Crews install final steel beam at top of new facility; project is on time,
under budget and on plan to open in December 2013

Indianapolis, December 22, 2011 – Just more than two years after 85 percent of Marion County voters approved the project – and just two years before it opens in December 2013 – ironworkers and local construction crews installed the final steel beam at the top of the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health facilities in downtown Indianapolis on Thursday.

“The Eskenazi Health project is on time and under budget. We are on schedule for completion in December 2013 and now officially at its final height,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County. “We have reached this milestone rapidly and responsibly in the construction process, exceeding participation goals for businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and persons with disabilities. More than 90 percent of our contractors are local. We look forward to completing the project and opening the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in less than two years.”

Wishard and the Eskenazi Health Foundation – formerly the Wishard Foundation – held a ceremony to commemorate the milestone.

“Today we celebrate another step toward opening the doors of the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and further improving health care in Indianapolis for decades to come,” said Mayor Gregory A. Ballard. “This project continues to be a significant achievement for our community and our city.”

A 310-foot-tall blue tower crane lifted the 11-foot, 6-inch long, 161-pound steel I-beam up to its perch nearly 280 feet above the ground at the site located just west of the current Wishard facilities.

“We aren’t just raising steel today,” said Councillor Maggie Lewis. “We are raising accessibility to excellent quality health care for the people of our community. We are raising the standards for health care in Indianapolis. And we are raising the bar for public hospitals. This is a great day for Wishard, Eskenazi Health and the people of Marion County.”

Hundreds of individuals throughout the community, including Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, numerous donors, Wishard employees and physicians, community leaders and hospital supporters signed the beam in the weeks preceding the ceremony. The beam was available for Wishard employees, physicians and members of the public to sign in the Sunshine Hallway at Wishard from December 9-12 and at City Market from December 13-17.

“From the leaders and voters who supported a new Wishard in 2009, to all whom have spoken and acted for this hospital and the health of our community since – including an overwhelming wave of support from the philanthropic community led by Sidney and Lois Eskenazi’s record $40 million gift – we are sincerely grateful and appreciative,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, president and CEO of the Eskenazi Health Foundation.

On December 9, 2011, Wishard also started the 2011 Report to Our Community informational program to provide an update on the project. The Report to Our Community began with a presentation to hospital employees and will continue in public meetings and gatherings over the next several weeks.

“In each name, the beam we raise today holds the heart and soul of Wishard, Eskenazi Health, Indianapolis and Central Indiana – our community,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard Health Services, which will become Eskenazi Health. “Today, we celebrate the topping off of the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and the spirit and commitment of our people, of the individuals in our community, the individuals who work in this hospital and on this jobsite and throughout Indiana. We are deeply grateful for all of the support we receive.”

As the structural steel tops out, Wishard has executed more than $386 million in construction contracts. The project continues to be on plan to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

“The topping off ceremony is a tradition for building trades and iron workers, a symbol of both the progress on the project itself and the pride and spirit of community and cooperation we hold as American workers and Hoosiers building a new hospital for the people of Indianapolis and all who come here to receive excellent quality care,” said Tom Harmon of Harmon Steel, a city- and state-certified minority-owned business enterprise.

The steel beam is placed at the top of the 12th level of the hospital tower. On the south end of the jobsite, the parking garage is already in use.

“On behalf of Fifth Third Bank and Fifth Third Foundation, we are so excited about the topping off of the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and the progress being made and symbolized here today,” said Nancy Huber, President and CEO of Fifth Third Bank, Central Indiana. “Like so many of the contributors to the Eskenazi Health Capital Campaign, we are thankful for the opportunity to support Wishard and Eskenazi Health, and we are grateful for all this hospital does for the people of our community.”

Fifth Third Bank and Fifth Third Foundation provided a $5 million gift for the Eskenazi Health Capital Campaign.

One year after The New Wishard Groundbreaking, the new 1.2 million-square-foot facility is rising into the Indianapolis skyline while maintaining a level path under budget, ahead of goals for local and diverse participation in construction and on schedule to open in 2014.

