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North Seventh Street between Eighth and Beech streets will remain open through at least May 1.
The Terre Haute City Council agree to close that road as part of the Union Hospital expansion.
"Our commitment was not to close Seventh Street before March 2,"
said. Lorrie Heber, Director of Marketing for the Union Hospital Health
Group.
The plans for the Union Hospital project calls for Seventh Street
to be vacated between Eighth Avenue and Beech Streets. The new facility
will be built across the area currently occupied by the street. Before
that project can begin, however, some utilities need to be relocated
from under other streets. One line along Beech is key to this project.
"Plans are currently underway to relocate the sewer line under
Beech Street," Heber said. "Until that is complete, we cannot begin
construction."
According to City Engineer Pat Goodwin, the city is waiting for approval from the state.
"We're waiting for IDEM to approve our plans for the sewer relocation," Goodwin said.
The city and hospital engineers are still working on sewer upgrade plans, Heber said.
"The City wants to do Beech Street first," she said. "They want to
maintain good traffic flow in the area."
Heber noted that IDEM regulations will require a minimum of 60
days to complete the project. In addition to the time needed to
relocate the sewer, any permanent cover such as asphalt or concrete,
cannot be installed over the change, in case further work needs to be
done.
Once Beech Street repoens then Union would be ready to go ahead
with the Seventh Street closing. That date will not happen before May
1, if not later.
Heber said that Union wants everyone to have ample notice of any closures.
"When we get ready to close that portion of
Beech Street," she said. "we we'll post information on our web site."
For more information, visit Union's web site at http://www.uhhg.org. Inside the June 2006 Issue:
Union's future Hospital's plans one of the largest
in Terre Haute's history
By Robert L. Flott WVJB Editor
When
on June 9, David Doerr announced that Union Hospital seeks to build a
new hospital to replace its existing facility, he answered questions
that had been circulating for several months.
Union Hospital has scheduled two more open houses to discuss its expansion plans:
July 6 (moved from July 10)
July 27.
All meetings will take place at the Landsbaum Center, from 6 to 8 p.m., All interested parties are encouraged to attend.
When will Union Hospital build a new facility?
Where will Union Hospital build a new facility?
Will this new facility include a request to the Terre Haute City Council to close Seventh St.?
The answer to all three is yes.
An additional question, what will this facility look like, was also answered.
Union's plans
Doerr
presented plans for a six-story, 575,000 square foot hospital whose
footprint will straddle Seventh Street between Eighth Avenue and Beech
Street. The new building will also connect with the current facility.
"Our
facility was designed more than 40 years ago when hospital care was
delivered much differently, Doerr noted in a released statement. That
facility was built with ward care--multiple beds in the same area--and
created semi-private rooms with which most people are familiar.
"Union
Hospital today is largely semi-private," Doerr said. "If we fast
forward to today, there is a need, if not an expectation, for private
rooms. A lot of that planning and energy went into a detail that would
not only incorporate efficiencies but also positive accommodations."
The
rendering of the 350 new rooms show bright spaces with lots of natural
lights and space for family to sit and gather, even sleep. Medical
equipment is kept hidden behind wooden panels. Each pair of rooms will
share an area where doctors can stand, observe and chart the patients.
"If
we look at the rendering for the new rooms we see that they are not
only patient-friendly, but family-friendly too," Doerr said. "When we
looked toward the design of the rooms, we looked for a design that met
both the needs of the patient and the needs of the family."
The
move toward private rooms nation-wide has been driven by an acute care
needs and the need to fight infection. Other new hospitals in
cities such as Milwaukee have begun to build nothing but private rooms,
which allow hospitals to isolate each patient more effectively.
Ground is expected to be broken on the $178 million project during the summer of 2007 and will take two years to complete.
Financial impact
The $178 million represents one of the largest single projects in Vigo County history.
"The
economic impact of a project this size for the Wabash Valley is
significant," Doerr said. "We're setting the standard of healthcare for
our community for the next 50 years."
