At the southside’s newest hospital, people can receive treatment for everything from coughs and colds to heart attacks and strokes.
Patients can be seen within minutes of arriving, X-rays and CT scans will be done on-site and patients in need of further treatment can be admitted to one of the facility’s eight inpatient beds, where telemedicine technology allows them to be seen by specialists without leaving their room.
St. Vincent Neighborhood Hospital aims to provide the emergency care and services that the health network’s other hospitals provide. The only difference is it’s on a more intimate scale.
“It’s a new look at health care, going back to the basics. Nurses and doctors got into health care to be really focused on that patient’s well being, and this does that,” aid Anna Phares, field marketing manager for St. Vincent Neighborhood Hospitals.
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St. Vincent opened the first southside location of its neighborhood hospital concept this month. The compact facility features an emergency department open 24 hours a day, as well as rooms for patients who need additional treatment or observation.
The health care market has changed, with people in need of more immediate treatment without lengthy waits. That has made the neighborhood hospital concept an important piece of St. Vincent’s approach to care.
“When you go to the hospital, it’s expected that you get good care. It should be a given, that you’ll get in, get treated and get out. What’s kind of been lost is the level of experience and quality of experience when you’re in the hospital,” Phares said. “So the neighborhood hospitals are focused on getting you in a nice, quiet, peaceful environment, getting you treated quickly and getting you back home.”
Neighborhood hospitals, also called microhospitals, are small-scale facilities offering emergency services and limited beds for longer stays. The concept has become popular throughout the country. The facilities allow health care providers to reach new patients, while providing immediate care without long waits.
The new 17,000-square-foot hospital is located on South Emerson Drive, just north of County Line Road. Four neighborhood hospitals are already open within the St. Vincent network, with locations in Noblesville, Avon, Plainfield and Castleton.
But this new facility represents the health care provider’s first entrance into the southside market, Phares said.
A second St. Vincent Neighborhood Hospital is slated to open on State Road 135 in the Center Grove area later in 2018.
“The goal is to treat more people, and be a resource for more people. St. Vincent has such a good name brand in Indianapolis, especially on the northside where most of their hospitals are,” she said. “So to come to the southside was important to extend that brand and give people the opportunity to get the St. Vincent feel and level of care you can expect from them.”
The new hospital features seven beds in the emergency department, including one dedicated specifically for pediatric care. Upon arriving at the facility, people start receiving treatment within 10 minutes, said Angie House, hospital administrator for the southside location. One room is set aside for behavioral health issues, such as anxiety-related issues and drug-induced psychosis.
Patients who come to the neighborhood hospital can stabilize patients suffering from a serious condition, then if they need to be transferred to a larger hospital for more intensive care, they can do that, Phares said.
“We can’t do surgery in these hospitals, so that’s going to help those surgical hospitals whose emergency rooms are flooded,” she said. “We can see a lot of those patients to make sure they get treatment started and get home, and that will help those bigger hospitals get those more severe cases seen quicker.”
Full CT scan, X-ray and ultrasound services are available, with a radiation technician available at all times. Most patients get some kind of imaging when they come to the emergency department, so having these services available in the new hospital was a necessity, House said.
A pharmacy with three pharmacists can provide medication on-site. The in-house laboratory can analyze blood and other tissue to help diagnosis a patient’s condition quickly.
“Everything is about closer, faster care in these hospitals,” Phares said.
For patients who need further observation or care, private and semi-private inpatient rooms are also available at the hospital. Family lounges, with microwaves and tables to sit at, encourage visitors to come see their loved ones.
Windows and sky-lighting provide an airy, open feel. Emergency rooms are decorated with soft colors and accents such as decorated ceilings and artwork intended to provide a more comfortable stay, Phares said.
“We were looking for a calming experience,” House said. “When you come to the hospital, it’s not calm most of the time. So we wanted to make it as calming as possible.”
The smaller hospital size allows nurses and physicians to better interact with their patients, leading to more personalized care, House said.
“We have the time to come check on them more here. All of our staff says it all the time: It’s like taking a deep breath and getting back to the basics of why they went into this field,” she said.
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St. Vincent Neighborhood Hospital
What: A small-scale hospital offering emergency care and inpatient treatment if necessary.
Where: 8451 S. Emerson Ave., Indianapolis
Size: 17,000 square feet
Beds: 15 total; seven emergency room beds and eight inpatient beds
Services:
24-hour emergency department, open every day of the year
Inpatient rooms for longer treatment and observation
On-call telemedicine services with specialists at other St. Vincent hospitals
Imaging services, such as CT scan, X-ray and ultrasounds
Community programs such as blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, school physicals and flu shots
In-house laboratory and pharmacy
Information: stvincentneighborhoodhospital.org
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