DYER | Starting at 7 a.m. today, St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Dyer will begin admitting patients, and medical workers will return to treating emergency cases in the normal emergency room location.

Since Plum Creek overflowed Aug. 24 and flooded the first floor of the hospital, the ER has been operating in an on-site temporary location, and patients who needed admittance were transported to other hospitals in the system.

The State Board of Health toured the facility Thursday and determined the hospital was ready to return to full service, hospital president Thomas Gryzbek said.

A majority of the facility will be back in working order, he said.

State officials toured the building to ensure it was equipped, clean and ready to take patients, said Ed Shultz, vice president of construction and engineering.

"They wanted to see we were made whole," Shultz said.

The hospital sustained millions of dollars in damage from the flood and were forced to replace flooring, ceilings and more than 5 linear miles of drywall, he said.

The large waste receptacles and portable toilets have been cleared from the site, fresh flowers were planted and new stripes were painted in the parking lot, Shultz said.

A few outpatient areas need to be completed. The hospital is waiting for some furniture to arrive, he said.

Officials were in the process of alerting the hospital's 3,000 employees Thursday and expected to have staff scheduled in time for today's reopening, Gryzbek said.

Many of those employees were temporarily staffed in other hospitals in the system as crews repaired damage to Dyer campus.

Gryzbek thanked the corporate staff and the hospital employees for getting the hospital back in order.

"God has been very good to us," he said.

The hospital blessed and rededicated the emergency room Nov. 8.