According to numbers provided by Union officials:
Over
a 10-year period, this investment will have a total impact of $2.45
billion on the regional economy, including the total increased demand
for goods and services created directly by the hospital, as well as the
demand created by suppliers to the hospital and consumers supported by
the hospital.
Union
employs 1,971 people in the Wabash Valley with an annual payroll of
$85,020,000. Growth of the hospital may result in job growth within the
hospital.
Operation
of the facility supports an additional 1,230 people throughout the
Valley who are either suppliers to the hospital or firms that supply
consumer goods to the employees of the hospital.
Personal income associated with the employment of these 3,201 people totals $1.23 billion in a 10-year period.
In
2006, Union Hospital will pay nearly $400,000 per year in property
taxes throughout the Valley with $362,000 of that being paid in Vigo
County alone.
The new Hux Cancer Center will add about $146,000 annually to that total when it is complete in the fall of 2007.
Union
Hospital is only exempted from taxes for property on which
hospital-based services are provided. Its physician office space and
rental properties are not exempt from property taxes. For example, the
Professional Office Building at Seventh Street and Eighth Avenue is
only 60% exempt due to the remaining 40% being leased space for
non-hospital functions. That building has an annual tax bill of
$186,000.
As
its medical campus has expanded, some property previously owned by
Union Hospital has been sold by the hospital to non-tax exempt entities
that now pay taxes on those properties. Examples include the AP&S
Bone and Joint Center and Illiana Internal Medicine.
As
Union Hospital has acquired residential property, the resulting
construction and ancillary medical services that have been built on
that land have resulted in neutral to positive changes in property tax
revenue to the city.
No tax dollars will be requested or used to fund the new hospital facility
Locating the new facility.
The plans call for the new facility to be
placed immediately to the east of the current hospital onto and across
Seventh Street between Eighth Avenue and Beech Street.
Union
Hospital has requested a special meeting of the city council on June 14
to present its plans, Doerr said. In July, it will present a request to
the Terre Haute City Council, asking that the city close and vacate
Seventh Street between Eighth Avenue and Beach Street.
The decision to make this request, Doerr said, was only made after a long and extensive evaluation process
"This
is something we've been working on for quite a while," Doerr said. "I
know there have been some questions from the community over time. We
don't ever want to give the appearance that we don't want to share
information, but there certainly are times when it is beneficial to
make sure we've done the appropriate planning to make certain the
details we do share are appropriate and accurate."
The proposed project, Union Hospital believes, is its best option.
"We've
looked at other alternatives," Doerr said. "Is there a backup plan per
se? We can fall back on other alternatives. It is not nearly as
efficient. It does not provide us the same economy of scale. It will be
more expensive over time just in terms of the provisions of health
care."
Doerr also noted that the current facility is usually full to capacity, and the demands for services are only increasing.
"The
other thing that is does... I just can't dust off another set of plans,
and say if they say no, then this is what we do." Doerr said. "The real
risk is it probably adds at least a year before we are able to come up
with anything else, and over that intervening year there are certain
risks in any planning process.
"I
would certainly be very disappointed and very concerned if we cannot
help the city understand why this is the best alternative for us."
(Click image for larger view)
In
July, hospital officials will formally ask the city council to vacate
one block of North Seventh Street between Eighth Avenue and Beech
Streets to accomplish this project. A decision by the city council is
anticipated in August, 2006.
"We've
drafted dozens of designs to look for ways of positioning the new
hospital in a way that allows us to link with the existing building.
Using the Seventh Street land allows for the safest, most accessible
and most economical use of existing land and facilities," said Doerr.
The
proposal takes into account significant utilities under Beech Street,
Doerr said. These include 18-inch clay sewer line and an 8-inch water
line under Seventh Street versus an 8 inch water line, 2-inch gas line,
12-inch clay sanitary sewer line, and 8-inch high pressure gas line,
and an overhead electric line at Beech Street.
Building over Seventh Street would cause fewer changes to the utilities.
Some
critics of Union's growth have stated that Union needs to build a
parking garage near the facility, instead of increasing the amount of
surface parking. Union officials have stated that a parking
garage would greatly increase the cost of the project, and would add
extensive costs in terms of operation and maintenance. That cost would
ultimately be passed on to patients and family members.
