Gov. Quinn announced $4.7 million in investments for central and eastern Illinois hospitals on Aug. 8. Presence Covenant Medical Center and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana will receive a total of $641,307 as part of Quinn’s “Illinois Jobs Now!” capital construction program.

Presence Covenant Medical Center received $217,502 to remodel its emergency department, which will include updates like automated entry doors, the combination triage and emergency department exam rooms, an expansion of the north exam room and the creation of a new nurse’s station. The project will also include a remodeling of the current nurse’s station and an existing area that will become a new procedure waiting room.

“This grant funding makes it possible for us to provide the very best care to our Emergency Department patients,” said Mike Brown, president and CEO of Presence Covenant Medical Center in a press release. “We are working hard to make today count for our staff, patients and visitors, and the funding will allow us to do that more efficiently and effectively.”

Gina Marsh, the marketing and public relations coordinator for the hospital, said the hospital applied for the funding in 2009 and received the first phase of funding that year. This is now the second phase.

“This project was something that needed to be done, and it was a project that was high on the priority list,” she added.

Carle Foundation Hospital received $423,805 to renovate the facility’s Clinical Decision Unit and expand its emergency room.

“We appreciate the grant funding made available to Carle through the ‘Illinois Jobs Now!’ capital investment program,” said Carle Foundation Hospital president and CEO James Leonard in a press release. “The grant funds in the Clinical Decision Unit helped modernize our space so we can provide efficient, time sensitive care plus facilitate decision-making and appropriate transitions to other hospital departments.”

The hospital was awarded a total of $847,610 in early 2012 from the Hospital Capital Investment Grant, said Mark Schultz, a public relations specialist at Carle. They received the first half of the funding in 2012, and received the second half from Quinn’s announcement on the eighth. This second half is meant to help pay for the project that was completed by the 2012 grant.

Carle’s renovation and expansion was completed and has been in service since October 2012, Schultz said.

Marsh said that Presence Covenant wants to get their project started as soon as possible but does not know how long construction will take.

Eleanor can be reached at [email protected].