The doors to the new, state-of-the-art emergency center at 1653 W. Congress Parkway will be the first to open in the new hospital building at Rush University Medical Center on Friday, Jan. 6. Rush’s current emergency department will close early Friday morning when the department goes on bypass during the move to the new facility.

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation Center for Advanced Emergency Response, which encompasses the emergency department, is the first of its kind. The center houses an expanded emergency department with 60 treatment bays and with a surge capacity of 133 percent. The 40,000 square foot center is located on the ground floor of the new, 14-story hospital building at Rush on the corner of Ashland and Harrison avenues. Inpatients currently at Rush will move into the new hospital building on Sunday, Jan. 8.

The idea behind the new emergency response center goes back to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, when doctors and emergency responders were forced to change the definition of a mass casualty. Mass casualties have traditionally been defined as traumas like vehicle accident injuries, and gunshot and stab wounds. After 9/11, the definition of a mass casualty was expanded by the emergency services profession to encompass such injuries as inhalation problems, burns, and the entire body being crushed. The anthrax attacks in 2001 also changed the way emergency response is now viewed.

Rush received a $7.5 million grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, grants from other agencies such as the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, and private contributions, to build the new Center. For more information, please go to http://transforming.rush.edu.