WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Ascension St. Vincent and Purdue University announced plans Friday to build a neighborhood hospital in the Discovery Park District near the Purdue Airport.
The facility will bring inpatient and emergency care within the city of West Lafayette for the first time. This neighborhood hospital is the first development of what will expand to a larger medical complex on the Purdue University campus that will focus primarily on outpatient care.
Neighborhood hospitals are designed to fill a niche between larger hospitals and urgent care centers by offering convenient alternatives closer to patients' homes. Ideally, patients will find the smaller facilities provide easy surface parking, shorter wait times and lower costs.
Ascension St. Vincent has purchased seven acres of land from the university on the northeast corner of Airport Road and U.S. 231.
According to Friday's announcement from Ascension St. Vincent, the new hospital project includes:
- Eight private inpatient medical beds
- Eight emergency department treatment rooms
- CT scanner and other imaging services
- Laboratory services
- Modern architecture
- Convenient parking
- State-of-the-art consumer-focused technology, including telemedicine
“Our expansion in West Lafayette comes at a time when access to convenient health care options is more important than ever,” said Jonathan Nalli, chief executive officer of Ascension St. Vincent Indiana. “We are responding to the community’s need to access high-quality care in a way that fits into everyday life.”
Purdue President Mitch Daniels said the addition of a new medical facility is an important piece of the growing Discovery Park District.
“When we first envisioned this new live, work, play district, access to health facilities was among the priorities,” Daniels said.
West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said the city has been trying to bring medical services to the area for several years to serve both Purdue's student population and the west side's permanent residents.
"We’re excited to welcome Ascension micro-hospital to the Discovery Park District at Purdue University and the City of West Lafayette," he said in the announcement.
Construction is scheduled to start this summer.