Public hearing planned for Vista Emergency Center
The public will have a chance to voice opinions about a proposed free-standing emergency center to be built in Lindenhurst by Vista Heath Systems of Waukegan.
As part of the application process required by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4 at 10 a.m. at the Lake Villa Township Center, 37850 North Route 59, Lake Villa.
The planned $4 million facility would be an addition to Vista's existing Surgery Center at 1050 Red Oak Lane.
The seven-station center would be the second free-standing emergency center in Lake County. Lake Forest Hospital opened a facility in Grayslake last November.
Advocate Condell Medical Center recently completed a major expansion of its emergency services at the Libertyville campus. The hospital now has 32 emergency stations and served more than 55,000 emergency patients in 2009, Condell officials said.
Vista and rival Advocate Health Care tried for years to open full-service hospitals in Lindenhurst and Round Lake. Permission was denied by the health facilities planning board, which repeatedly cited too many beds in Lake County as the reason for the denials.
Formal approval for Vista's Lindenhurst emergency center could come in early June at the meeting of the state planning board.
For more details about the hearing, call (217) 782-3516.