Community leaders pose at The New Wishard Groundbreaking on May 12, 2010.

“This time last year, some of our community’s most respected leaders joined us as we gathered next to a hole in the ground where the future of health care in our community would eventually stand,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard. “As we were then, we are now tremendously grateful to our community for making a new Wishard possible. Today, the construction site holds the rising foundation of the new hospital, outpatient care building and parking garage. It is a foundation that lies not only in concrete and steel, but also in the broad, diverse and overwhelming support of our community that centers on a spirit of compassion and shared goals.”

The New Wishard project is the largest single-site construction project in Central Indiana and one of the largest in the state. The New Wishard project is creating 4,400 jobs. The $754 million hospital will feature 327 inpatient beds in addition to Wishard’s renowned adult Level I Trauma Center and adult burn center.

“By the end of the year, our construction team will top off the new hospital’s structural steel at the 12^th level, and even today you can stand at the White River State Park or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and see The New Wishard rising four and five levels above the surface,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO at Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard. “Just as important, the project is under budget and on schedule for completion in 2014, and it progresses ahead of goals for participation in construction by minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses. A new day for health care in Central Indiana is on the horizon – figuratively, as it was during last year’s groundbreaking, and now quite literally.”

The New Wishard project has progressed efficiently and responsibly during the last year, having executed approximately $135 million in construction contracts and continuing on plan to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^®) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, which would make it one of 10 newly built hospitals in America – and the first in Indiana – to achieve LEED^® Silver or higher.

The New Wishard Diversity Team, working in partnership with the City of Indianapolis Department of Minority and Women Business Development, has conducted more than 70 outreach events, workshops and meetings for minority-, women- and veteran-owned business enterprise (M/W/VBE) contractors, and through current construction contracts executed, Wishard has committed more than 29 percent to M/W/VBEs and is ahead of goal for each. The majority of all firms winning contracts on the project are local, with more than 85 percent in the Indianapolis metro area.

The New Wishard project will move forward substantially in the coming months and begin providing care for patients in December 2013. By the end of 2011, the structural steel for the hospital tower will reach its final height, topping off the 12^th level. The hospital concrete structure will continue through the coming months and should wrap up this summer. The south half of the parking garage will be at its final height of six levels by the middle of the year and will be complete in 2012.

The more than $50 million Bid Package 5 comes due May 26. Beyond that, more than $60 million in work remains for the balance of the project. The Duke Realty/Browning Investments co-development of the faculty office building at The New Wishard will account for more than $60 million in work that must also adhere to Wishard’s goals for M/W/VBE participation.

On May 12, 2010, some of the community’s most esteemed leaders – including Mayor Greg Ballard, State Representatives Bill Crawford and Greg Porter, City-County Councillor Barbara Malone, Indiana University President Michael McRobbie, IU School of Medicine Dean Dr. D. Craig Brater, Marion County Public Health Department Director Dr. Virginia Caine, Indianapolis Department of Minority and Women Business Development Director Greg Wilson, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jason Fishburn, New Wishard Capital Campaign co-chairs Deborah Daniels and John Thompson and hundreds more – joined Wishard to turn a shovel of dirt and break ground on The New Wishard.

Wishard is one of the five largest safety net health systems in America, providing care in nearly 1.4 million outpatient visits each year. It is one of Central Indiana’s largest employers, with more than 4,000 employees.

Marion County voters approved construction of a new Wishard in the Nov. 3, 2009, election, with 85 percent support for the measure, and Wishard began work immediately. The New Wishard will open in 2014.

One Year Anniversary Time Lapse from Wishard Health Services on Vimeo.

Learn more about Wishard Health Services at Wishard.edu.

One Year Anniversary Time Lapse from Wishard Health Services on Vimeo.

Scopes included in the package include: general trades; interiors/frames/hardware; drywall, metal studs, insulation, ACT and painting; interior glass and glazing; terrazzo; carpet/VCT/WSV/Tile; and fire stop insulation and sealants.

