Rush University Medical Center Receives $10 Million Gift From Grainger Foundation

March 26, 2009, Chicago Tribune — Rush University Medical Center has landed a $10 million gift from a Lake Forest foundation for an orthopedic joint replacement surgery center at its new hospital, despite the tough fundraising landscape.

The gift from The Grainger Foundation will help Rush's effort to redevelop the entire medical center complex on Chicago's West Side, the medical center said this week. That 10-year plan, which began in 2005 and will cost more than $900 million, includes the hospital under construction, a new parking garage, power plant and emergency center.

The orthopedic joint replacement center will be located within the new 14-story hospital at Ashland Avenue and Harrison Street, which will house the bulk of its patients after it opens in 2012.

Rush said the orthopedic center will be an integral part of the hospital's interventional platform, which will have three floors devoted to surgery, imaging and specialized procedures. Each floor will have 14 operating rooms, recovery rooms and support space.

The "interventional" concept groups services together so patients don't have to walk to various locations in a hospital complex, a long-standing complaint among consumers. The UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and Johns Hopkins Hospital Center in Baltimore are also using a similar approach, Rush said.

Membership pulled: The University of Chicago Medical Center has pulled its membership from the American Hospital Association, the nation's largest hospital trade group and lobby.

AHA spokesman Rick Wade confirmed the U. of C. move, "citing financial considerations." He wouldn't say how much the medical center was paying in annual dues.