Doerr says the proposed plans will actually improve the current parking.
"I actually think it improves both patient parking and visitor
parking," Doerr said. "We will have nearly 200 spaces immediately
adjacent to the hospital and another 200 right across the street. We
will have overflow parking immediately south connected to the building
with an elevated walkway."
Doerr
is not completely dismissing other options. "Keep in mind that opening
of the building is nearly three and a half years away, and we certainly
have time to develop different parking alternatives."
The
new building would house most of the facilities currently housed in the
existing building, including emergency medicine, which Doerr says
actually will improve safety.
"The
main entrance to emergency medicine is off of Eighth Avenue," he said.
"It's busy, it's crowded, it's congested. With the ambulances coming in
and with it being a major pedestrian crossway at the same time, it
presents a dangerous situation. Moving the Emergency room to the corner
of the new building at the corner off of Beech Street allows access to
the ER off a street that is less congested."
Neighborhood response
Response from the north-side residents has been mixed.
Rick Mascari, president of the Collett Park Neighborhood Assoc., says
that Union officials have been communicating their intentions to him.
Still, he acknowledges that discussions need to continue.
"We've
been talking with them for some time, and they've been very open with
us. There is a lot of dialogue that still has to take place," said
Mascari, who lives at 700 Collett Ave. He sees the closing of Seventh
Street as a means of reducing traffic through the neighborhood.
"The
whole mindset of the neighborhood is to reduce traffic as much as
possible, Mascari said. "We don't want to channel traffic that was on
seventh to Eighth or Ninth."
Mascari believes that many people in the area do support the move.
"A
lot of people are in support of this, but there are still a lot of
questions that need to be answered," he said, adding that the economic
impact would be felt on an immediate level.
"This
is not only a big economic impact for Terre Haute but for our
neighborhood." Mascari said. "A lot of people who work at Union will be
living in the neighborhood, and that could stabilize or increase
property values.
"The bottom line is that this is a good organization. I think this is a good thing for the area."
Sharon Huffman of 801 Maple Ave., is not as supporting of the project.
"I
am not convinced that that's not the only way they can do it," Huffman
said. "Union Hospital is a big thing up north, I wouldn't want anything
to discourage their expansion. My concern is the impact it could have
on the rest of the neighborhood around that. We have kids who drive
ATVs on the streets."
Huffman is concerned that many people in the area may dismiss this project as someone else's problem.
"I
think the mental thought is that it's not my house, therefore I don't
have to care about it," Huffman said, adding that she is afraid that
the decision may have already been made.
"If they have a big plan, then they are going to go ahead with it," Huffman said. "
Jim Jeffers, of 2120 N. Seventh St., has a very clear and firm view on the project.
"I am totally opposed to it," Jeffers said. "It's the longest thoroughfare through Terre Haute.
Jeffers also is not convinced that the proposed plan is the only option available to Union Hospital.
"I
think that with all the land they have, they created the situation they
are in where closing Seventh is the only option. Therefore, closing
Seventh Street is not the taxpayer's problem, but their problem."
Todd
Nation, fourth district city council representative, has ties to this
neighborhood going back to when he delivered papers to residents in the
area. Nation submitted the following comments to the Journal of
Business, which he also posted on the Tribune-Star's forum section.
"I
stumbled onto this discussion while reading [the Tribune-Star] online
this morning, and I was surprised to see Union Hospital's proposal to
close a block of North 7th Street generating so many thoughtful
posts. I would have just remained in the shadows (as most participants
in this forum apparently do, even after registering), if a factual
error about my City Council District had not been advanced with such
authority by 'progress'.
"The
4th District, which I represent, extends north up to Buckeye (2 blocks
south of Maple). That part of my district runs from the center line of
Seventh Street east to the center line of Twelfth Street, so it
does indeed "come close to that area" --in fact, the homes of many of my
constituents on North Seventh, Eighth and Ninth streets are likely to
become surface parking lots if Union Hospital's current proposal is
fully implemented.
