Women's Health Facility Opening Across From Walmart

The new Provena Healing Arts Pavilion, along Route 30 across from , is officially opening its doors at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 19.

However, the facility is set to begin accepting on-site appointments tomorrow. An open house featuring tours, raffles, and a demonstration of a regeneration facial is slated from 9 a.m. till noon July 21.

The 45,000-square-foot medical building is staffed to provide a variety of physician services to accommodate the community with diagnostic imaging and immediate care along with primary care, pediatrics, cardiology and cardiovascular services, said Jan Ciccarelli, Provena's director of planning and marketing. But the emphasis of this facility is on women over 40 years old.

Referred to as the Women's Center, the pavilion is largely dedicated to female clientele. Like the L'Oreal company slogan for selling hair color products—because you're worth it—Provena's pavilion is marketing its services in a style that appeals to a woman's perception of inner and outer beauty. The Women's Center is not simply a medical building with suites of offices and closet-size examination rooms or laboratories where preventative mammograms are completed.  

Ciccarelli said they've adopted the "spa" mentality. What comes to the mind of the consumer are images of women in soft, white robes with white towels on their heads and cucumber slices on their eyes. It's practically that kind of pampering image that the pavilion features.

Read more about the Provena Healing Arts Center.

In a tone equally as calming as the idea of a body, mind and soul retreat, Ciccarelli said the pavilion is marrying the idea of healthcare and relaxation.

The brochure reads: "Whether you're visiting one of our physicians or just coming in for a massage, you'll be led into our Tranquility Suite Spa Lounge, where the noise and bustle of the outside world melt away."

As a baby boomer herself, Ciccarelli said, she represents the target group that Provena is looking to attract. Speaking of the softer approach to healthcare services, she said, "it's about time" that women's healthcare was made more soothing.

And just like the advertisements for spa retreats, patients coming in to see an urologist, plastic surgeon or gynecologist will be given a robe instead of a hospital gown, and flip flops instead of unattractive hospital socks.      

In an effort to make doctor-patient discussions easier, Ciccarelli added that the majority of the physicians are female.

And in consideration of the packed timetable that characterize the lives of most women, she said the designers of the spa-style healthcare facility put their heads together and came up with a plan to make doctor visits less schedule-intrusive and more pleasant. Typically a visit to the doctor requires time off work or robs working women of the precious-little time they have to take care of home and family.

Pavilion appointments can be coordinated to allow a patient to visit two or three different doctors and follow-up on laboratory work or tests in a single day. "It's a one-stop shopping experience. You can have several things evaluated at one time."

In between appointments with the doctor, there will be plenty of time to slip in for a massage or to sip a steamy brew of hot tea while reclining in soft-supportive chairs, said Ciccarelli.

The goal here is to satisfy a need while making it comfortable. "We're trying to change the experience for a woman when she has her annual physical and tests."

In addition to women's healthcare and the availability of immediate care doctors, a number of specialists will be on-hand to address chronic disease management, minor illness and injuries. The facility also features an open magnetic resonance imaging, an MRI.

Provena Healing Arts Pavilion marketers have gone all out to appeal to a 21st century audience. Even the open house is likely to feel more like a trip to downtown to attend the Taste of Chicago. A live remote broadcast has been arranged with a local radio station. There will be balloon animals, a magician and a Batman character.

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The raffles are not for a mere free cup with a Provena logo on it or a plastic carry-all bag; they're for spa services, a golf package, Bears tickets and pit passes for the Chicagoland Speedway.

And applying an adapted version of speed dating, Ciccarelli said seven doctors will be on-hand for get-acquainted sessions.

Appointments are now being accepted over the phone at (815) 462-5566.