Illustration provided by Community Hospital East. Artist’s rendering of what the front of Community Hospital East at 1500 N. Ritter Ave. will look like after $175 million worth of renovations announced on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. Community Hospital East to get $175M injection Rumors have been swirling for years about the demise of Community Hospital East. On Wednesday, Community Health Network officials finally put the rumors to rest, announcing they would make a $175 million investment in the Eastside facility and area in the coming years. The money will go to renovate the hospital, at 1500 N. Ritter Ave., expand its emergency room, and build three new medical pavilions in the area, including one in Beech Grove. The number of inpatient beds at the nearly 60-year-old hospital will not increase. Were here, were here to stay, said Bryan Mills, Communitys president and chief executive officer. Were here to establish the fact that again this is our responsibility. Community Hospital East opened in 1956. In recent years, many had watched Communitys moves, fearing that its commitment to the Eastside hospital, the first hospital in the network, had waned. Attention and dollars seemed focused on the North campus. Moving the former Hook Rehabilitation Hospital north from the Eastside campus didnt help dispel fears, nor did tearing down an unused building about a year ago. The 2nd picture is from 2004. Improvements to Community Hospital East at 1500 N. Ritter Ave., will include three new health pavilions as well as a complete remodeling and a doubling of the size of the emergency room. However, throughout the past decade, Mills said, Community Health Network continued making investments on the Eastside, including adding medical health pavilions and the Jane Pauley Community Health Center at Warren Townships Renaissance School. During that period, from 2002 to 2013, the number of emergency department visits rose by 62 percent. So when hospital executives started planning for the future, they realized they would need more space. The expansion announced Wednesday will add 17,000 square feet and nearly double the current 35 emergency rooms to 64. The first of the new medical pavilions — which will include outpatient medical offices offering services from primary care to physical therapy — will be built in Beech Grove. The Franciscan Alliance maintains a presence in Beech Grove, even after closing its hospital there two years ago, but more medical facilities are always appreciated, Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said. This adds another element, he said. Now the citizens of Beech Grove will have choices in their medical care. No site has been chosen for the Beech Grove facility, Buckley said. He did not rule out the city donating space, but he said Community Health Network would not move into the old St. Francis Hospital at 1600 Albany St., which remains vacant after closing in March 2012. The Beech Grove pavilion and the emergency room expansion are scheduled to be done by 2016. The other two health pavilions, for which sites have not been chosen, will be finished by 2018.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 12:07:31 +0000
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