Construction under way at hospital

MARION, Ill. -- Warm November weather was helpful to construction crews working on the new multi-million dollar hospital in Marion.

Odum Concrete Products of Marion is supplying lightweight concrete for the hospital.

The Heartland Regional Medical Center is on schedule to open in late October 2002.

The $42 million facility is the first hospital built in Southern Illinois in 40 years.

The four-story facility will be nearly three times the size of the current facility and will cover 270,000 square feet.

Diagnostic and outpatient treatment areas will be on the first floor.

On the second and third floors will be the hospital's surgical cases and the obstetrics unit.

On the third floor, 32-private and four semi-private medical and pediatric rooms will be constructed. Also, a main nursing station, family and guest waiting, and a physician consulting room will be built.

Offices for staff will be on the fourth floor.

Marion Memorial Hospital executives are preparing for the seven-mile move from the current hospital into the new one. Partners Health Care has been hired by the hospital to coordinate the move.