Advocate Aurora Health wants to establish a 27-bed acute mental illness unit at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, according to a recent filing with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. [Health News Illinois]

The $21.1 million project will relocate existing services at Oak Lawn’s Advocate Christ Medical Center, which has a level I trauma status and offers an array of specialized tertiary and advanced care services, the health system said in its application.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the need for medical/surgical beds at Advocate Christ Medical Center, and the Hazel Crest community is in a mental health professional shortage area, as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources & Services Administration. 

The relocation will allow both hospitals to better serve the south Chicago region, per the application. 

“The planned project will better align healthcare services to where they are most needed,” it said. 

The project is expected to be completed by February 2024.

 The board is tentatively set to consider the plan at its Jan. 31 meeting.

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