"Do
I think Union Hospital should build a new, $178 M, state-of-the-art
facility somewhere in the 20+ block area of the north end that they now
largely control? Absolutely. I'm happy to see such a significant
project happening at the place where most members of my family and I
were born. The fact that Union Hospital is our community's biggest
employer is not lost on me, either -- check out the list at this link: http://www.terrehauteareaedc.com/econ_top_emp.htm
"However,
this discussion should not be about who has the biggest investment to
dangle before local government. The narrow question before the City
Council will be whether or not we vacate a one-block section of a busy
local street to facilitate construction of this important community
project the way the hospital's leaders and their architects have
conceived it. Other writers in this forum have articulated why they
think closing a block of 7th Street would be a bad idea, and I agree
with them.
"Union
Hospital should send their architects back to the drawing board to
devise a plan that does not entail closing any part of North 7th
Street. In recent decades, city government has helped Union Hospital
develop acres of surface parking and a number of building
projects by vacating streets and alleys at their request. I think a
proposal to close a block of Beech Street to facilitate their new
building would be a much easier sell, but that's not what they are
bringing to the council this summer.
"I'm looking forward to the open, public
meeting of the City Council at 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday, June 14, when
more details about this proposal will be presented to all who show up.
It will be held in Union Hospital's new Landsbaum Center at 1433 North
6 1/2 Street. I encourage all citizens who are interested in this issue
to show up and hear Union Hospital's rationale for requesting that
citizens give up use of the block of North 7th Street between 8th
Avenue and Beech Street. I'll be there, listening attentively,
representing the interests of folks in the City Council's 4th District."
The hospital will hold a series of open houses
on Thursday, June 22, Monday, July 10 and Thursday, July 27 from 6 to 8
p.m. in the Landsbaum Center, 1433 N. 6 ½ St., for anyone
interested to view building design plans and to discuss issues with
hospital and city officials.
Union's future: David Doerr explains some of Union Hospital's upcoming construction projects.
Moving Union forward Hospital president David Doerr
discusses the center's future
By Robert L. Flott WVJB Editor
Drive through the intersection of Seventh Street and Eighth Avenue, and it's difficult to miss all the activity.
Of course, Seventh Street and Eighth Avenue is
the home of the Union Hospital Health Group and Union Hospital itself,
so a bit of activity is to be expected. But there's more than just
patients, visiting family members and medical staff about.
UHHG has done a bit of construction and
destruction over the past three or four years. A new administration
building, the Landsbaum Center, the removal of the old hospital and,
most recently, destruction of the old Ash Pharmacy and medical office
building across Seventh Street from where the old hospital once stood.
In February 2005, the Journal of Business
first addressed the issue of "where to start?" David R. Doerr,
president and CEO of Union Hospital Health Group, said part of the
question will soon be answered.
"In the immediate future, we've got a couple
of construction jobs under way," Doerr said. First will be an
ambulatory surgery center that will be located at Sixth Avenue and
Seventh Street. The new 40,000-square-foot facility will be built by
Garmong Construction Services.
"It
updates the current facility on Poplar [Street], which is on the
AP&S campus," Doerr said. "The project is basically an expansion,
and will allow us to absorb the additional volume that has resulted
over the years in out-patient surgery."
The growth, he added, is the result of new technologies and advances. The facility should be on line in about one year.
The
next new construction will take place just north of the existing
hospital structure. CDI Inc. also will be remodeling and expanding
Union's Daycare facility.
"We
have plans, probably in the early spring, to begin construction on an
Oncology Center, " he said. "That's contemplated to be located just off
the corner of Beech [Street] and Seventh Avenue, on the north end of
the hospital just behind the doctors parking lot."
With these two projects nearing the starting gates, Doerr noted that planning still continues on other efforts.
"We still continue to work on our master facility planning for replacement of our main hospital facility," Doerr said.
This has been a successful year for the hospital and demands by patients have put a strain on existing facilities and services.
"Our
primarily problem there is crowding," Doerr explained. "[Union
Hospital] is undersized by nearly thirty-three percent given the volume
we're doing today."
