Downtown walk-in clinic moving to Illini Community Hospital campus as part of $1.6 million project

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Illini Community Hospital will relocate and expand its walk-in clinic as part of a $1.6 million project.

Illini Xpress Walk-In Clinic will move from 101 E. Washington to a new facility to be built on the hospital campus. The facility will include two drive-through bays similar to those at the Blessing Express Clinic in Quincy. 

“The drive-through concept works well for the diagnosis and treatment of a number of conditions, and it’s a better way to serve our patients. We don’t see COVID or COVID-like illnesses going away any time soon,” said Kathy Hull, chief of small rural hospitals, Blessing Health System.

Hull said the new building will be designed specifically for healthcare delivery, and relocating the clinic to the hospital campus will allow staff to more quickly and efficiently respond during times of high demand for care to assist clinic caregivers.

The new building also will have shell space for future expansion.

Illini Xpress Walk-in Clinic recorded 4,827 patient visits during 2021. It opened in August 2015 as a result of an opportunity identified in the Community Health Needs Assessment for a new care option in Pike County for non-life threating illnesses and injuries.

The first step of the project will be to demolish the Annex building on the northeast corner of the Illini Community Hospital campus. Construction is expected to be complete in fall 2023.

Funding comes from an $891,500 United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Grant and $730,000 from Blessing Health System.