The meeting will be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26 at the Madame Walker Theatre.

Download pre-bid notice (PDF).

Download contractor bid profile (PDF).

Wishard joined city, health, sustainability and urban gardens community leaders to announce the Wishard Slow Food Garden at White River State Park as well as numerous new Wishard programs aimed at improving community health through healthful diets and sustainability.

In addition to announcing Wishard’s support for the Slow Food garden, Wishard also detailed plans to form an urban agriculture and health partnership with its sister agency, the Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD), to serve as a community resource to improve the success and ensure the safety and quality of urban gardens in the community.

“Wishard recognizes the importance of the connection between healthful food options, a healthy diet and a healthy community,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard. “For the last several years, we have passionately served as an advocate and community resource for advancing awareness and adoption of healthy lifestyle and diet choices to support improving health outcomes for our patients and for our community. I’m very pleased that we have the opportunity to expand our commitment, broaden Wishard’s already vast role and positively affect even more lives.”

The Wishard Slow Food Garden at White River State Park will support education and engagement in urban gardening and Slow Food, as well as provide some produce for distribution through local farmers’ markets and eateries. Wishard also announced an agreement with Laura Henderson to support Wishard’s current and future urban agriculture initiatives.

“Wishard has a long history of broadly supporting the health of our Indianapolis community, and these new programs are going to make Indianapolis a better, more livable city by enhancing community health through improved land use, access to healthful food and promoting a culture of sustainability,” Mayor Greg Ballard. “I established a goal to create 50 urban gardens in Center Township by the end of 2011. We have 35 gardens in place today, and with the support of organizations like Wishard and the public health department, through initiatives like the one we’re celebrating today on Earth Day, I’m certain we will achieve our goal.”

For Earth Day 2010, Wishard held an event on the roof of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, overlooking the construction site to announce plans for The New Wishard to pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Wishard announced Friday that the project continues on pace to meet that goal, which would make it the first hospital in Indiana and one of 10 in America to achieve LEED® Silver certification.

“The New Wishard is on time, on budget and on plan to open in 2014 as a LEED® Silver campus where we will expand and enhance Wishard’s commitment to community health and wellness,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard. “Our new sustainability and urban agriculture initiatives will supplement our role to efficiently provide quality care and contribute to a healthier community.”

Wishard also announced a partnership with the Indy Winter Farmers to create a voucher program to increase access to healthful market food products for Wishard patients. Wishard will also begin collaboration with Big City Farms to develop community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs to make fresh, locally grown and produced foods available to patients and the community through Wishard’s community health centers with the latter. Wishard’s partnership with MCPHD will focus on education and support to serve as a resource for urban gardeners on health-related matters.

“We recognize that poor nutrition is one of the greater challenges facing our urban populations, one that contributes to an array of diseases and conditions, and changing that equation starts at the source – reversing the shortage of healthy food options,” said Dr. Virginia Caine, director of MCPHD. “Our service as a resource for proponents of urban agriculture will contribute to the health of the community by enhancing access to nutritious, locally grown foods that are produced in safe soil, while also enhancing our neighborhoods by converting vacant lots into productive spaces.”

Over the last several years, Wishard has supported and initiated numerous programs within the health system and in the community that work toward augmenting the health and wellness of Marion County residents and Wishard’s patients, visitors and staff. In addition to supporting programs such as the Spirit & Place Festival and diet-based health programs for staff and patients, Wishard hosts a farmers market during the summer and Wishard gardens, where staff can use green space at the hospital to grow plants, flowers and produce.

“Spring is a season of renewal, and Wishard’s announcement today is a rejuvenation of its longstanding service as an advocate, resource and provider for community health through environmental factors,” said Greg Fehribach, Health & Hospital Corporation Board of Trustees member.

Wishard will partner with Slow Food Indy and Growing Places Indy – both of which Henderson helped create and establish – to operate the Slow Food garden.

“I am excited to work with Wishard to help maximize the impact the Wishard Slow Food Garden can have on our community as a tool for awareness, educational opportunities and engagement in promoting the health of our community through Slow Food and sustainability,” said Henderson.

