For Immediate Release: August 28, 2007

Contact: Brian Reardon (217) 544-6464

Carol Jo Vecchie Women and Children’s Center celebrates 10-year anniversary

SPRINGFIELD – St. John’s Hospital administrators, sisters, staff and physicians today gathered in honor of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Carol Jo Vecchie Women and Children’s Center. The celebration included blessing of the facility by Bishop George J. Lucas of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Illinois and a birthday party for several 10-year-old children who were among the first born at the center.

The facility, which opened in August 1997, houses St. John’s Children’s Hospital, including the NICU, inpatient pediatric unit and pediatric rehabilitation services, as well as Carol Jo Vecchie Women’s Services, including the Birth Center and mammography services. Over the past decade, about 16,000 women gave birth at the center, nearly 5,000 premature or critically ill infants were cared for in the NICU, more than 11,000 children were admitted to the pediatric inpatient unit and some 80,000 outpatient visits were made for pediatric rehabilitation services.

The Carol Jo Vecchie Women & Children’s Center was named to honor a central Illinois woman whose love of family and children mirrors the mission of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. A generous gift of more than $27 million by an anonymous donor paid for the entire construction of the building in memory of Carol Jo. Her deep moral convictions, unconditional love of all children and commitment to family will live on through the personal services provided with respect, compassion and devotion.