Operation Transplant: Parkview's move north

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Nine years in the making and one of the largest economic development projects in Allen County’s recent history, Parkview Regional Medical Center (PRMC) is almost open for business.

“This is an environment designed for comfort, calm and confidence,” Mark Hisey, the vice president of Changing Spaces Parkview Health, said.

Parkview Health announced its plans to build the regional medical center on its north campus in 2003. The move would transfer many services from Parkview Hospital on Randallia Drive up north.

Administrators, physicians and other staff then spent five years planning the hospital before breaking ground in 2008. A lot of that planning involved trips to hospitals across the United States to compare methods.

“This facility is designed around the best practices from around the country. It’s designed by clinicians and designed around the needs of our patients,” Hisey said. “We went to see what was working well for them and incorporate that in this facility.”

PRMC has technology woven through it from “smart” rooms and beds to robots roaming the halls delivering supplies to nursing stations.

“The TUGs navigate their way through the hallways from one department to another and deliver patient meals, medications, linens and other supplies,” Hisey explained. “It allows staff to have more hands-on time with the patients.”

(Watch the video in this story for an exclusive first look at the TUGs in action. You can see it pause when it gets to the camera and then navigate around it.)

Nurses can be tracked down and alerted if a patient needs them through GPS devices.

“The smart beds communicate with caregivers,” Hisey said.

For example, if a patient’s bed is set a certain way for the patient’s care or safety and it’s changed, the bed will alert a nurse.

“The nurse has a communication device and it goes immediately to the iPhone. If another nurse is closer to the patient room than that patient’s nurse, the alert will go to that nurse too,” he said.

Each of the 446 patient rooms is private and equipped with a lift over the bed to help caregivers move the patient more safely. Three zones in the rooms also give patients, family members and caregivers their own areas.

“The patient rooms were built six times through trial rooms to make sure they had the right feel for patients and families,” Hisey said.

New technology is also found in low radiation CT scanners that take more detailed images.

“The new technology requires less radiation and gives more information, so it’s safer for the patient and for our caregiver as well,” Hisey explained.

An extra touch in the medical center is calming lighting and interesting artwork on the ceiling of the CT rooms.

“They’re designed to be more comforting and relaxing to make the experience less intimidating,” Hisey.

In the Parkview Heart Institute, hybrid labs have new technology that allows several procedures to be in one room. Previously patients would have had to be moved to another area for the different procedures.

From huge windows to a nature water feature in the lobby, an overall theme felt throughout the hospital is that of bringing the outside in.

“There’s natural lighting and wood and stone. It’s calming and soothing and helps in the wellness and recovery process,” Hisey explained.

Curved hallways make the 900,000-square-foot building seem smaller and more connected. Respite rooms throughout the facility give patients, loved ones and caregivers a place to go if they need a moment to process difficult information or deal with a loss.

Hisey also expects non-patients to come to the regional medical center.

“Our dining room is off the front lobby. We have an excellent healthy menu and we expect people to come for dinner,” he said.

Visitors are also welcome to browse the nearly 800 art pieces, many done by local artists.

“I feel the move is good overall for the Fort Wayne community,” Karen Leonard, Ph.D. said.

Leonard is an associate professor in management at IPFW and has more than twenty years of experience working in the healthcare field, often advising other hospitals about where to locate.

“My biggest concern with their move is transportation. We have some [people] who use public transportation to get [to the hospital on Randallia] and that’s a concern,” Leonard said.

PRMC is outside the Fort Wayne city limits. That means the bus system, Citilink, isn’t obligated to take people to the hospital.

“We are however, working with Citilink on a possible shuttle service from Randallia. We are also working with other local and rural transport companies to ensure medical transportation is available for our patients,” John Perlich, the media relations manager for Parkview Health, said.

That solution might not be finalized by the March 17 opening date for PRMC. In the meantime, Citilink will take patients to the Burger King across from the hospital and Parkview security will pick the patients up there to bring them to the hospital.

Even with the transportation

solution still being worked out, Leonard said Parkview’s decision to expand north was wise.

