First phase of Kishwaukee Hospital’s ER department renovation highlights behavioral health

DeKALB – Phase 1 of Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital’s emergency department reconstruction opened this week.

Phase 1 is the most visible portion of the renovation for the public and includes the main entrance, the waiting room, testing bays and fast-track rooms. The $12 million renovation project began in April. The project is scheduled to take place in three phases over 16 months to allow optimal emergency department operations during construction.

Kristen Tindall, manager of the emergency department, said that a highlight of the renovation is the behavioral health rooms.

A behavioral health suite features four treatment bays designed to promote safety for patients and staff. When a bay is being used for a behavioral health patient, an overhead door will be lowered to ensure the patient is protected from any equipment that could be used to cause self-harm.

“The rooms have access doors, almost like garage doors, that we can raise and lower,” she said. “All of our medical equipment is behind those doors for safety.”

Tindall said that the emergency department had behavioral health rooms previously, but they were empty.

“If we needed to do vital signs, we had to bring machines in,” she said. “If we needed a computer, we needed to bring it in. Now we’re able to have everything in the room. It’s just a matter of raising and lowering the garage doors, which is very simple.”

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Kristen Tindall, emergency department manager at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, talks Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, about some of the safety features in the behavioral health suite, including an overhead door that can be lowered to ensure the patient is not able to access any equipment that could be used to cause self-harm, during a tour of the recently opened phase 1 at the facility. The full $12 million renovation of the emergency department is expected to be completed in Sept. 2022. (Mark Busch/Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.co)

The three-phase renovation project is estimated to be finished August or September 2022. The second phase will take six months and the third phase four months.

The renovation will increase the number of rooms from 23 to 34, including 14 exam rooms, three trauma rooms, two isolation rooms and three holding bays for patients waiting for results. Five fast-track rooms are designed to quickly treat patients with mild ailments and injuries, such as sore throat, urinary tract infections and sprained ankles.

New medical equipment will be installed, including new stretchers and a second pneumatic tube station to efficiently send specimens to the lab. An overflow area, equipped with medical gas, will accommodate additional patients if needed during a surge event. Additionally, a dedicated security services office will be embedded within the emergency department.

Tindall said that while Phase 1 of the renovation project is complete, the emergency department still is under construction.

“We still will have loud noises at times, still some containment walls that will be up and we will be using alternate spaces to take care of patients,” she said. “The renovation will improve flow through the ER. There will be natural lighting, windows, comfortable chairs, which all lead to good healing environment.”

For information about Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital’s emergency department, visit the hospital’s website.