Newswise — Chicago’s venerable McCormick Foundation is providing a $3 million gift to help fund a new program within Loyola University Hospital’s Emergency Department that will provide rapid high-level care for patients whose conditions require time-critical interventions. The McCormick Foundation Care-Accelerated Program will address both current and projected patient-care needs.

“The McCormick Foundation’s extraordinary generosity to Loyola over the years has helped us provide the best available care and treatment to the patients we serve. I look forward to continuing this very fruitful partnership by implementing this new program,” said Paul Whelton, MB, MD, MSc, president and CEO, Loyola University Health System.

Each year, physicians and nurses in Loyola’s Emergency Department—a Level 1 Trauma Center — treat more than 53,000 patients. Looking ahead, the number of U.S. citizens ages 65 and older is projected nearly to double by 2030, with a concomitant rise in patients suffering from conditions such as coronary heart disease, acute infections (sepsis), stroke and other vascular and neurological emergencies that require rapid response.

Based on the principles of Loyola’s successful 24/7 Heart Attack Rapid-Response Team initiative, the Care-Accelerated Program will deploy leading-edge imaging equipment, communication access, care protocols, evolving technologies, pharmaceutical support and expert personnel to streamline care for patients with symptoms requiring rapid diagnosis and treatment. Care will be delivered within a space uniquely designed to expedite treatment, improve survival rates and maximize patient comfort and safety.

Plans to renovate the existing space to create the Care-Accelerated Program area have been created by a design team specializing in emergency medical-care delivery, based on industry best practices and significant staff input. “We’re an academic medical center, committed to our role in creating leading-edge initiatives to optimize patient care. This gift is critical in helping us do that,” said Mark Cichon, DO, director, Emergency Services and assistant professor, Department of Surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Among the infrastructure changes: the application of ergonomic design principles to help reduce staff strain and fatigue; new wiring to allow computerized treatment documentation at every point of care; redesign of the floor plan to improve patient flow and visitor comfort; addition of rooms for family/medical staff consultation to facilitate communication; and the installation of sliding doors separating patient treatment areas to increase patient privacy and positively affect air flow issues, improving safety.

“Our mission is to help improve the civic health of Chicagoland, including the physical health of people in our communities,” David D. Hiller, president and CEO of the McCormick Foundation. “The path-breaking work in the new accelerated care program will help improve the speed and accuracy of treatment for the region’s most critically ill and injured.”

The McCormick Foundation, established by Col. Robert R. McCormick, long-time Chicago Tribune editor and publisher, made the $3 million gift through its Special Initiatives program. The program supports partnerships with civic, cultural, educational, health and social-service institutions that share its commitment to serving children, communities and country. Together with a $500,000 gift from Jim and Sally Dowdle that helped establish the Heart Attack Rapid Response Team initiative and a $2.5 million gift from the John L. Keeley Jr. family to fund Emergency Department renovations, this latest gift will help create the best experience possible for patients and their families at a stressful time.

Loyola University Health System’s hospital is designated by Illinois as a level 1 Trauma Center for both adult and pediatric patients. Additionally, the American College of Surgeons has verified the hospital’s Level 1 Trauma Center status. Loyola is the only hospital in Illinois — and one of a select group nationwide — to earn this distinction.