Writer / Jimmy Girot III
Photographer / Brenda Walter Staples
Local residents who recognize “Hancock Regional Hospital” likely associate the name with the actual hospital located in Greenfield, Indiana. For many years, the hospital has delivered excellent quality healthcare. I have experienced this firsthand as members of my family have received patient care at Hancock Regional Hospital.
Here’s what you and I probably didn’t know until now — this hospital in Greenfield is only one premier component of a massive community healthcare strategy. This consolidated vision of the future, Hancock Health, is moving fast and is clearly woven into each fiber of their newest addition, the Hancock Wellness Center in McCordsville. I visited the new center’s construction site and spoke with two Hancock Health leaders about their overarching vision to raise the bar on community healthcare: Steve Long (President and CEO of Hancock Regional Hospital) and David Flench (Wellness Director).
To truly understand what the new Hancock Wellness Center represents, the community needs to know why this facility was built to begin with. As many people around Central Indiana know, the western third of Hancock County is growing. The more rooftops and the more people that settle down in this part of the county, the more potential there should be for human capital and ultimately economic development success.
According to Long, “The definition of human capital has grown to include the health of the labor pool with an expanding understanding that poor labor pool health leads to higher health insurance costs and lower productivity.”
This construction site represents Hancock Health’s commitment to community healthcare, and it shows a drive to “always be on the cutting edge of healthcare,” added Long.
The new Hancock Wellness Center will feature both traditional and innovative wellness services. Among such services will be aquatics, clinical programs, group fitness, massage therapy, physical therapy and health education classes. The facility boasts a dynamic pool area, second-story run/walk track, full court basketball court, free weights, treadmills, elliptical trainers, saunas and childcare (“The Jungle Club”) and is actually connected to Hancock Health’s medical office building.
The new facility is 48,000 square feet and is the only Certified Medical Fitness Center in Central Indiana. The Greenfield facility is one of 41 certified medical fitness centers in the country and the only one in Central Indiana. The McCordsville facility will operate with the same medical fitness model and should attain that same certification within its first two years.
“You may receive an actual prescription from your doctor for exercise at Hancock Wellness Center,” according to Flench, Hancock Health’s Wellness Director, since it is a Certified Medical Fitness Center and the partner of a regional hospital.
With their eyes on a February 1 open date, plans for the new Hancock Wellness Center are on schedule. The new wellness center will employ about 40 people, according to Flench, “with some full-time employees balancing time between Greenfield and McCordsville.” Prospective employees aren’t the only people interested in the Hancock Wellness Center as they have already registered over 800 members for the new facility. These numbers will undoubtedly keep growing once people realize how close the Hancock Wellness Center is to areas beyond Hancock County, areas like Geist Reservoir and Fishers.
For more information about this and other initiatives by Hancock Health, visit hancockregionalhospital.org or check out the Hancock Wellness Center’s Facebook page. You can also take a drive down Olio Road and stop by the sales trailer to get membership information and take advantage of the pre-open initiation fee discount.