Wishard will continue to enhance its ability to augment community health in The New Wishard. The New Wishard will feature a first-of-its-kind sky farm, where Wishard will grow organic foods to offer its patients, visitors and staff healthful diet options. The New Wishard’s green roof design incorporates plant life and a white roof, which will lessen the solar heat impact on the urban heat sink, make for a more comfortable campus and create energy savings. The new facility will support employees who embrace green transportation options with bike racks, showers and designated parking for alternative fuel, high occupancy, carpool and vanpool vehicles. The New Wishard will use 45 percent less energy.

“Wishard’s efforts mirror our own as we focus on creating a more sustainable, environmentally friendly community,” said Justin Armstrong, board president for Earth Day Indiana. “We support and applaud these initiatives.”

Wishard will have a booth at Earth Day Indiana on Saturday, where it will display the new hospital rendering, as well as the second set of art proposals for The New Wishard, kicking off public comment on the designs.

The set of proposals features exclusively outdoor locations, where the art would contribute both to The New Wishard’s environment of health and healing, as well as the campus’s sustainability. Wishard will collect public comment on the 10 proposals as it displays them at Wishard’s Sunshine Hallway, at City Market and online. From these proposals, Wishard plans to select a small number for installation on the new hospital’s sustainable campus.

To learn more about the Wishard Slow Food Garden at White River State Park, visit www.Wishard.edu/slowfoodgarden.

Proposals are also on display at:

• Sunshine Hallway at Wishard Memorial Hospital (location)
• Wishard’s Community Health Centers (locations)
• City Market (location)

Art has been an integral part of the healing environment at Wishard since T.C. Steele and others first installed murals in 1914. Nearly 100 years later – when The New Wishard opens in 2014 – art and medicine will have progressed dramatically, along with studies correlating exposure to art and natural beauty with improved health outcomes. And Wishard’s commitment to caring for the whole person will continue

On Friday, Wishard shared a collection of initial proposals for art – a small number of which it plans to select for fabrication and installation in The New Wishard for the next 100 years and beyond – with a crowd of civic, government, health and arts community leaders and the public at historic City Market in the heart of downtown.

“Wishard is, foremost, committed to delivering the highest quality patient care,” said Matthew Gutwein, president and CEO of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard. “At Wishard, and in The New Wishard, our focus extends to our patients, visitors and staff for whom providing the best possible environment augments quality of care. For nearly a century, if not longer, art has been an integral component of creating a healing environment, one that is comforting, welcoming, warm and inspiring. With the support of philanthropy, with which we plan to fund the art program, Wishard will incorporate art to optimize this environment in The New Wishard.”

Wishard’s art committee will review all of the proposals and make a small number of specific selections for The New Wishard. City-County Councillor Angel Rivera, Wishard CEO and Medical Director Dr. Lisa Harris, and Co-chair of The New Wishard Capital Campaign John Thompson joined Gutwein at the event.

“Volumes of medical, psychological and neurological research have focused attention on understanding the full scope of the healing properties of art, and the positive correlation is clear and compelling,” said Dr. Harris. “The art of healing is an important feature of our new hospital and part of our overall vision for The New Wishard to lead the way in patient-centered care. For Wishard, we seek to create a holistic environment of health and healing – through visual arts, outdoor views and garden settings, through our sky farm and farmers market, as well as our involvement with the slow food movement. Wishard is about more than acute care, it’s about complete community health and wellness.”

The event kicks off a two-week public comment period for the set of art proposals. From March 21 through April 1, City Market will continue to post displays, while Wishard will place exhibits and/or flipbooks of the proposals, along with comment forms, in the Sunshine Hallway at Wishard Memorial Hospital and in each of its Wishard Community Health Centers located throughout the city. Wishard will hold a closing exhibit for the art proposals from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Market on Friday, April 1 as part of the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association First Friday gallery tour and will also display the art with comment forms online at www.TheNewWishard.org.

