Wishard Announces First Group of Artists Selected for Eskenazi Health Art Program

Nearly 100 years after the artwork of T.C. Steele and others were created to enhance Wishard’s healing environment – and one year after the community provided input and support for design proposals – Wishard and Eskenazi Health’s art committee has selected the artists and works of art that will carry forward the art of healing in the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health, opening in December 2013.

“The artists and selections, guided by input from our community and inspired by Wishard’s role in caring for it, represent the diversity and brilliance of our community and will carry forward Wishard’s deep and longstanding connection with the people of Indianapolis. But, most importantly, the Eskenazi Health art program will further enhance positive health outcomes for our patients,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard. “We are committed to creating a comforting environment of health and healing for our patients, visitors, staff and our community, and the selected works of art contribute to this characteristic of our new, modern and efficient facilities.”

The first of three groups of artists and selections were announced at Wishard on May 8. The artists will complete and fabricate the artwork over the next year in advance of the new hospital and health campus’ opening.

“The Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health construction continues on time and on budget, and the selection of art is an important step as we build toward a bright new future in our new facilities serving our mission and providing excellent patient-centered care,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which owns Wishard. “A century ago, the St. Margaret’s Hospital Guild brought together prominent artists to paint murals – more than a quarter mile of them – for what was then City Hospital’s new building but, more central to their artistic ambitions, to lift spirits. It is our great responsibility to honor and carry this legacy forward.”

Research indicates that access to art and natural beauty play a positive role in the healing process. In addition to the selected new works, the new Eskenazi Health facilities will display paintings from the Art of Healing collection that were installed in Wishard in 1914. This includes reuniting four pieces of original work by T.C. Steele known as Four Seasons, which include “Spring,” “Summer” and “Autumn,” as well as “Winter” from the Indiana State Museum’s collection.

Biographies and project descriptions as well as some initial design renderings for the first group of selected art pieces, created by the following list of artists, can be viewed at here:

•    Mason Archie
•    Aaron Stephan
•    Richard Ross
•    Arthur Silva
•    Kathy Bradford
•    aLLEN iMAGERY
•    Tim Ryan
•    T.C. Steele

The two remaining groups of artists and selections will be announced this summer.

Wishard’s art committee is comprised of local and national experts on art and culture. The committee selected artists that represent the richness of diversity of the Indianapolis community, including native Hoosiers and artists born or living in Indianapolis, and artists representing women, minorities and people with disabilities. More than half – 64.7 percent – of the full art program comes from local artists, while 47 percent of the artists are minorities – 41.1 percent are African-American – 29.4 percent are female, 11.7 percent are veteran and 5.8 percent are people with disabilities.

“The art at Eskenazi Health will be approachable and understandable, with themes relevant to the local community that reflect Indiana’s history of art and culture while, in the spirit of public art, respecting the sensibilities of Wishard’s broad base of patients, staff and visitors,” said Michael Kaufmann, director of special projects and civic investment for Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County.

Wishard budgeted $1.5 million for public art and plans to fund the art program through philanthropy.

“Medical care has advanced dramatically since the first art program was developed at Wishard, as have studies correlating exposure to art and natural beauty with improved health outcomes,” said Ernest Vargo II, president and CEO of the Eskenazi Health Foundation. “The opportunity to fund this extraordinary art program is creating even more relationships with donors in our community who want to contribute to the health of our community through the arts.”

Local minority-owned business enterprise Blackburn Architects, led by Alpha Blackburn, serves as the public art program manager. More than 500 applicants from 39 states submitted responses to Wishard’s nationwide request for qualifications. An independent jury selected 54 finalists, and Wishard’s art committee assigned finalists to different areas of the new hospital. In 2011, art proposals were displayed at Wishard, throughout Indianapolis and online, and public comment was accepted on the proposals. Wishard collected more than 3,000 public comments, which were considered in the decision-making process

2011 Report to Our Community Book

Download the 2011 Report to Our Community book (PDF)

Wishard holds topping off ceremony for new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital

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.

Fifth Third provides record $5 million gift to Eskenazi Health Foundation

  • News
  • October 3, 2011
  • brandon

Health and Hospital Corporation will recognize gift, the largest ever connected with a bank in Indiana, through naming of faculty office building at Eskenazi Health, opening December 2013

Indianapolis, October 3, 2011 – Fifth Third Bank and the Fifth Third Foundation have donated to the Eskenazi Health Foundation the largest gift ever related to a financial institution in Indiana history, contributing $5 million to the new Eskenazi Health project. Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County will honor the gift from Fifth Third in naming the faculty office building on the new Eskenazi Health campus the Fifth Third Faculty Office Building.

