Manager Division Operations

Lurie gives new details as it advances plan for children's hospital in Downers Grove. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital wants to build a second hospital on this site near I-355 and Butterfield Road in Downers Grove. Courtesy of Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital Posted March 13, 2026 1:21 pm Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital is advancing its plans to build a second hospital in Downers Grove. Hospital officials held an open house Thursday night to answer questions from the public. The Downers Grove Village Council added hospitals as a permitted use March 3 to the Esplanade at Locust Point planned-unit development, which is where Lurie wants to build the hospital. The development is west of I-355 and south of Butterfield Road. The 100-acre site, which began construction in 1990, contains hotels, office buildings, restaurants and stores. Lurie would buy the land on which the hospital would be located. The hospital still needs to submit a detailed site plan, including architectural drawings and engineering, for approval by the village's planning and zoning commission and the village council. It has not submitted such plans yet, a Lurie spokesman said Friday. Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. The hospital wants to build a second hospital in Downers Grove. Courtesy of Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital The hospital also needs to get a certificate of need from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. It has not applied for that yet. At Thursday's meeting, hospital officials talked about their plans for a 210,000-square-foot hospital and a 60,000-square-foot outpatient treatment center. The hospital could have 12 intensive-care-unit beds and would have a helicopter pad. In response to a question about whether money from the state government or property taxes would be used to pay for the construction, Chief Financial Officer Alex Miller said, "No." Miller said Lurie would pay for it with existing cash, gifts, and by borrowing via the sale of bonds. Lurie publicly announced the project Jan. 28. The next week, Downers Grove's planning and zoning commission voted on the request to amend the PUD, and a Lurie attorney spoke at the meeting. Shanley said there is no pediatric-specific emergency department in the Western suburbs, and that patients do better when they receive specialty care. In January, a spokesman said the hospital would be for "low-acuity" patients - including those who need supportive care, such as oxygen treatment for influenza and RSV infections, or IV fluids for dehydration due to gastrointestinal viruses. It would not admit children undergoing complex medical treatments, such as for cancer or organ transplants. It would have 50 inpatient beds and an emergency department, Dr. Thomas Shanley, Lurie's president and chief executive officer, said at the time.

'From surviving to thriving' Here is a tragic reality, according to Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital: "Black youth in the United States disproportionately experience fatal drowning at rates up to five times higher than their White peers." The main reason, Lurie said in a release, is socioeconomic reality... "historical and structural barriers Black youth face in learning to swim." In an effort to overcome those barriers, Lurie partnered with Evanston-based Camp Kuumba, a summer camp that focuses on Black children, offering a swim program for third-through-fifth graders in 2023 and 2024. According to the study, published recently in the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, after the three-week program, participants "demonstrated significant improvement in objective and parental-reported swim skills." A total of 64 children took part, about half per summer. The swim program consisted of eight, 60-minute sessions over three weeks each session... According to Dr. Michelle Macy, who directed the study for Lurie, "Swimming is more than a sport. It is a life and safety skill that every person deserves to learn." Not only did the program help the ability to swim, but also added to a sense of pride and empowerment among the 8-10 year-old participants. "The program," Dr. Macy is quoted in the release, "filled a critical gap for these kids who didn't have opportunities to learn to swim at younger ages." Only one student dropped out over the course of both summers. "Potential reasons for the high retention rate," Dr. Macy said, was the confidence-building aspect of the program, and the fact that the kids were surrounded by others just like themselves. Andy Miner, co-director of the program, science teacher at ETHS, and head of the Wildkit Water Polo Club, said "Building trust and confidence with each swimmer and family was crucial. Once we created an environment where the kids knew they belonged and felt themselves growing and learning in the water, the results began to compound. The culture shifted from surviving to thriving." The study was funded by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the study covered 2023 and 2024, Miner told Evanston Now that the swim program also ran this year at Camp Kuumba thanks to a previous donation, plus the above-mentioned grant. He added that there are also plans to have the program in 2026, likely with "more fund raising... through Camp Kuumba and not the swim program specifically." Organizers of the Lurie study said this Evanston-based swim instruction can serve as a model for future learn-to-swim programs for historically marginalized students, and "will be used in the development of the Water Safety Plan for the State of Illinois." Here's a recap of its live coverage of Monday night's meeting of the Evanston City Council.