By Jennie Tunkieicz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Apr. 26--RACINE, Wis.--Groundbreaking today for a $38 million building that will include a new women and children's center is part of a $150 million, 10-year improvement plan for All Saints Healthcare System in Racine County that hospital officials say won't cost the community any extra money.
Unlike other hospital expansion projects, All Saints plans to use operating reserves and current assets to pay the bill and will not borrow money to make the improvements, Jim Beck, chief executive officer for the organization, said Wednesday.
'What I liken it to is the Miller Park building without the tax,' Beck said. 'We all like Miller Park, but we would have liked it more had they saved money over a number of years and then built the park.'
Beck said paying for the project without borrowing money was fundamentally different from the way other area health care facilities were built.
All Saints Healthcare System, based in Racine, includes St. Luke's Hospital, 1320 Wisconsin Ave.; St. Mary's Medical Center, 3801 Spring St.; and smaller offices and health care centers in Racine and Union Grove.
Among the planned improvement projects:
--$14 million for infrastructure costs, including road and parking improvements.
--$8 million for upgrades to an existing office building for physicians.
--$33 million for expansion and improvements to the emergency department, with the addition of a heart and lung center at the St. Mary's campus in Racine.
--$10 million improvement to the St. Mary's atrium medical office, with the addition of two floors.
--$38 million for a new St. Luke's Pavilion, which will house the new Center for Women and Children at St. Mary's Medical Center.
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(c) 2001, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