“We are extremely grateful to receive this record gift from Fifth Third in support of the health of our community and health education throughout Indiana and around the world,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, president and CEO of the Eskenazi Health Foundation. “Fifth Third is a leading corporate citizen in Indianapolis and around the country, and their tremendous support for the health of our community is truly unique among financial institutions. We are deeply appreciative of their support and honored to reflect their generosity in the name of the faculty office building on the Eskenazi Health campus.”

Fifth Third Foundation and Fifth Third Bank will contribute $2 million and $3 million, respectively, to create the gift. The $5 million is among the largest gifts the Eskenazi Health Foundation – formerly the Wishard Foundation – has received and will support construction of the new Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus, which will replace the current Wishard Memorial Hospital facilities.

“Fifth Third is proud to continue our long history of philanthropy and commitment to building a better tomorrow in the communities we serve with this gift in the name of health care and medical education,” said Nancy Huber, President & CEO, Fifth Third Bank, Central Indiana. “Eskenazi Health will play a unique role in Central Indiana, and the new hospital campus will be among the most advanced and efficient in the nation. For this unprecedented development, we are proud to provide a record gift.”

Fifth Third Bank was the first financial institution in the United States to establish a charitable foundation, opening the Fifth Third Foundation in 1948. The gift also marks the beginning of a partnership that will continue Fifth Third’s focus on financial literacy in the Central Indiana community and the financial health and vitality of individuals from all walks of life.

“We are committed to providing an extraordinary level of support in the communities we serve, and very few opportunities match the scope and capacity to influence positive change than that of a contribution to Eskenazi Health,” said Heidi Jark, vice president and managing director of the Fifth Third Foundation. “For a one-of-a-kind organization in the midst of once-in-a-century transformation, we are pleased to provide this gift for the people of Indiana.”

The Fifth Third Faculty Office Building will be a modern, campus-integrated facility that will house workspace for support functions of the hospital’s mission to advocate, care, teach and serve as well as house workspace for the Indiana University School of Medicine, Purdue University School of Pharmacy and various other academic support programs. Health and Hospital Corporation is working with developers Duke Realty and Browning Investments to develop the 295,000-sq. ft. building with a research-based workplace strategy to enhance productivity, workflow, efficiency and comfort while encouraging teamwork, innovation and collaboration among the partners that will utilize its workspace, which also includes the Regenstrief Institute.

“This is an extraordinary legacy gift supporting the health of our community,” said Dr. Lisa Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard. “The gift will, first and foremost, support care for our patients, addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in our community and will enable highly specialized care to individuals facing life-changing trauma. It will also contribute to medical education for students of the IU School of Medicine, Purdue School of Pharmacy and many other academic institutions with which we partner.”

The Fifth Third Foundation is Fifth Third Bancorp’s charitable foundation. Its mission is to make strategic grants in the communities where Fifth Third Bank operates.

Wishard is one of America’s largest safety-net health care systems, with nearly 1.4 million outpatient visits last year, and is among the highest-quality, lowest-cost health care systems in the United States. Philanthropic contributions enhance Wishard’s ability to provide excellent quality care.

Employee giving campaign raises more than $2 million for new hospital

  • News
  • July 20, 2011
  • brandon

Support from Wishard Health Services’ employees to replace the hospital’s aging complex of 17 buildings that house the main Wishard campus has resulted in one of the single largest employee fundraising campaigns for a public hospital ever in the United States.

As of July 1, 2011, in just the first four months of the three year effort, the We are Wishard employee giving campaign has raised $2,183,530 toward the new Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus opening in December 2013. The donations include a dollar for dollar match by an anonymous donor and come from employees of Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, including Wishard Health Services, Marion County Public Health Department and Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services.

The combined gift from employees is among the largest contributions the Wishard Foundation has received for the new hospital. On June 22, 2011, Wishard announced a $40 million gift from Indianapolis’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi. Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County will rename the new hospital and health system in their honor. The number of employees contributing to the We are Wishard campaign increased by 40 percent after the announcement of the Eskenazi gift.

“Employee giving of this magnitude speaks to the spirit of compassion, the personal commitment and pride our staff have in Wishard and the new Eskenazi Health,” said Dr. Lisa E. Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard Health Services. “We know that while the Eskenazis made their contribution to our hospital and health system, they also made their contribution in recognition of each employee who works day in and day out in support of our mission. Our family of employees felt the Eskenazis’ support deeply and personally, and, in true Wishard form, responded through personal donations of their own.”

“Employee support is critical for the future of the hospital and health system. A successful internal fundraising campaign is indicative of the employees’ connection to the organization’s mission. We are sharing the message of our employee giving campaign’s success with outside donors and they are enthusiastically giving what they can, just as employees have,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, president and CEO of Wishard Foundation.