“Wishard is engaging the public and ensuring that the art program for The New Wishard is as connected to the community as Wishard has been for more than 150 years” said Thompson. “The New Wishard Capital Campaign is actively engaging the philanthropic community as we work to fulfill Wishard’s plan to fund the art program entirely through philanthropy.”

Wishard budgeted $1.8 million for the art program and plans to fund the art program through philanthropy. More than 500 applicants from 39 states submitted responses to Wishard’s request for qualifications. An independent jury selected 54 finalists, and Wishard’s art committee assigned finalists to different areas of the new hospital. The first set of proposals features 27 design proposals. Of the proposing artists, 29 percent are Indiana residents, 3 percent are disabled, 7 percent are veterans, 37 percent are minorities and 29 percent are women and includes an artist who in his submission stated he credits Wishard with saving his life when he was seriously ill. Local minority-owned business enterprise Blackburn Architects is the art program administrator.

“When the New Wishard opens, our firm will be celebrating 40 years of practice in this community and we’re proud to serve as administrator of the New Wishard art program,” said Alpha

Blackburn, president and CEO of Blackburn Architects. “It is a privilege to be a part of The New Wishard and an art program that aspires to the highest form of art.”

Wishard held the pre-bid meeting for Bid Package 5 at the historic Madame Walker Theatre downtown, where a theater full of local contractors and building trades leaders gathered information about the opportunity-filled package. Project leaders answered questions and shared details of the recently released scopes and bid documents for Units 2-15 and Unit 18 of the package, which includes fit out of the new hospital, outpatient care building and central utility plant. Wishard plans execute the bidding for the remainder 41-unit Bid Package 5 over the course of the year.

“In this historic and important theatre just a few blocks down the street from Wishard and the site of The New Wishard, we celebrated the day the people of Marion County made possible a new Wishard,” said Matthew Gutwein, president and CEO of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard. “It’s very appropriate that today, one day after one of America’s most important holidays – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day – we meet to share information on this package, which holds the largest opportunity for minority-, women-, veteran- and persons with disabilities-owned businesses to work on The New Wishard.”

The package features 15 individual scopes for sections of work in piping; plumbing; pneumatic tube system; kitchen equipment; fire protection; heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); site utilities; electrical; communications systems; temperature controls; and fire alarms for the hospital, outpatient care building, and central utility plant.

“The New Wishard will be a quiet, clean, safe and welcoming hospital focused on patient comfort and care,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director of Wishard Health Services and a practicing physician and faculty member of the IU School of Medicine. “With respect to The New Wishard’s construction, these characteristics are rooted in fit out components such as ventilation, heating and air conditioning, electrical systems, piping and plumbing. These elements are critical to providing the highest quality care we can at Wishard, and the opportunities they will create for the local workforce serve to heighten the importance of this package.”

The New Wishard Diversity Team is working with the City of Indianapolis Department of Minority Women and Business Development (DMWBD) and held an outreach meeting for M/W/VBEs interested in opportunities to work on Bid Package 5 on January 14. Wishard plans to hold at least one more outreach event prior to the bid date. The outreach events provide an opportunity for interested parties to learn about the bid process, subcontracting opportunities and to ask questions of project leaders.

“We are pleased to work with Wishard to maximize the opportunities for minority-, women- and veteran- and persons with disabilities-owned businesses on this package, a focus that is good for jobs and increasing the capacities and capabilities of our Indianapolis M/W/VBEs,” said DMWBD Director Greg Wilson. “Wishard is meeting shared goals in construction contracting, and we look forward to continued outreach and achievement of project goals.”

Through December 21, Wishard construction contracts were ahead of the project goals of 15 percent MBE, 8 percent WBE and 3 percent VBE participation, with more than 31 percent of all construction contracts committed to M/W/VBEs.

The bid date for the package is 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 2 at the Madame Walker Theatre. Wishard released the invitation to bid for the package on January 6. Wishard’s project schedule calls for bidding Units 20-24 of Bid Package 5 within the next few months and the remaining units in the summer and fall.