Hospital Expansions Bring Top-Notch Care to Residents
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St. Vincent Medical Center Northeast opened in Fishers in October 2008 to an almost universal chorus: “We’re so glad you are so close by.”
The 26.6-acre campus is off Exit 10 on Interstate 69. It includes Indiana’s first free-standing 24-hour emergency department, an outpatient surgery center, primary care and imaging services -
an MRI comes with a complimentary massage. It’s got a stress center, a sleep disorder clinic, a women’s health center and rehabilitation services for adults and children.
Before embarking on the $42 million facility, the St. Vincent system, Indiana’s largest health-care employer, surveyed local residents to get a better idea of their needs. The goal was to provide care for the fast-growing suburbs of Northeast Indianapolis.
“The one thing the area wanted was quick access to emergency care,” says Kimberly Nealon, a registered nurse and director of St. Vincent Northeast. “Most also mentioned primary care. It is a rapidly growing community.”
The new, three-level center comprises 120,000 square feet and was designed for future growth. “It depends on what the community’s needs are,” Nealon says.
St. Vincent joins other major providers in the region, though it is the first such facility in Fishers itself.
Clarian Health in September 2008 detailed plans for a $180 million hospital in Fishers.
The goal is to open a 40-bed acute care hospital and medical office building by fall 2010. The hospital could expand to 350 beds.
In Indianapolis, Community Hospital North also caters to Fishers, Noblesville, Carmel and other northeast bedroom communities. The new hospital had its grand opening in April 2007, doubling the size of the existing facility. It has 282 private guest suites, 60 labor and delivery beds, and 48 private inpatient surgical care suites.
Riverview Hospital, about 15 miles north of Fishers in Noblesville, has 154 beds plus an emergency center, cancer center, heart and vascular center, surgery center, women’s pavilion and more.
The campus has several outpatient clinics as well as Riverview Medical Group, which includes pediatric, women’s, family, rheumatology and pain services.
For registered nurse Sandy Grimm, the new Fishers facility cut her commute from 40 minutes to five minutes. She worked in the surgical recovery unit at St. Vincent Hospital Indianapolis on 86th Street; now she’s a nurse at Northeast’s emergency room. And Grimm lives in Fishers.
“Not only is it great to be so close to work, but having a facility this close if my kids or a family member need it is wonderful,” she says. “There is no other hospital in this area.”
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
