New Porter hospital debut nears
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent February 14, 2012 7:48PM
Josh Krahn, left, and James Smith work to install a new imaging machine at the new Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso Tuesday Feb. 14, 2012. | Andy Lavalley~Sun-Times Media
by the numbers
250,000
Square footage of the current hospital
430,000
Square footage of the new hospital
1,950
Employees in the current hospital
126
New hires for the new hospital within the first two years
13
Acreage of the current hospital
104
Acreage of the new hospital
9
Operating rooms in the current hospital
12
Operating rooms in the new hospital
Article Extras
Updated: March 16, 2012 8:13AM
VALPARAISO — At 5:59 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, Porter Hospital’s Valparaiso campus at 814 LaPorte Ave. will cease to function as the community has known it for more than 73 years.
That day, about three months ahead of schedule, the doors will open at the new Porter Regional Hospital at U.S. 6 and Indiana 49 in Liberty Township.
A tour of the new, $210 million facility Tuesday showcased a layout designed to speed patient care and preserve privacy, and soothing colors that mimic the Indiana Dunes but were scientifically chosen for their calming effect on those within the hospital’s walls.
The new facility is almost twice the size of the current building, located next to the Valparaiso University campus. The old building is being sold to the university.
The hospital was originally slated to open in the late summer of this year, but that date was pushed back because of a lawsuit by Liberty Township landowners, said Porter Health System Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Nalli, crediting general contracting firm Robins and Morton with putting the schedule back on track.
“We are pleased they were able to speed the project to bring it back to that date,” he said.
Any savings from the early completion date are going back into the project by way of 16 additional in-patient rooms and two additional operating rooms, among other additions, Nalli said, adding plans for the logistics of the move started in October 2010.
The new hospital will have 237 beds when it opens, though it is licensed for about 275, said Karen Keltner, manager of marketing and communications for the health system. All the rooms will be private.
Patient privacy is a focus of the new building. In addition to the rooms, registration will take place in enclosed spaces, and even lower ceilings mean less noise, Nalli said.
“Patient privacy is of the utmost concern,” Nalli said.
While much remains to be done in the new building, patient rooms and other areas of the hospital are down to punch lists taped on the walls. The hospital’s main entrance, still the site of much of the traffic from construction workers, will be finished last, said John Galassini, senior project manager with Robins and Morton.
Some large equipment, including a magnetic resonance imaging machine, are already in place. “This piece of equipment actually comes in through an exterior wall because it’s so large,” Galassini said.
In fact, 78 percent of the facility’s equipment will be new, Keltner said, while the rest, 2 years old or newer, will come from the existing hospital.
The layout of the new facility also is meant to speed patient care; that includes having the intensive-care unit directly above the emergency department.
“It’s speed, it’s efficiency, it’s the ability for patients to receive what they need quicker than at (the existing) Porter and any other hospital, because it’s completely new,” Nalli said, adding more efficient care, especially when minutes are crucial in critical cases, provides for better health care outcomes.
Also part of better outcomes for patients is the color palette of tan, light brown and sage green. A lot of science went into the color scheme, which will be mimicked in other Porter facilities. The soothing shades create an “intrinsic feeling for speeding up the healing process,” Nalli said, adding a patient with lower blood pressure will have a better recovery.
The layout, the colors and even the artwork that will eventually grace the walls all work in tandem. “It all meshes together and a great deal of science is used when selecting it,” Nalli said.
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