Kishwaukee Community Hospital soon will have a new addition to its facilities that will help expand its cardiac rehabilitation program.

“In a section between two units, there was a vacant area that was open,” said Sharon Emanuelson, community relations director of Kishwaukee hospital. “We added a fourth wall and a glass roof.”

Construction began last year for the approximately $1.5 million atrium, which will have an oval-shaped walking track around it and a nurses station in its center.

Half of the money came from the hospital’s operating budget and $750,000 was from community donations, said Nancy Vidlak, vice president of Kishwaukee Health Foundation.

“We have seen a steady growth [of patients] and heart disease is the number one killer,” Vidlak said. “We want to help those who have been diagnosed.”

The hospital’s existing 800-square foot rehab center was not large enough for the program, which already has reached capacity. The addition of the atrium will help expand the program by adding 6,000 square feet.

“It will allow more cardiac patients to be seen,” Emanuelson said.

Twice as many patients can be treated with the new atrium, Vidlak said.

The hospital currently has 300 exercise slots per week and with the atrium, that number can be doubled. The walking track will allow patients to have a more convenient place to warm up and cool down.

“Before, the patients would walk in the hallway and it would cause congestion,” Vidlak said. “They would also be out of the line of vision of the nurses.”

Rush Hospital in Chicago is one of the few area hospitals with an atrium.

“We were able to get it fairly inexpensive because of the configuration of the existing hospital,” Vidlak said. “Most other hospitals have a shape of a square.”

Emanuelson said the hospital is aiming to open the atrium to patients in a few weeks, and the hospital will host an atrium open house from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24.