000-square-foot building will include:

  • Four state-of-the-art operating suites
  • Two additional procedure rooms
  • Six post-anesthesia care rooms
  • Sixteen prep and recovery stations
  • Diagnostic imaging, including Open MRI, X-ray and Mammography
  • A medical office building that features space for physician specialty clinics and new providers to serve patients on St. Elizabeth’s campus

“We are excited to be able to bring much-needed, local health care resources to our community,” remarked Klay. “The surgical treatment center addresses the growing need for a more convenient and accessible location for minor outpatient surgeries and procedures that can be done on a same-day basis, with no need for an inpatient stay.”

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and Southern Illinois Market President and CEO Chris Klay shares remarks with attendees at the July 28 groundbreaking.

“Through this project and other strategic plans, HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital continues to navigate the current-day challenges of a changing health care landscape to ensure those we serve have the care options they deserve, close to home, for many more years to come,” Klay added.

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon is celebrating 150 years of serving the Metro East area in 2025. It is part of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), a Catholic health care ministry founded in 1875. For more information about HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, visit steliz.org.

Headquartered in Springfield, Ill., HSHS employs nearly 11,000 colleagues who provide care in 13 acute-care, children’s and critical-access hospitals and home health and hospice programs in Central and Southern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. HSHS is aligned with more than 1,000 primary and specialty physicians and advanced practitioners through its owned affiliates HSHS Medical Group and Prairie Cardiovascular and its partnership with Prevea Health. For more information about HSHS, visit hshs.org.

Photos courtesy HSHS.

Shown from left are Vicki Kloeckner, HSHS Southern Illinois Human Resources Market director; Regina Peterson, HSHS Southern Illinois Market chief nursing officer; Michael Janis, HSHS Southern Illinois Market COO; Mike Marchal, president of Holland Construction Services, Inc.; Chris Klay, president and CEO of HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and HSHS Southern Illinois Market; Bruce Holland, CEO of Holland Construction Services Inc.; Dr. Doug Barton, HSHS Southern Illinois chief medical officer; and Teresa Cornelius, chief administrative officer of HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital Highland and HSHS Holy Family Hospital Greenville.

 

This rendering shows one view of the new facility to be built on the O’Fallon hospital campus.

 

This rendering shows another view of the new facility to be built on the O’Fallon hospital campus.

 

This map, distributed to mark where the July 28 event and parking were, also shows the proximal location of the future facility.

Posted in Area News, Local Business Headlines

Leave a Comment