Northwestern unveils heart clinic at Palos Hospital
Northwestern Medicine has been busy in the south suburbs since bringing Palos Hospital under its wing at the beginning of 2021.
The latest addition was unveiled last week when the Palos Heights hospital opened Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute Cardiology Clinic.
Suite 1520 used to be a women’s health clinic, but most of those services have been moved to Northwestern’s Orland Park campus.
“It was actually a very beautiful space, but it sat empty for about a year and a half,” said Jeff Good, of Orland Park, the hospital’s president.
The clinic has 16 exam rooms, one consult room plus clinician workspaces. Two of the exam rooms are being called “Clinic of the Future” models.
Northwestern isn’t finished, either. Early in 2023, the hospital will open an expanded cardiac diagnostics area, which will offer heart failure and echocardiology rooms for cardiac testing.
As a result, patients can receive most of their cardiac treatment in the clinic rather than having to travel to another Northwestern facility.
“This is a great spot off the lobby,” Good said. “It’s convenient. Many of our cardiology patients are very sick and it’s very difficult to navigate facilities so having it off the lobby is just a great location.
“The construction team did such a wonderful job in getting this ready and the medical group and leadership team was really behind the vision and making all of this happen and putting all the puzzle pieces together. They deserve all of the credit.”
The Clinic of the Future rooms feature large wall-mounted screens that allow both the doctor and patient to see ultrasounds of the patient’s heart.
“The Clinic of the Future is about more than just the technology,” said Dr. Kannan Mutharasan, the medical director of the clinic. “It’s about connecting the patient and the clinician to humanize health care.
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“In the past, patients wouldn’t even be able to look at the pictures of the testing. You would have to take sort of the word of the doctor — not that it isn’t gold — but the picture is worth 1,000 words.”
The new clinic opened on Dec. 14.
Harbor Freight opens in Matteson
California-based Harbor Freight opened its third south suburban store this week, in Matteson.
The store at 20909 S. Cicero Ave. is in a former tile store. It held its grand opening Dec. 20.
Harbor Freight is known for selling tools and equipment from brick-and-mortar locations as well as online.
The family-owned company was established in 1977 by Eric Smidt and his father and has grown to more than 1,300 stores.
The company operates 10 stores in the Chicago area. Nearby locations are in Orland Park and Burbank in Illinois and in Schererville in northwest Indiana.
Metra upgrades service on Heritage Corridor line
Metra has upgraded the schedules of four lines, including the Heritage Corridor from Joliet to Chicago with stops in Lockport, Romeoville, Lemont, Willow Springs and Summit.
The new Heritage Corridor schedule provides for later departures of two trains.
Train 915 will depart 25 minutes later at 3:50 p.m. to provide an option to riders whose workday ends at 3:30 p.m. and to improve on-time performance
Train 919 will depart 5 minutes later at 5:30 p.m., to allow a bit more time for riders to catch the last outbound train of the day on the line.
Bob Bong is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].