IU Health West Enhancing Capacity and Services With Vertical Expansion Project
Writer / Berkley Rios
Photography Provided
Since late 2017, team members at IU Health West Hospital have been working diligently to open the hospitals $84 million vertical expansion project. The new expansion includes an additional 48 inpatient beds, a catheterization lab, two operating rooms, an inpatient dialysis unit, a new space for inpatient pharmacy services, and new kitchen and classroom areas. The expansion also includes additional parking.
Our community is growing by leaps and bounds – Hendricks County continues to be the second fastest-growing county in the state, and our ability to provide care to all the patients who need us has in the past been challenged by our capacity, says Paul Ivkovich, president of IU Health West Hospital. Data we used to green-light the expansion showed we were having to transfer 1,700 patients a year who had come to IU Health for their care to other facilities, because we could not get that patient a bed in a timely fashion. The demand for IU Health-level quality care was there. We had to grow to meet that demand.
With the new additions, the hospitals inpatient capacity has increased by more than 50%. The new 14-bed intensive care unit and catheterization lab opened in September, and are located on the new fourth floor.
Not only did the hospital expand its walls, but also its services. The new four-bay dialysis unit allows patients to receive their treatment within the hospital walls. Before being able to receive dialysis at IU Health West, patients had to be transferred to other facilities.
The ability to provide inpatient dialysis is a game changer, Ivkovich says. Until now, any inpatient who also needed dialysis support during their stay had to be transferred downtown – most of whom are patients with diagnoses we absolutely could have managed otherwise at IU Health West. This addition allows those patients and families to stay closer to home for their care. IU Health West provides the communitys only 24/7 STEMI program, so the cath lab expansion enhances our ability to care for heart attack patients around the clock.
