Project Overview
Before the St. Bernard Hospital completed the Ambulatory Care Center, many residents of Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood had to travel outside of their community to seek basic care. The hospital brought new services to Englewood including outpatient pharmacy, orthopedics, radiology, a prenatal women’s clinic and various other specialty clinics. Residents now have access to quality, non-urgent treatment options within their neighborhood instead of having to travel long distances or head to an emergency room.
Approach
A Berglund-led, collaborative preconstruction effort between our team, the design team and the hospital laid the critical groundwork for this project's extraordinary success.
Early in the project, the hospital outlined their expectations for the design and quality of the building, the construction schedule and the project budget. The hospital's requirements on these three fronts led Berglund to establish a phased project design schedule that overlapped with construction activities. We were able to break ground quickly while interior program and design choices were still being made.
We completed super structure and envelope design first. Exterior components — such as steel, precast and metal panels — were procured early. This meant construction could begin while the team worked toward finalizing the design of the interior spaces. This integrated design and construction process ensured that we met the fast-tracked schedule while allowing the owner to spend the necessary time on getting the building programming right.
Our early planning allowed us to exceed our project diversity and inclusion goals by reaching 37% MBE participation (goal: 25%) and 8% WBE participation (goal: 5%) among our vendors. We also hosted community outreach sessions at the hospital where local tradespeople could learn about the project and apply to work with us on the spot.
Outcomes
The new Ambulatory Care Center transforms the way St. Bernard Hospital delivers outpatient and specialty care. The facility promotes prevention and wellness through state-of-the-art primary care and specialty clinics, advanced diagnostic imaging and on-site physician offices. It's a one-stop health care facility designed to meet the growing demand for comprehensive, easily accessible outpatient services. The new ACC represents the culmination of St. Bernard Hospital’s mission of providing excellence in healthcare to the communities it serves.
Englewood residents now have access to primary care close to home. They no longer need to to travel outside their neighborhood or to the ER to seek basic healthcare services.
“This building is a wonderful symbol for the community of Englewood — a sign of hope and rejuvenation and affirmation that people in this community deserve the same high-quality health care services one can get in any other parts of Chicago,” Charles Holland, president and CEO of St. Bernard Hospital, said at the opening ceremony.
