Kishwaukee Community Hospital is still growing, despite the city’s shrinking population.

Currently, the hospital is expanding the emergency room with six new treatment bays as well as the OB unit with four second floor maternity suites.

“Since opening the hospital in 2007, there have been times when demand has outpaced capacity in both areas,” said Brad Copple, president of Kishwaukee and Valley West hospitals. “We believe the addition will help reduce the time that a patient has to wait before seeing a physician.”

According to DeKalb’s office of Economic Development, Census data from 2010 puts the population of DeKalb at 43,862, a decrease of more than 1,600 residents from 2008. Demand for hospital services is still increasing despite the decline in population.

“A lot of times folks are using the emergency room as a substitute for doctor visits; we’ve recognized this as a nationwide problem,” said Michael Kokott, assistant vice president of Marketing and Planning for KishHealth. “In this community, we’ve partnered with NIU to establish the Community Cares Clinic as an alternative for people in that position.”

Just like the emergency department, the Community Cares Clinic, 3100 Sycamore Road, accepts everyone regardless of whether they have insurance. According to U.S. Census data collected over the last two decades, the number of uninsured Americans has risen from just over 30 million to 49.9 million in 2010. The U.S. Department of Health and Human services reports nearly 2 million uninsured Americans are hospitalized every year.

Because emergency rooms are designed to treat urgent health conditions, stabilize patients and release them to the next stage of treatment, they are not the best place to receive primary care, Kokott said.

Sharon Emanuelson, marketing and public relations director at KishHealth System, said in fiscal year 2011, Kishwaukee Community Hospital had 28,690 emergency room visits, 6,565 inpatient visits and 144,026 outpatient visits.

Kokott said the current expansion would allow for the projected 10-year increase in hospital admissions from its current total of about 29,000 to as much as 35,000.

“Hand in hand with the expansion of facilities, we’ve redesigned our processes so that people get in and out of the E.R.,” Kokott said. “We are seeing some record times.”

When the new hospital was built, it was designed with future expansions in mind, Copple said in a press release.

Early in December 2011, the hospital purchased the Windmill Plaza property in the 2700 block of Sycamore Road as a part of their long-term plan to continue developing the hospital campus.

The long term goal is to continue leasing the space to its current leaseholders, and eventually use existing curb cuts to add additional entry points for emergency room traffic, Kokott said.

Two of the four businesses on the property have closed or relocated since the purchase, but Greenacre Cleaners, 2731 Sycamore Road Suite A, isn’t going anywhere, said General Operations Manager Eric Armstrong. Some customers have asked if the business, which has been there for over a decade, will be moving, Armstrong said.

“The hospital was really easy to work with, and they are honoring our lease,” Armstrong said. “We have no intention of leaving.”

Splash of Color and Cornerstone Christian Supplies & Gifts have already vacated their locations, while the store manager of Illinois Title Loans, 2733 Sycamore Road Suite B, was unaware of any plans to relocate the business.

The current hospital expansion will also include an operating room specifically for scheduled and emergency C-sections. According to the hospital’s website, the construction should be complete by fall of this year.