The We are Wishard employee giving campaign officially started on February 8, 2011. While the match has ended, the We are Wishard employee giving campaign continues throughout the duration of the new hospital construction project. Philanthropy has been an important component of the plan to construct new facilities for Wishard without a tax increase since the plan’s inception.

“While we are ecstatic about the success of our employee giving campaign, we are not at all surprised,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County. “Our employees are caring and generous mission-driven individuals who are invested in the future of Wishard and Eskenazi Health. Our employees are sending a strong message to our community, which is encouraging others to join our movement.”

More than 1,000 employees have made contributions to the campaign. In honor of these contributions, as of July 1, 2011, 630 staff members will be represented on an Employee Giving Wall in the new Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and 117 rooms and areas will be named by employees or teams of employees.

Lilly Foundation contributes $1 million for Eskenazi Health

  • News
  • July 20, 2011
  • brandon

In fulfilling its vision to make a significant contribution to humanity by improving global health as part of its commitment to corporate responsibility, the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation long has been a significant supporter of Wishard. Today, the Wishard Foundation announces Eli Lilly and Company Foundation has provided $1 million for the future of the health system known as Wishard — in the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus, opening in 2014.

“We are proud to support the project to build the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health campus in downtown Indianapolis as the future of an organization we have always valued for its positive impact on the health of our community,” said John Lechleiter, Ph.D., President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of  Lilly. “The Eli Lilly and Company Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of people who lack the resources to obtain quality health care, and we can advance this goal in immeasurable ways through our support of Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital and Eskenazi Health.”

Wishard Health Services will name the main lobby of the new hospital in recognition of the gift. The $1 million gift is among the largest contributions the Wishard Foundation has received for the new hospital. On June 22, Wishard Foundation announced a $40 million gift from Indianapolis’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, in honor of whom Wishard will name the new hospital and health system.

“We are excited and very grateful to receive this generous gift from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, President and CEO of Wishard Foundation. “In addition to its broad and significant contributions to the Indianapolis community and health care around the world, Lilly has long been a supporter of Wishard. Its support for the new hospital project will contribute positively to the health and quality of life of our community.”

The unrestricted gift will contribute toward the $754 million cost of the hospital project and help Wishard continue to devote its resources to care in the present as well as the future as Eskenazi Health. The capital campaign for Eskenazi Health has now raised more than $55 million.

Since Lilly established the Lilly Foundation in 1968, it has awarded grants for philanthropic initiatives aligned with the company’s corporate responsibility priorities. The foundation has specifically dedicated itself to improving the lives of people who lack the resources to obtain quality health care and strengthening public education in the United States.

Wishard receives record $40 million gift, will rename new hospital and health system

  • News
  • June 22, 2011
  • brandon

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi have contributed one of the greatest philanthropic gifts ever to the people of Central Indiana, and one of the largest gifts ever made to a public hospital in the United States. The Eskenazis have contributed $40 million for the new Wishard hospital facilities.

In recognition of this remarkable gift, the new hospital and the system name, currently Wishard Health Services, will be changed to honor the donors. As with past renaming of the hospital, the Board of Trustees of Health & Hospital Corporation will authorize the change.

“We are deeply moved by Wishard’s broad and important mission, and its ability to have an impact on the lives of so many people throughout our community,” said Sidney Eskenazi. Mr. Eskenazi and his wife, Lois, have a long history of philanthropic support in the Indianapolis community, including Eskenazi Hall at the Indiana University Herron School of Art and Design. “We are pleased to offer this gift for Wishard, for the people of Indianapolis and Central Indiana, and we are deeply touched by their decision to name the hospital and health system in our honor.”

The New Wishard project will immediately become Eskenazi Health. When it opens in December 2013, the new hospital will be the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital. The name of the health system will change to Eskenazi Health in 2014. Wishard Memorial Hospital and Wishard Health Services will continue to operate and provide excellent quality care under the current names, including through Wishard’s 10 community health centers, until the new hospital opens and the move is fully complete in 2014.

“This extraordinary record gift from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi stands as one of the greatest contributions to Wishard and to public health in America,” said Dr. James Miner, chairman of the board of trustees for Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which operates Wishard.

“The Eskenazi gift is incredible news for ‘the people’s hospital,’” said Congressman André Carson. “Renaming Wishard in their honor is a fitting tribute to generosity that will result in even better medical care for the entire community.”

“This is a significant moment in the progress of our City and for the people of Indianapolis and Marion County, and we all can be grateful and proud to be a part of a community that includes Sidney and Lois Eskenazi,” said Mayor Greg Ballard. “This gift has such a profound impact on the people of Marion County, and we are pleased that Wishard will name the new hospital and health system in honor of this incredible family.”

