BLOOMINGTON -- McLean County's first medical overnight stay facility that isn't a hospital will open next week.

BroMenn Comfort & Care Suites opens Monday at the northeast side of The Center for Outpatient Medicine (T-COM) at 2502 E. Empire St., Bloomington.

"This is the natural way to improve the delivery of medical care," Dr. Steve Irwin, chairman of the board for T-COM and the care suites, said Thursday after a tour of the $1.2 million facility.

Irwin and Dr. Tony Dustman, care suites medical director, said the facility offers a homier setting for generally healthy patients recovering from surgery performed at T-COM.

Comfort & Care Suites is the fifth recovery care center to open in Illinois; the closest is in Peoria, said T-COM Administrator Bryan Zowin. State approvals were received recently, added Sarah Gardner, T-COM business director.

Comfort & Care Suites can accept patients for up to two nights following some spine; gynecological; ear nose and throat; orthopedics; urological and plastic surgeries, the doctors said. Patients must be pre-screened, generally healthy patients who need pain control and observation after surgery. But medical staff and equipment are available for emergencies, Irwin said.

High-risk and Medicare patients will continue to have surgery and recovery at the hospitals, Irwin said.

Nearly 5,000 surgeries are performed yearly at T-COM. Zowin estimates 400 to 600 patients will stay in the care suites annually.

The facility is in 2,900 square feet of renovated space that had been used for McLean County Orthopedics' physical therapy. Dustman is an orthopedic surgeon with McLean County Orthopedics and Irwin is retired from there.

Comfort & Care Suites includes three patient rooms, each with a restroom and space for a family member to stay overnight. Patient beds are hospital beds made up to appear like hotel beds and medical equipment is concealed behind wooden panels. Woodwork, art and flowers were used to give each room a warm feeling, Gardner said.

Nurses' station, medical director's office, multi-purpose room, kitchen, lobby and staff lounge also are included in the facility, which has four registered nurses and one receptionist.

T-COM is co-owned by BroMenn Healthcare, local surgeons and Carle Clinic Association. Asked to comment on the new venture, Chad Boore, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center vice president of medical network services, called the facility "an interesting new development" that affords benefits to surgeons and patients.

"It's a natural evolution in patient care," said Boore, who said that neither of St. Joseph's outpatient surgery centers have plans for a recovery care center.