Ozaukee News Graphic

Aurora ready to build new hospital

Port Washington Road location picked in Grafton

Ozaukee News Graphic, September 27, 2007

By TIM CARPENTER News Graphic Staff

GRAFTON - Advanced Healthcare and Aurora Health Care have secured 105-acres northwest of the Highway 60 and Port Washington Road intersection for the site of their new medical center.

The announcement comes just months after Advanced and Aurora publicly presented their intentions to build a hospital in Grafton.

The project is the main component of a broad-based alliance formed by the two heath care providers in late July.

"Our chief goal in choosing a site was to provide easy access for our patients in Grafton and all of the communities of Ozaukee County," said Grafton physician Bill Ebinger, who also serves on the Advanced Healthcare Board of Directors.

"Were really looking at building a medical center that will meet the needs of the community for a long time to come," he said.

The 480,000-square-foot Aurora Medical Center will consist of four stories and feature a hospital and medical office building. The center will contain multiple entrances and parking for up to 1,100 cars.

The hospital will open with 89 beds and feature a 24-hour emergency room and a Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, among other services. The center is expected to employ a 600-person staff.

Ebinger said the hospital will be modeled after the Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay, featuring a design emphasizing comfort and convenience for patients and their families.

All patient rooms will be private and contain their own bath, kitchenette and family lounge, among other elements.

In addition, the hospitals nurse stations will be designed in an interactive fashion to encourage more involvement from patients and their families in the caring process.

These really are high quality hospitals that are very patient and family focused as to how they provide their services, Ebinger said in reference to some of the newer health facilities featuring similar designs. A large number of these newer hospitals really incorporate this philosophy that encompasses all elements of patient care.

The 80,000 square-foot medical office building will be open to any physician interested in leasing space at the facility.

Ebinger said the building will not impinge on Advanced Healthcares plans to rebuild its Cedar Creek Clinic at 215 Washington Street.

The new Cedar Creek Clinic will more than double the size of the current building and is expected to increase on-site physician staff by as much as 50 percent. That project is slated to break ground this fall.

I believe the Cedar Creek Clinic has established itself as a critical part of the health care in this area, said Ebinger, a longtime internal medicine physician at the clinic. Perhaps some of our specialists whose practices are more hospital-based may have offices at the medical office building, but many would rather go to a smaller facility thats easier to get around in.

An exact opening date for the hospital center has yet to be set, but Ebinger anticipates the project will take two years to complete once it receives all the necessary village approvals.

Village Administrator Darrell Hofland said the project is anticipated to receive conceptual review at the October 3 plan commission meeting.

A public hearing for a proposal to rezone the property to a Planned Unit Development and annex the 80.3 acres of the project located in the town is expected to take place at the November 27th commission meeting.

The future Aurora Medical Center site was once slated to be the home of a hotel/water park development proposed a few years ago, but the project fell through due to a lack of funding.

Cedarburg doctor Janice Alexander also considered building a broad-based medical complex on the site, but never followed through on the plan

(Tim Carpenter can be reached at tcarpenter@conleynet.com)