Copyright 2006 Chicago Tribune Company
                                Chicago Tribune

                             June 15, 2006 Thursday
                           North Shore Final Edition

SECTION:  METRO ; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 539 words

HEADLINE: Rush plan gets shot in arm;
$20 million donation for expansion project

BYLINE: By Miriah Meyer, Tribune staff reporter.

BODY:

   Rush University Medical Center officials on Wednesday unveiled a detailed
expansion plan that would dramatically alter the hospital's West Side campus,
including demolition of some of the medical complex's oldest buildings and
construction of a new high-tech treatment center.

   Details were released at a dinner held to announce a $20 million donation
from the family of Barrington businessman Marvin Herb, former owner of the
Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Chicago.

   Part of the donation will go toward the project's budget of $810 million, an
estimate that has grown from $550 million in 2004. Hospital officials attribute
the nearly 50 percent increase in costs to the addition of a new power plant,
parking garages, a new computer system and other infrastructure.

   Officials said a key goal of the project was to add research and treatment
facilities that would allow doctors with different specialties to work closely
with each other. Doing so, said Dr. Larry Goodman, Rush's chief executive, will
"increase the safety and quality of care, the [proximity] of patients to
specialized facilities, and the efficiency of our staff."

   Crews will begin demolishing older buildings, such as the Jones and Rawson
buildings, in the next five to six years. Although some of the older buildings
date to the 1800s, none is registered with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks,
hospital officials said. Some pieces of the old buildings--such as wrought iron
stairways, fireplaces, and wood paneling--will be integrated into the new
facilities.

   The renovation and expansion project is expected to be completed by 2012.

   Hospital officials said a seven-year capital campaign, which aims to raise
$300 million, will cover a portion of the tab. The Herb family's donation brings
the campaign's current total to $167 million.

   Herb joined the Rush board of directors 10 years ago and said his
relationship with the medical center has been "a love affair ever since." His
family's donation includes an endowed scholarship and funds for a new cardiac
catheterization lab.

   Goodman said he is optimistic about raising the remaining project money, even
though several other area hospitals also are embarking on major fundraising
initiatives, including the University of Chicago Hospitals and Children's
Memorial Hospital. Private funds, along with income from operations, federal and
local grants, and bond sales will cover the remaining cost.

   Valerie Lies at the Donors Forum of Chicago said that even in a competitive
time for fundraising, Rush's goals appear realistic. "Rush Medical is a great
brand and has very loyal donors," she said.

   The architects working with Rush to design the new facilities, Perkins +
Will, are working on similar facilities at the UCLA Medical Center and the Johns
Hopkins Hospital.

   Rush's new design also will include standardized patient rooms, a change from
traditional left- and right-handed rooms.

   Traditional rooms place important equipment, such as oxygen, on one side or
the other based on the location of pipes and wiring for the building. Goodman
said the standardized rooms would reduce the potential for errors made by the
hospital staff in emergency situations by placing equipment in the same place in
every room.