Aurora Health Care held a groundbreaking ceremony today for the new Aurora Medical Center in the Town of Summit. Town of Summit leaders and other elected officials joined physicians and staff from Aurora Wilkinson Medical Clinic, senior Aurora leaders, patients and community members for the ceremony at the construction site.

The medical center will be built at the southeast corner of Interstate 94 and Highway 67. It is expected to open in the summer of 2009.

The 21st century hospital and clinic will usher in a new era of health care excellence in Waukesha County. Patients at the new Aurora Medical Center will benefit from the many high-tech advancements in medicine in recent years. The hospital will offer the latest equipment for diagnosis and treatment, all-digital diagnostics, a comprehensive system for electronic health records, and an array of other technology that will enhance care and improve efficiency.

Aurora Medical Center also will feature a new model of patient-centered care.

The hospital will have 110 patient rooms, all of them private and each with a full bathroom. The patient rooms will feature home-like furnishings, individual temperature controls, warm colors, natural wood trim and other amenities to ensure that a hospital stay will be as comfortable as possible.

Aurora Medical Center also will feature soft, indirect lighting, plenty of windows for natural light, family lounges, resource libraries, nurse stations designed to encourage interaction between patients and caregivers, and an easy-to-navigate floor plan that promotes privacy by separating patient hallways from those used by the public.

The medical center will occupy part of a 156-acre triangle of land in the Town of Summit that the Pabst Farms developers have designated for health-care related development. The 53-acre hospital campus will feature extensive landscaping and include a “healing garden,” providing a tranquil retreat for patients, family members and staff. A paved walking path will ring the campus.

Access to the campus will be from Highway 67 and from Delafield Road. Visitors arriving at the medical center will be able to choose among five separate building entrances, each with adjacent parking. There will be entrances for the medical office building, inpatient care, emergency care, cancer center and ambulatory surgery.

The medical center will incorporate a 593,000-square-foot hospital and a 180,000-square-foot medical office building. The office building will be the new home for the physicians and staff of Aurora Wilkinson Medical Clinic, which has outgrown its space in Oconomowoc.

Total initial employment at the medical center is estimated at 950 full- and part-time employees, including the Wilkinson Clinic employees who will move from Oconomowoc locations.
Aurora Health Care is a not-for-profit Wisconsin health care provider and a national leader in efforts to improve the quality of care. Aurora provides care at sites in more than 90 communities throughout eastern Wisconsin.

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Contact: Jeff Squire (414-647-3408)