New Campus Offers ExpressCare Walk-in Clinic for Patients
Writer / Lynda Hedberg Thies
Photographer / Ellie Sophia Photography
Franciscan Health Network completed construction of Franciscan Health at Stones Crossing campus and opened its doors on November 14, 2018. Residents of northwestern Johnson County now have a new and convenient option for their health care needs offering a comprehensive range of services and, in doing so, honored the land where it was built.
Francis Health Network was formed in 1993 and is a nonprofit corporation that unites Franciscan Health. Formerly St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove was dedicated in 1914, which meant where they built the hospital was an important consideration.
Today, Franciscan Health operates hospitals in Indianapolis, Mooresville and Carmel. The Beech Grove facility, which has since been demolished, consolidated all of its patient services to the Indianapolis campus in 2012.
“We are always looking to the future with regards to how we operate and continue to evolve,” says Chris DiGiusto, Vice President of Ambulatory Services for Franciscan Alliance. “Part of that has to do with real estate and where we situate ourselves to the populations that we serve. We obviously did that moving Franciscan Health from Beech Grove which was very land-locked. We had 14 acres for a 380,000 square foot hospital and there was literally nowhere else that we could go from a growth perspective. So we consolidated that campus and the south Indianapolis campus into one on a property that had much more room and opportunity to grow. Now we have expanded to the Morgan County area with our ambulatory services. We have always been part of the Johnson County community.”
As they were looking to expand, James Callaghan, MD, president and CEO for Franciscan Health Central Indiana noted that “White River Township in Johnson County was chosen because of the dynamic growth in recent years.”
The property was sold to Franciscan by the Swartz family. According to Scott Swartz, the fifth generation owner, “Five generations have farmed on this property, the purchased site of the new facility.”
The land was purchased at the beginning of the Great Depression by the grandparents of Scott Swartz.
“My father Jack, brother Todd and I have been a part of this community our entire lives,” he says. “Having seen dramatic change and growth in Stones Crossing, Greenwood and Johnson County, it was important to us as a family to be sensitive and diligent in the way this farm would be developed. We are so blessed that the opportunity was brought forward of working with the gifted and caring professionals of Franciscan Health Indianapolis and the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. Our family is blessed to know that for many generations forward, this facility and the faith-based care it will provide to the community will only grow with guidance that Franciscan Health can provide.”
“This was the perfect location with a lot of development going on in the area as well as a central location between our Mooresville and the Indianapolis locations,” DiGiusto adds. “With continued growth being the focus, they have plenty of room to grow and expand to add services as well. We have about 15 percent of the Stones Crossing complex awaiting further development.”
Among the services, patients will find at the three-story Franciscan Health at Stones Crossing complex is family, pediatric and internal medicine physician practices, laboratory and imaging services, mammography, sports medicine, orthopedic care, physical therapy, rehabilitation services and a medical spa which includes massage therapy, body sculpting and hydra-facial services.
Another major component that Franciscan Health Care at Stones Crossing is offering is Franciscan ExpressCare. In addition to treatment of minor illnesses and injuries, this urgent care clinic will offer a full-service occupational medicine clinic. X-ray and lab services, school, sports and camp physical, electrocardiograms, breathing treatments, employment and insurance physicals, drug and alcohol screenings, flu and tetanus shots and immunization clinics.
“We always knew we wanted something that was a walk-in,” DiGiusto says. “We were exploring a free-standing emergency room or a micro-hospital with an emergency room, but we decided that residents needed a walk-in hospital where people don’t need an appointment or have a wait. So, we decided to offer urgent care as a walk-in service. We have been in the urgent care business for more than 10 years now in Central Indiana but we have been in the urgent care business in northern and western Indiana for three decades.”
The model is similar to other urgent care facilities that are open 10-12 hours a day except Franciscan Health at Stones Crossing will be open 18 hours a day. It is important to note that Franciscan Health merged with Immediate Care Centers and they have been in that model since the 1950s. DiGiusto was quick to point out that “our busiest time is when everyone else closed at 8 p.m., so we knew the need was definitely there because we are packed from 8-11p.m. every night. This is the next best option without having to go to an ER.”
Franciscan Health at Stones Crossing is located at 1703 W. Stones Crossing Road and is open every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. No appointments are necessary and most insurance and managed care plans are covered at all Franciscan ExpressCare Centers in Beech Grove, Greenwood and downtown locations.
For more information, visit franciscanhealth.org.
Comments 1
5