Online Staff Report

SwedishAmerican Health System breaks ground on its new free-standing outpatient cancer center today, Monday, June 4.

The center, being constructed in collaboration with UW Health and its nationally recognized University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, will be on a 30-acre site on North Bell School Road in Rockford, in close proximity to I-90 and the Riverside exit. State approval of the new facility was received in April, and preliminary site preparation work began in mid-May.

Officials from SwedishAmerican, UW Health, the City of Rockford, Winnebago County, and a cancer survivor were to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony. Project partners include Saavedra Gehlhausen Architects, Eckenhoff Saunders Architects and Ringland Johnson Construction.

The new SwedishAmerican Regional Cancer Center will offer services such as medical oncology, chemotherapy and infusion; advanced radiation therapy; and medical imaging at one convenient location. Patients will have access to the latest clinical trials offered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition, a full complement of holistic and support services will ensure the very best treatment experience.

“This groundbreaking is a major milestone for SwedishAmerican, and for cancer treatment in northern Illinois,” said SwedishAmerican President and CEO Dr. Bill Gorski. “This new center will consolidate services currently offered at multiple locations, making life easier for patients and providing them with access to the latest clinical trials and expertise from UW Health.”

Dr. Jeffrey Grossman, senior associate dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, added: “The UW Carbone Cancer Center has nearly 300 physicians and scientists working together to understand more about how cancers develop and how they can be stopped or prevented. I am very proud that the fruits of our clinical and scientific efforts in cancer research will be shared with patients from northern Illinois through this new partnership.”

Construction of the new cancer center is projected for completion in the last quarter of 2013. The project will have a positive economic impact on Rockford and the surrounding region. In addition to creating approximately 300 construction jobs, by its fourth year of operation the center is projected to include the equivalent of 104 full-time jobs, including health care providers and support staff.

SwedishAmerican Health System

SwedishAmerican is a not-for-profit, locally governed health care system with headquarters in Rockford. The health system is composed of two hospitals, 30 clinics, a home health care agency, a foundation, and has an exclusive affiliation with UW Health in northern Illinois.

Posted June 4, 2012