University Of Chicago Medicine Opens New Emergency Department
CHICAGO (CBS) -- University of Chicago Medicine was celebrating the grand opening of its new emergency department on Friday.
The $39 million facility will help alleviate overcrowding at the university's Hyde Park hospital campus.
Officials cut the ribbon on the new emergency department at 7 a.m. at 56th and Maryland. The university said it is the newest and most advanced of its kind in Chicago, replacing the old emergency department inside the Mitchell Hospital building at 58th and Maryland.
The new emergency room at 5656 S. Maryland Ave. (in the ground floor of the parking garage) is officially open for business! pic.twitter.com/3o3pxUlVUA
— UChicago Medicine (@UChicagoMed) December 29, 2017
Doctors will start treating patients at the new emergency department on Friday.
It also will include a Level 1 adult trauma center, which will begin operating in May, pending approval of state regulators.
Our waiting room is getting ready for patients. The new adult emergency department/ER opens this morning at 7 a.m. pic.twitter.com/NvMNsx9Wpc
— UChicago Medicine (@UChicagoMed) December 29, 2017
For years, residents on the South Side have complained about not having sufficient access to adult trauma centers. For years, the only Level 1 adult trauma center south of 15th Street in the Chicago area was Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
The new emergency room at the University of Chicago is part of their plan to ensure the South Side has access to quality health care.