• Overview
  • History
  • Values
  • Accreditations & Awards

Seeking Excellence in Care

About Silver Cross

• Our Services and Locations
• The Way You Should Be Treated
• Clinical Quality
• Patient Safety
• Personal Service

Through our commitment to clinical quality, attention to patient safety and dedication to details and personal service, Silver Cross has been named a Thomson Reuters Healthcare 100 Top Hospitals National Award winner for 7 consecutive years. Patients cared for at 100 Top Hospitals like Silver Cross have higher survival rates, are less likely to have complications, are cared for in a safer environment and have high patient satisfaction. Silver Cross is also known for its customer service, currently ranking as one of the highest hospitals nationally for our patient satisfaction scores.

Our Services and Locations
Since 1895, Silver Cross has grown from a 33-bed, two-story hospital into an impressive healthcare network featuring a 304-bed acute-care hospital with a team of more than 3,000 employees, physicians and volunteers. To keep pace with the growing population and ensure quality healthcare for the next century, Silver Cross is building a $400 million state-of-the-art replacement hospital—just three short miles from the current campus at the new I-355 extension in New Lenox. Opening in early 2012, the replacement hospital brings services from Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) – the #1 Rehabilitation Hospital in the Nation, and the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The 289-patient rooms will be private and able to accommodate today’s medical technology, ultimately
reducing unnecessary transfers and the risk of infection and injury. And the hospital’s design will create efficiencies between departments and promote an environment that helps patients heal faster. The new 70-acre New Lenox campus also includes medical office building which is already open and home to the Silver Cross Center for Women’s Health. A 4-story outpatient medical services building and a state-of-the-art cancer center—in partnership with University of Chicago Medical Center, will also open in 2012. 

Over the years, Silver Cross has developed an extensive ambulatory network throughout its region that includes 10 satellite facilities with more than 100 physicians and an array of outpatient services such as diagnostic imaging, rehabilitation therapy, dialysis, women’s health, and emergency services. Silver Cross recently opened a new medical center at 143rd St. and Bell Rd. in Homer Glen. The Silver Cross Health Center brings new services to the community, including high-tech diagnostic imaging, primary and specialty physician offices and the first licensed free-standing emergency care center in Illinois. The Silver Cross Free-Standing Emergency Care Center is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your emergency needs.  Physicians trained in Emergency Medicine (staffed by EM Strategies) are waiting to care for you.

The Way You Should Be Treated
This means being regarded with respect and compassion or with high-quality care and attention. Here, at Silver Cross, we recognize each of our patients and also their family members as individuals with their own sets of wants and concerns. And we have made it our goal to address them all. It is what we call the Silver Cross Experience. Our Goal is to provide the highest possible levels of clinical quality, personal service and patient safety.

Clinical Quality
At Silver Cross, we continually test ourselves and raise the bar for quality. By doing so, we have received the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission.  At Silver Cross, we strive to exceed their standards by devoting time and resources to keep elevating our quality. The care given to our patients with heart disease and pneumonia far exceed the national standard for care according to the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, the surgery department at Silver Cross Hospital provides the highest level of care to all of its patients. This high level of clinical care has been recognized by BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois and designated as Blue Distinction® programs in Knee and Hip Replacement surgery, Spine surgery and Bariatric Surgery.  Silver Cross also participates in the Surgical Care Improvement Project and its outcomes far exceed state and national averages.

Further, by updating technology, we improve the patient experience. Silver Cross was the first hospital in the region to offer Quicksilver, a self-registration process designed to expedite registration for tests, procedures, and treatments. Our doctors and nurses have access to Electronic Medical Records (EMR). This allows real-time data sharing of patients’ information throughout our whole health system and will assist physicians in making rapid, clinically informed decisions that lead to improved patient care. In addition to EMR, doctors and nurses can access your medical records using portable digital assistants, or PDAs, as well as digital copies of your X-rays, mammogram, MRI, and other test results anytime, anywhere. And we have sped up the diagnosis process so that you don’t have to wait as long to get your results.

Patient Safety
No matter what the reason for your visit with us, patient safety is always at the top of our minds and at the heart of every action we take. We even develop programs and plans for improvement before regulations require them, such as our Time-Out Process that occurs before every major procedure. Our team stops and takes the time to verify that they are performing the correct procedure on the correct patient and the correct site of the body before performing any surgery. We also use bar-code scanning technology to confirm a patient’s identity and prescription information before giving any medications at the bedside. This greatly reduces the possibility of medication errors while increasing accuracy and efficiency. To minimize the chance of a patient falling, all our beds come equipped with a special alarm system, alerting the nurse when a patient leaves his bed when he shouldn’t.

Personal Service
Like safety, personal service is a constant at Silver Cross, woven into everything we do and every action we take. Our goal is not only to make our patients well, but to make them feel safe, welcomed, and cared for—no matter how brief or long their stay with us. We listened to your feedback provided on our patient satisfaction surveys and have made significant improvements.  For example, on our 6th floor surgical care unit, surgical patients can control just about everything from their bed, including the flat-screen TV system. Loved ones are also welcome to spend the night on a comfortable fold-out sofa sleeper right in the room. We also offer free wireless Internet access throughout the hospital. And family and friends are encouraged to send a greeting through our website.  These e-cards are hand delivered to our patients within 24 hours. It is the culmination of these special touches that has led Silver Cross to be named a Hospital of Choice by the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers for several years, recognizing us as one of America’s friendliest hospitals.

To learn more about Silver Cross, call (815) 300-1100 or just stop by and experience Silver Cross first-hand. We'd love to give you a tour.