“The project is on time, under budget and within scope,” Brad Copple, Kishwaukee Community Hospital administrator, announced to the crowd. Behind him, a rendition of the new hospital was spread across the projection screen of a nearly full auditorium.

Take a drive along Sycamore Road and you’ll notice the $65 million project is starting to look like something. Contractors have riveted in the last steel beam, painted white and signed by employees of the hospital, and much of the roof has been applied.

Once it opens in October 2007, the new hospital will bolster the Kishwaukee Health System by not only 255,000 square feet, but also through a number of notable first-time services: MRI, a cardiac catherization lab, dialysis for in-patients, a centrally located out-patient department and 100 private rooms, among others.

Nearby residents used to helicopters zooming overhead will notice clearer skies since the new location affords more direct access, and ambulances will have a tailor-made entrance in front of the building. Discharged patients will exit through a back entrance for both convenience and privacy’s sake, said hospital CEO Kevin Poorten.

It was 30 years ago that the current hospital went up, and since then it has grown to handle up to 280,000 medical visits a year with 1,120 employees, Poorten said. Kishwaukee Health System is the county’s second largest employer behind NIU.

The 23-acre site of the new hospital is adjacent to the original, so there will be a system of sidewalks connecting the two as the campus develops. Offices for the physicians have yet to go up, but breaking ground is set for this July, with all construction slated for completion in July 2007.

Copple, the man standing before the crowd and currently the hospital’s chief administrator, said this new hospital will not become obsolete in 30 years. Because the plans were laid out with expansion in mind, an additional 100 private rooms can be tacked on, along with other necessary facilities.

Truly, it is a project many have put a lot of time into: Scattered about seven warehouse locations across DeKalb, contractors put together mock-up sections of the hospital to get an idea of what it would feel like to walk around inside. Poorten referred to the process as “Getting out and kicking the tire.”

Copple reasons the mock-ups saved them a little more than $1 million.

Speaking of money, officials need $7 million of it from the community. They’ve organized a massive donor campaign, and as of Thursday, have gone public on that note. They already have $4.6 million, Copple said, and with the full $7 million, they can avoid about $12 million in debt-service payments.

And while the old building is unable to satisfy the demands of today, it will still have it uses: EMS classes and conferences will be held there, rehabilitation, and possibly, Poorten said, as a site for education.