Jeff Good, President of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, Talks Advancements in Medical Tech
Jeff Good, President of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, Talks Advancements in Medical Tech (Cook County, IL) — Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
When Palos Hospital opened, its first patients came into the emergency room for injuries related to the hospital’s location — the nearby forest preserves. Today, the hospital’s surroundings haven’t changed much, but it now has the latest technologies, 425 beds, and has gone from treating 14,000 outpatients in 1972 to over 196,000 in 2021.
Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital continues to advance by adding new specialties and technologies. Jeff Good, President of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital spoke with The Southland Journal about these advances.
Jeff Good, President of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
Good has lived in Orland Park for almost 20 years and worked for Northwestern Medicine for over 13 years.
When asked what advancements have occurred since Northwestern Medicine took over, Good responded, “We have three primary integrated programs that we look to excel and advance across the entire health system. We feel these programs, in and of themselves, their growth is important to the communities that we serve.”
“Our Blue Cardiovascular Institute is one … enhancing our Neuroscience offerings to the community and Oncology.” He noted that “Those three aren’t at the exclusion of growing things like GI or primary care and other service lines.”
Cardiovascular Care at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
Regarding cardiovascular care, Good added that “We’re about to embark on a reconstruction of space here at the hospital that’ll be dedicated to our Cardiovascular Institute. … In part of that space, we will have a clinic of the future that is really designed to offer artificial intelligence and other technologies to make the patient experience very futuristic.”
Neurosciences at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
When it comes to neurosciences, Good stated “We’ve already started neurohospitalist programs. We have neurohospitalists that are in-house throughout the week. … We’ve hired our first neurosurgeon and we look to add a couple of more in the late summer, early fall. … Today we’re able to do spine cases but we’ll be looking to be able to move to cranium once we have our full neurosurgery team here.”
Oncology at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
“We’re gonna be looking to grow our medical oncology services, surgical oncology at our Orland Park campus. Our plans are to develop a cancer center and already construction is underway to help meet the needs of this community from a cancer program perspective.”
Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital Aims to Keep Patients In-House
One of the goals of these improvements is not to funnel patients to the downtown hospital, but to provide the care they need in the community. “As we grow these programs, the idea is to grow them to keep people here,” said Good.
Planning the Future of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital
“From a technology standpoint, we have the benefit now of being part of an 11-hospital system within Northwestern Medicine.” Good indicated that the latest and greatest technologies at any facility, they look to develop at all of the other facilities. “Our goal is to be better. Best is the destination, but better is really about constantly looking for ways that we can improve the care and experience of all of our patients, and our mission is really all about our patients first.”
“We’re in the process of replacing the MRI … with technology that will support cardiovascular disease evaluation. … One of our two cath labs is slated to be replaced, so we’ll continue to look at all of the technologies that we have here, at the main hospital campus, but also, as we grow the services that we offer at Orland Park, Tinley Park, and even in the facility that was opened last summer in Mokena.”
Jeff Good, President of Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, Talks Advancements in Medical Tech
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