Ascension St. Vincent broke ground Tuesday on a neighborhood hospital in the Purdue Discovery Park district.
The so-called micro-hospital will put emergency and in-patient care within the city of West Lafayette.
Jonathan Nalli is the senior vice president of Ascension and the Ministry Market Executive for St. Vincent. He said the hospital will sit on seven acres of land, with plans to expand to a much larger medical complex.
“Patients will receive the same incredible quality healthcare they have come to expect from Ascension St. Vincent in a setting that is convenient, it’s closer to home, and — as we’ve seen from our other neighborhood hospitals — it’s much less time in a waiting room,” he said.
The micro-hospital will have eight emergency room beds and seven in-patient beds. The initial stage of development is expected to cost $25 million, with additions to the development landing the entire medical complex closer to a $70 million price tag.
Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said it is important to bring emergency care closer to campus.
“We’ve been 20 minutes from an emergency room,” he said. “I don’t know how we let that continue as we did, but Ascension is going to fix that problem for us.”
Daniels said because of Ascension St. Vincent’s investment, other healthcare organizations have indicated an interest in moving into the Discovery Park location.
“There’s every possibility that what you heard today is just the start,” Daniels said. He declined to expand any further when asked what those other organizations might be.
The micro-hospital is expected to be completed by spring 2024.
