Mayor Greg Ballard joined Wishard leaders today at City Market to announce The New Wishard Report to our Community, a new informational campaign for Wishard to report the efficient progress of the new hospital project to the community that, with an overwhelming vote on Nov. 3, 2009, made a new Wishard possible. During Wishard’s Health Fair at City Market, leaders announced that The New Wishard project is on time and under budget, and Wishard shared detailed renderings and a model of the new hospital, which Wishard designed in part using input from patients, physicians and staff.
“Last fall, the Indianapolis community showed tremendous compassion and a spirit of cooperation in supporting a new safety net hospital, and since then Wishard has worked quickly, responsibly and efficiently to achieve the goals we set,” said Mayor Ballard. “With this project, Wishard is creating and supporting thousands of jobs and improving the sustainability of our city by making this one of the nation’s foremost new hospitals in environmental design and energy efficiency. The new hospital will create a home where Wishard can continue to provide the top quality care and public health programs upon which our community relies. Wishard is a tremendous steward of public support and a resource for health and safety.”
City-County Councillor Barbara Malone, Wishard CEO and Medical Director Dr. Lisa Harris, and Health and Hospital Corporation CEO Matthew Gutwein joined Mayor Ballard in speaking at the Report to Our Community event. The project is achieving savings through contracting and bond financing, and Wishard is ahead of goals for minority-, women- and veteran-owned business participation.
“Wishard is executing this project well, showing itself to be as financially responsible and adept at planning as it is proficient in delivering excellent quality health care,” said Councillor Malone, chairperson of the Municipal Corporations Committee. “I am proud to see good stewardship of public funds, proud that Wishard has upheld its commitment not to raise property taxes, and I am proud to see Wishard exceeding participation levels for minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses. I look forward to seeing Wishard’s continued progress, job creation and commitment to diversity as much as I look forward to seeing this new hospital in three years.”
The New Wishard, opening at the end of 2013, will feature a 327-bed inpatient hospital. Wishard project leaders registered the 1.2 million square foot campus to achieve United States Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification that will make it the first newly built hospital in Indiana and one of ten in America certified LEED Silver or higher.
“We are proud of The New Wishard, which we’ve designed, with the input of our physicians, our nurses and our patients, to provide the best and most comforting quality care,” said Dr. Harris. “The new hospital will be a welcoming and accessible place that enhances quality of life for our patients, our staff and our community.”
Wishard is exceeding contract goals for minority-, women- and veteran-owned business enterprise (M/W/VBE) participation. While aiming to achieve the City’s goals of 15 percent MBE, 8 percent WBE and 3 percent VBE, Wishard has achieved so far 16.4 percent MBE, 10.4 WBE and 4.1 percent VBE, with nearly 31 percent of all commitments going to M/W/VBEs.
“We are achieving the goals we set out to attain,” said CEO Gutwein. “We are under budget. We achieved an excellent rate on our bonds, saving hundreds of millions against our worst-case projections over the life of the bonds. We are contracting with minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses, and we are contracting with predominantly local businesses. We are proud to report this progress to the community and to the many individuals and organizations that supported a new Wishard one year ago.”
Wishard’s Report to Our Community will continue through the fall. Wishard supplements the campaign with a 16-page report as well as a revamped Web site at TheNewWishard.org. The refreshed site features an interactive 3-D rendering, new video content and enhanced interactivity and social networking features. Wishard officials will conduct a series of community meetings and presentations over the next few months to report on the project’s progres.
Wishard has approved more than $113 million in construction contracts and plans to complete all bid awards for the hospital and ambulatory care building by the end of the year. The New Wishard project will create 4,400 jobs, and the new hospital will support the more than 4,000 Wishard staff positions as well as a new venue for the more than 1,000 physicians who practice at Wishard.
The renderings feature an 11-story hospital tower adjoining a 200-room ambulatory care building, a 90-bed treatment room emergency department with a 20-bed clinical decision unit and Wishard’s Adult Level I Trauma Center, a faculty and administration building, and a more than 2,700-car parking garage on the 37-acre campus at the western end of the IUPUI campus.
The project to construct a new Wishard will transform the landscape of health care in Indianapolis. Marion County voters approved construction of a new Wishard in the Nov. 3, 2009 election, with 85 percent support for the measure, and Wishard began work immediately. Wishard plans to complete the new facility at the end of 2013. To learn more about the construction project, visit www.TheNewWishard.org. For more information about Wishard Health Services, visit www.Wishard.edu.
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