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Morris Hospital breaks ground on $17.2 million office building in Ottawa · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Morris Hospital’s breaks ground
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  on 17.2 million office building in Ottawa. Written by Michael Urbanac
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  This article is being read by an automated voice, brought to you
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  by Everlet. Ottawa residents soon will have access to healthcare services
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  at Morris
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  Hospital new 17.2 million medical office and diagnostic Center. Morris
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  Hospital broke ground on the future 22,900 square foot facility Wednesday at
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  1700 Columbus Street, north of CVS. Construction is expected to last around
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  15 months. The facility will house lab services, diagnostic making. Cardiac diagnostics,
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  multi-specialty physician offices, and other services to be determined. At a time
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  when we are seeing services leave our community, Morris Hospital’s is doing
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  the opposite, said Ottawa Mayor Robert Hasty. They're doubling down. They're making
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  a large investment in our community and showing us that the people
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  here in Ottawa matter. Morris Hospital CEO Tom Doome said this project
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  is over a decade in the making. Discussions began first under former
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  Ottawa Mayor Robert Eshbach. Dome said the COVID-19 pandemic was one factor
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  that delayed the project. The new facility will consolidate Morris Hospital's services,
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  currently spread across about 10 buildings in Ottawa, under one roof, Dome
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  said. Noreen Dollinger, Morris Hospital Board Chair, says expanding Morris Hospital’s footprint
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  isn't something the board takes lightly. As stewards of this organization, the
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  board feels a profound responsibility to ensure that every decision made is
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  the absolute right move, not just for Morris Hospital, but for our
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  patients, Dollinger said. Dollinger said reaching this moment was a thorough, deliberate,
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  and exhaustive process that involved analyzing data, forecasting community needs, and asking
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  hard questions. One of those difficult questions, as Hasty pointed out, is
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  the changes in the rural healthcare landscape. He said Morris Hospital's growth
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  gives Ottawa residents a choice for where they seek health care. Dr.
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  Mary Fitzgibbon has been working in Ottawa as an OBGYN for the
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  last year, and she's been with Morris Hospital for the last five.
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  She said coming to Morris in Ottawa from the southwest suburbs was
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  a breath of fresh air. Our whole staff is excited to get
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  a more centralized presence here in Ottawa, Fitzgibbon said. I know there's
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  been some specialists that have been coming here for several years, longer
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  than me, but now we'll all be able to be in one
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  place. We'll be able to get more of us here. Hasty said
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  the new medical office also will bring a traffic signal to the
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  intersection of Columbus and Nebraska streets in front of Jefferson School, which
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  he expects will help slow traffic.