The new hospital in La Porte, Northwest Health – La Porte, is now open and treating patients. The hospital, was designed with quality of care and convenience for patients as the top priority.
On Saturday, October 24, Northwest Health – La Porte opened at 1331 State Street in downtown La Porte. That event marked the culmination of years of planning and a vision of creating a healing environment that will serve La Porte County and surrounding areas for decades to come.
The four story, 200,000-square foot hospital with all private patient rooms sits one block from the older La Porte Hospital. The location was chosen for its centrality and its commitment to support the continuing development of downtown La Porte.
From the minute patients and visitors enter the new Northwest Health – La Porte they experience the bright and welcoming environment. The two-story lobby was designed to easily and efficiently guide patients and visitors to the healthcare services used most frequently. Registration areas, also in the lobby, were designed to ensure patient privacy.
At Northwest Health – La Porte, both patients and visitors will also have access to complimentary valet parking upon arrival. Because family members are often at the hospital during meal times, two dining options are available: the Garden Café on the first floor and The Gathering Café & Bakery on the second floor.
Centers of excellence recognized by organizations such as the Joint Commission, the American College of Cardiology, American College of Radiology and more will continue to be hallmarks of the quality and level of services the hospital and its medical staff provides.
Next year, Northwest Health – La Porte will open the doors of a new medical office building that will be attached to the hospital. The 55,000 square-foot medical office building will feature three stories of physicians’ offices as well as the Infusion Center, Sleep Lab and Wound Care.
“We are so pleased to give our community the gift of a new state-of-the-art hospital,” says Ashley Dickinson, CEO of Northwest Health – La Porte as well as Northwest Health – Starke. “Our new hospital is set to provide the compassionate care we’ve become known for with the addition of all brand new technology and equipment for best practice patient care.”
During the planning phase, hospital colleagues and physicians played a central role in the hospital’s evolution, says Dickinson. They collaborated with the architects to fine-tune floor plans to ensure the new facility would emphasize convenience and comfort for patients as well as quality care, she said.
“Northwest Health – La Porte will provide a high level of clinical efficiency, advanced technology and patient convenience,” she says. For example, privacy is important to patients, and the hospital offers all private patient rooms designed to support patient healing and family involvement. Each room includes a private bathroom and shower, a large picture window, flat screen TV, internet access, room-by-room temperature control and a recliner to allow a family member to spend the night.
In planning the new hospital, officials made the commitment to technology and medical advancements by investing millions of dollars in new equipment. This includes electronic information boards in each room that are linked to the patient’s medical record which allow patients to see their care plan at all times and also see photos of their care givers. More than 80% of the equipment in the facility is new.
Designed to save extra steps and valuable minutes, the hospital also features floor-by-floor efficiencies, such as multiple nursing stations on each level and separate observation/documentation stations in the Intensive Care Unit. This means patients are closer to their caregivers, and caregivers are closer to the supplies, equipment and resources needed to expedite care.
The plan for transferring patients from the hospital on Lincolnway to the new facility on State Street has been a year in the making. “We looked at several methodologies, before determining what was the safest procedure to transfer our patients,” said Dickinson. Twelve ambulances from several different agencies transported sixty-four patients, including two newborns, to the new facility.
A temporary command center at each hospital featured software to track each patient on the move. “We used one ambulance per patient” she says. “We used paramedics in life-support ambulances to make sure everything that could be mitigated was.” Multiple agencies helped support the actual patient transfer that began at 6 a.m. Saturday, including the Indiana Department of Transportation.
New patients were accepted at the new Northwest Health – La Porte beginning at 6 a.m. that day. Dickinson remarked, “We have a new name, a new logo, new patient-centered design, new technology, equipment, new jobs and, most importantly, we are part of an entirely new healthcare system for the region – Northwest Health,” Dickinson says. “We are a regional system, which means our patients can remain here in Northwest Indiana, getting nearly all of the care they need close to home.”
And, she adds, “I’m extremely proud to share this exciting experience with our dedicated and knowledgeable medical staff and our highly experienced and caring colleagues. Their compassionate care remains at the core of our team and hospital’s success.”
About Northwest Health
Northwest Health is a comprehensive healthcare system committed to providing communities in Northwest Indiana with high-quality, accessible healthcare—from highly specialized care and surgical services to more routine primary care. The system of more than 60 access points includes three hospitals, five emergency departments, urgent care centers, outpatient surgery centers, an ambulance service, and physician offices. A team of more than 3,000 employees work together with the more than 700 physicians on its medical staffs. For more information, visit NWHealthIN.com.