Other problems include bringing the facility up to more-modern standards.
"It's
almost totally a semi-private facility and, by today's standards, it
would have to be more of a private-room type setting for a variety of
reasons," he said.
The
switch from semi-private to private room is driven by several reasons.
"Infection control and privacy are certainly two of the primary
reasons," Doerr said. "But patient preference is just as important.
"We continue to plan for the day when we can begin construction."
Before that construction can begin, the hospital will be asking for
some changes in the neighborhood and, more specifically, the traffic,
Doerr said. Union would like to close a section of Seventh Street near
the hospital.
"It
is our sincere hope that we're able close that section of Seventh
Street that's bounded by Beech Avenue in the north and Eighth Avenue in
the south," Doerr said. "The reason for that is two- or three-fold.
"One
is from a facility planning perspective: We've got seven and a half
acres on either side of Seventh Street. If we could bring that together
into a fifteen-acre parcel, it would give us a lot more flexibility in
terms of planning facilities and being able to prepare programs for the
future.
"Second,
we've got more than two million people a year who access Union
Hospital--patients, families, visitors. There is a tremendous amount of
traffic that is back and forth across Eighth Avenue and Seventh Street.
If we can close just that section of Seventh Street, that gives us the
opportunity to create about four hundred parking spaces immediately
adjacent to the hospital. That's a huge plus just from a safety
perspective."
Perhaps
more noteworthy than the construction has been the July 1 announcement
that Union Hospital and its surrounding campus would become smoke-free.
Overall, Doerr said, the new policy has been successful.
"With
the employees, we spent a lot of time and effort," he said. "It didn't
happen overnight on July 1. There were six to eight months of planning
that went into it. There were opportunities for employees to engage in
smoking cessation programs. By and large, with the employees it went
very well. Obviously with some, there was difficulty or they did not
want to quite smoking. I am sure it was an inconvenience to them."
Doerr
added that Union has not been as rabidly anti-smoking as other
companies in the United States. A toy company in Ohio recently
announced its employees could not smoke at all. Union is not that
strict.
"All
we've done is you can't smoke on campus," Doerr explained. "You can
smoke at home, elsewhere. That's the stance we've taken at this time." Doerr
said that some of the patients walk down to the public sidewalk to
smoke, which the hospital cannot prevent because it is city property.
"Overall, we have been very satisfied with how it has worked out," he said.
As
the Vigo County Commissioners consider an anti-smoking ordinance for
Vigo County, Doerr said he's proud that Union Hospital lead the way in
this effort. "I think we have raised the level of awareness," he said.
"That's one of our social responsibilities as a health care institute."
As
for future growth and development of other centers, Doerr said that
several ideas are being considered, but outside the projects mentioned
here and building onto the existing hospital itself, no other plan
really stands out, but Doerr mentions rehabilitation, hospice and
long-term care as possiblities.
Expansion
and growth for UHHG is not limited to the Terre Haute campus. UHHG
recently expanded its holdings by acquiring West Central Community
Hospital in Vermillion County.
The sale was approved Dec. 5 by a vote of the Vermillion County Commisssioners in Newport.
Union
Hospital has leased WCCH since July 1996 and has operated the facility
since September 1995. It has the option to lease the facility through
July 2011.
"West
Central Community Hospital provides vital and high quality healthcare
services to the citizens of Parke and Vermillion counties. We're
pleased with the purchase as it allows us to make a long-lasting
commitment and provide stability to that mission," Doerr said.
"Union
Hospital has made significant facility and equipment improvements since
1996. Our purchase provides a foundation for continued expansion and
improvement of the facility and releases Vermillion County from the
cost and obligation of operating a hospital facility."
WCCH
will continue to provide necessary medical services focusing on quality
care close to home for the people of Parke and Vermillion counties.
People employed at WCCH are employees of Union Hospital Inc. No changes
in staffing or employee status will occur as a result of this
agreement. The $4.8 million sale should be finalized by Dec. 31.
Information from a Union Hospital press release contributed to this article. Robert L. Flott can be reached at robertf@thjournal.com.
