by JOHN RUSSELL, The Indianapolis Star, November 16, 2013
Sky Farm on the roof of the new Eskenazi Health Hospital
Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star
Source: www.indystar.com
Rooftop vegetable garden, sculptures add unique touches to Wishard’s replacement
Indiana has never seen a hospital quite like this.
From the spiraling wooden sculpture suspended from the ceiling in the main concourse to the vegetable garden on the roof, the brand-new Eskenazi Hospital keeps you wondering what you will see around the next corner.
The $754 million hospital, which will serve mostly poor and underinsured patients, is nearly ready to open, after four years of planning and construction. The public can tour the hospital from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.
The massive complex, spread out on 37 acres, will replace Wishard Hospital, a deteriorating hodgepodge of buildings, some a century old. On Dec. 7, an army of hospital workers will move patients from the old building to the new one a block away.
The new hospital is the latest addition to Indiana’s hospital construction boom over the last decade, a period in which more than $1 billion in new facilities sprouted up around Central Indiana, from specialty heart clinics to luxurious medical centers in the suburbs.
Each of Indiana’s dozens of hospitals seems to have a distinctive personality, from the luxurious Indiana University Health North Hospital in Carmel, with posh fireplace lounges and cherry wood bassinets, to the kid-friendly Riley Hospital for Children, with its signature red wagons and play rooms.
The feel at Eskenazi Hospital is bright and welcoming. Sunlight pours through windows in every patient room, waiting room and hallway. The public areas are filled with colorful art, from historical oil paintings to whimsical photographs of the city.
The goal, officials say, is to be comforting for people entering the doors for what is often a frightening, high-stress experience.
“We want this to be the most patient-friendly, family-friendly, simple-to-use hospital you can find,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and chief executive of Marion County Health and Hospital Corp., which operates the hospital.
