Caregivers and neighbors alike seemed impressed Saturday with the new $76 million expansion tower set to open at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.

The 110,000 square-foot, four-story addition, due to open March 1, features 96 state of the art private patient rooms and all of the bells and whistles expected by physicians, nurses and patients.

Design and construction By The Numbers

Special closets outside each room will allow nurses to stock linens, supplies and medicine from the hallway to avoid disturbing the patients. Doctors will have quiet dictation rooms with new dictation software to keep patient information up to date. The nurse stations are equally divided throughout the floor. And all patients in the new tower are guaranteed a private room.

Spokeswoman Johnna Kelly said the new rooms will be for cardiac progressive care, neuro medical and post surgical patients.

"It's a really exciting time because this is going to make our jobs so much easier and hopefully add to the patients' comfort," nursing manager Cheryl Nazal said. "We did a spaghetti diagram and it showed our nursers were running all over the place gathering supplies. This new design puts 80 percent of what we need right here in the patient's room, allowing us to spend more time with the patient."

Each of the new, larger rooms is divided into three zones, one each for the patient, family and caregiver.

The caregiver zone has been enhanced with a new sink and workspace design to allow nurses and doctors to always have their eyes on the patient and a new mobile computer system that will let them work at the patient's bedside. The enlarged family zone in each room features its own TV and a new couch that converts from a bench with a laptop workstation to a bed.

Downers Grove resident Adelyne Mlynarz and her neighbor Susanne Kowalski came to check it all out Saturday.

"I hope to never have to be here, honestly. But it's nice to know what's here should I need to come," Mlynarz said. "It's beautiful. The views from some of the rooms are stunning."

Laura Neiberg, vice president for support operations, helped design the addition.

"We have some of the highest quality services in the country," she said. "We're thrilled because we finally have first class accommodations to match the first class care we give our patients. That was important to us."

When the new tower opens, renovation work will begin to the existing tower to make Good Samaritan an all private-room hospital.

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