“They’ll be able to consolidate services and because they’re not-for-profit, it goes back into services. It’s a win-win situation, except for those who have difficulty getting there,” she said.

Click here for more details about Parkview Regional Medical Center.

Moving Day and Traffic Tie-ups

Parkview Regional Medical Center’s first patient will arrive on March 17. Ambulances will transport an estimated 80 patients from Parkview Randallia.

With the patients will come employees and visitors. The Indiana Department of Transportation estimates an additional 4,000 cars will go through the area around PRMC each day. DuPont Road between I-69 and Diebold Road, the area directly in front of the medical center, already sees more than 20,000 vehicles pass through every day.

“We have been preparing for this very moment, March 17, when Parkview has the employees heading north on 69,” Toni Mayo, the spokesperson for INDOT, said.

INDOT has actually been working to better traffic flow in the area for several years. Over the last two years, an $11.8 million project improved Dupont Road from just east of I-69 almost to Tonkel Road. The road was expanded to three lanes in both directions from I-69 to Diebold Road and two lanes in each direction from Diebold to Tonkel Roads.

Last year, the on ramp from Dupont Road to southbound I-69 was improved by adding another lane. Last fall, INDOT also changed the lanes on the northbound exit ramp from I-69 to Dupont by allowing the center late to turn right or left.

Perhaps the biggest change to accommodate increased traffic will start next month. A new interchange will be constructed at I-69 and Union Chapel. That is on the north side of PRMC.

“Growth is so great in this northern part of Allen County, that this is one way to effectively treat the traffic,” Mayo said.

The Union Chapel interchange will be a roundabout. That allows traffic to keep flowing and not have to stop at a light or stop sign. Parkview Health paid for $10 million of the project’s $13.9 million price tag. Mayo said that was a big factor in getting the interchange built soon.

“It really came to fruition quickly because of Parkview, INDOT, the Allen County Commissioners and the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council,” Mayo said. “The groups partnering together put this project ahead of schedule.”

Brooks Construction, a local contractor, will start construction March 26.

Once that interchange is done, roundabouts will be built at Union Chapel and Auburn Road and at Union Chapel and Diebold Road.

Another big construction project is planned for 2015 to further improve traffic flow around PRMC. The interchange of Dupont Road and I-69 will be reconstructed into the diverging diamond style. It also allows traffic to keep flowing and not stop.

While PRMC is generating a lot of traffic to the area, Mayo said the medical center is not the direct cause for all the road changes.

“Northern Fort Wayne has been growing for the past ten to 15 years. Evidence of that is the medical businesses and the non-medical businesses flocking up there. Other businesses will naturally come,” she said. “There’s a lot of open ground and you can expect that more economic development, whether medical or not, is going to occur up there.”

Economic Impact

It’s that growth of the northern part of Allen County that Karen Leonard, Ph.D., said is probably what enticed Parkview Health to expand there.

“Out where they moved, there are hotels and restaurants and facilities for people who have to come and stay with their loved ones,” Leonard, a former healthcare advisor, said.

 Those are all things Leonard said the Randallia campus doesn’t have. The older campus also doesn’t have a lot of room for growth.

“Space is always an issue for hospitals,” Leonard said. “With Randallia being too small and with the consolidations and cost savings I believe they’re planning on and that I believe they will see, I believe they will be able to provide better and more services to the community."

For other businesses in the area, Parkview’s expansion was good news.

“It was wonderful. “I think it helps in all different aspects, from workers to the services they provide,” Sandy Geisler, the owner of Culver’s , said. “The Dupont construction ending enhanced business and I would assume Parkview’s expansion would do that same. “

The restaurant is right across the street from PRMC. It already has a partnership with Parkview through an annual fundraiser for the newborn Intensive Care Unit. Geisler said the added traffic the medical center is expected to generate isn’t worrisome.

“We already see a lot of traffic from 69 and adding to that is nice for everyone,” she said.

Mark Evans, the assistant manager at Carmike Cinemas across from PRMC, sees the added traffic as added potential customers.

“People coming in from out of town and even local people visiting