OSF HealthCare St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg just added six new emergency department exam rooms — and they were full the same day they opened. That’s the reality facing Zach Yoder, the newly appointed president of three OSF HealthCare facilities in western Illinois, as he takes on one of the region’s most critical healthcare roles.
Yoder joined Chris Postin on Galesburg In Focus to talk about his vision for OSF St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg, OSF HealthCare Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth, and OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center in Kewanee. The full interview is below.
Yoder, a nurse by background with 19 years of healthcare experience, comes to the region from the St. Louis market. He said the opportunity to lead rural healthcare — and bring high-quality services closer to home for patients — was a key draw.
“Being able to bring high-quality services to an area that’s not part of a bigger urban area is something that’s really exciting,” Yoder said. “To keep people close to home and services in their community.”
Emergency department expansion
The six new exam rooms at St. Mary Medical Center represent approximately 7,000 square feet of new emergency department space, recently approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Yoder said the expansion was immediately absorbed by demand.
“They were full the same day we got access to them,” he said.
Respiratory illness — RSV, flu, and COVID — has driven heavy patient volumes, with hallway beds frequently in use during peak seasons. To address bottlenecks, OSF has established inbound and outbound transfer committees focused on moving patients through the continuum of care more efficiently.
The expansion also includes dedicated behavioral health beds for patients in mental health crises, and a new CT machine focused on cardiology services — aimed at reducing unnecessary transfers to Peoria.
Robotics and surgical technology
St. Mary Medical Center has added a Da Vinci 5 robotic surgical system, now used by five general surgeons. A new ION robotic bronchoscopy system also recently went live, enabling more advanced early detection and lung procedures locally.
Yoder said the technology does double duty — improving patient outcomes and helping recruit surgeons who trained on robotics.
“Most physicians coming out of surgical residencies and fellowships are robotics trained,” he said. “If you go to a rural market without robotics, it’s hard to recruit.”
Hub-and-spoke model
Yoder is overseeing what OSF calls a hub-and-spoke regional model. St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg serves as the hub due to its larger size and capacity, while Holy Family in Monmouth and St. Luke in Kewanee operate as critical access spokes — focusing on outpatient services and essential inpatient care, supplemented by visiting specialists.
“We can’t keep every service close to everyone’s home,” Yoder said. “But we have to make sure we’re doing the right things at the right hospitals.”
The three facilities together serve approximately 100,000 people across several counties.
Growth areas
Yoder outlined several priorities for the region. OSF currently offers radiation oncology and has plans to expand into medical oncology, including chemotherapy and infusion services. The hospital is also working to increase access to pediatric specialties such as pulmonology, and to expand wound care services — currently award-winning at Holy Family — into St. Luke.
Longer term, Yoder said St. Mary needs an estimated 15 to 20 additional inpatient beds to meet current demand. A new Meadowview Behavioral Health Center in Peoria is also expected to open later this year, providing expanded inpatient and outpatient mental health services for the broader region.
Awards and recognition
The regional facilities have received several recent national recognitions. St. Mary earned a Grade A from Leapfrog, a national safety benchmarking organization. Holy Family and St. Luke both earned five-star ratings from the National Rural Rating System. OSF HealthCare was also named one of Fortune Magazine’s Most Innovative Companies for 2025, and earned a Best Home Health rating from U.S. News & World Report in 2024.
Yoder said the long-term goal is a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — a multi-year process involving 35 quality metrics.
“This community deserves the best quality care that they can get,” he said. “That’s something we’re going to continue to push forward.”