“This hospital and health system affect so many lives in such a positive way, especially those of our community’s most vulnerable populations, that we feel it has no equal and offers us the greatest opportunity to contribute to the entire community,” said Lois Eskenazi. “In the process of learning everything we can about this institution, we have fallen in love with it and are tremendously excited to support its mission with this gift.”

“In more than 150 years of caring for our community, Wishard has had several different names — from City Hospital to Indianapolis General to Marion County General to Wishard — but its mission has been unwavering,” said State Representative Bill Crawford. “This generous gift of compassion from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi will make a tremendous difference for our community.”

“People from across the community have supported this project, from the voters to individual philanthropic donors to the employees, who raised more than $1.6 million during the employee giving campaign, and now to Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, who are contributing a landmark gift for this health system and all the people in our community that it serves,” said State Representative Gregory Porter. “We are incredibly grateful for all of the support for the people’s hospital, and especially today to Sidney and Lois Eskenazi.”

Wishard is one of America’s five largest safety net health care systems, with nearly 1.4 million outpatient visits last year and is among the highest-quality, lowest-cost health care systems in the United States, reinforced by the Dartmouth Atlas. The gift will enhance Wishard’s ability to provide excellent quality care.

“We are very grateful to receive this exceptionally generous gift for the future of Wishard and the patients we serve,” said Dr. Lisa E. Harris, CEO and medical director at Wishard. “Sidney and Lois Eskenazi are humble and compassionate individuals, who share Wishard’s spirit of community and commitment to improving the lives of others. Uniting the Eskenazi family with the Wishard family is a perfect match, and we are grateful to Sidney and Lois for making this possible.”

Philanthropy has been an important component of the plan to construct new facilities for Wishard without a tax increase since the plan’s inception.

“The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Hospital is on time and slightly under budget,” said Matthew R. Gutwein, president and CEO of Health and Hospital Corporation. “Today we are pleased to celebrate the generosity, kindness and vision of Sidney and Lois Eskenazi for this legacy gift and their commitment to Indianapolis.”

Wishard Foundation’s capital campaign for the new hospital has raised more than $54 million including the Eskenazi gift.

“We are very grateful to the Eskenazis for this one-of-a-kind gift that will contribute so greatly to advancing Wishard’s mission,” said Ernest Vargo II, CFRE, president and CEO of Wishard Foundation, which received the gift. “Not only will this contribution transform the landscape of health care in Central Indiana, it will also have a tremendous impact on philanthropy to public projects – including public hospitals – across the country.”

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi live in the Indianapolis area. Sidney Eskenazi grew up in Indianapolis, attending Manual High School before graduating from Shortridge High School, and both he and Lois Eskenazi are Indiana University graduates. Sidney Eskenazi established a successful real estate development company, Sandor Development Company, in 1963 and has built it into one of the nation’s leaders, with more than 70 properties under management in 23 states. Sidney Eskenazi continues to manage operations, along with his son, David Eskenazi, at the Indianapolis office of Sandor, which Sidney Eskenazi named after his daughters, Sandy and Dori.

“We in Central Indiana are incredibly fortunate to count individuals such as Sidney and Lois Eskenazi as part of our community. On behalf of the capital campaign for the new hospital, I am very thankful for this gift,” said John Thompson, co-chair of the capital campaign for the new hospital. “I’m pleased that our campaign has, with this amazing gift, now raised more than $54 million. I look forward to developing even more philanthropy for Wishard, its patients, staff and physicians, and for the community that supports it.”

“This is a wonderful gift from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi that will positively affect the lives of Hoosiers, thousands in Central Indiana, as well as burn and trauma victims rushed to Wishard from across the state, and we are grateful,” said Deborah Daniels, co-chair of the capital campaign for the new hospital. “Likewise, this contribution, as part of the more than $54 million raised, should assure beyond a doubt that the new hospital project will be completed in a prudent and responsible manner, on time and on budget, and without requiring any additional taxes. It is indicative of the thoughtful and precise planning that went into this project, and we are seeing that plan carried out extremely well.”

Eskenazi Gift Fact Sheet

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Biography

The New Wishard Rises into City Skyline One Year after Groundbreaking

$754 million hospital project’s 2010 groundbreaking drew community’s most respected leaders, progressing on schedule, under budget and ahead of participation goals

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 12th 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 12th 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.

Wishard to hold pre-bid meeting for BP 5 second release

Wishard will hold a pre-bid meeting for Bid Package 5 second release, a package that features opportunities for the hospital, ambulatory care building, central utility plant and building general contractor opportunities.

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 posts second set of art proposals for review

Wishard has posted the second set of art proposals for public review and comment. Visit Art Proposals to review the proposals. The public comment period for the second set of proposals will run through May 6, 2011.

Proposals are also on display at:

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

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