5/5/2021
MOORESVILLE, Indiana – Franciscan Health Mooresville – Morgan County’s only full-service hospital – continues to move forward with the construction of a new $17 million medical office building.
Groundbreaking is planned Tuesday, May 4, 2021, near the construction site on the hospital campus (1201 Hadley Road). Franciscan Health leaders and staff, and Morgan County public and civic officials will be on hand for the event.
“This represents another large step in our Franciscan Health Mooresville physicians’ and staffs’ ability to meet the healthcare needs for people throughout Morgan County and nearby communities,” said James Callaghan, MD, president and CEO for Franciscan Health Central Indiana. “Further, this project is geared to provide better access and service for the patients we are privileged to serve.”
The two-story facility will be located at the former Women’s and Children’s Center entrance. Before that work got underway, various medical services were relocated on the Mooresville campus. The overall project entails the construction of a new 50,000 square-foot building, which, in part, will house the Women’s Center and other specialty care.
The first floor will contain a central registration area, Franciscan Physician Network Kendrick Family Medicine offices, Southside OBGYN offices and a nurse navigator lab. The second level will house Franciscan Physician Network Mooresville Family Care offices, and various clinical services.
“We have appreciated the flexibility of our patients, visitors, vendors and staff during the initial phase of the campus expansion,” said Peter Murphy, chief operating officer for Franciscan Health Mooresville. “Preceding this construction project, various infrastructure improvements were made throughout the campus.”
Since late 2019, work began to modernize heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems, the installation of a new nurse call system, and upgrade roofs, siding and sidewalks. That phase of work was campus-wide.
Planned completion of the medical office building is fall 2022. Tonn & Blank Construction is overseeing the work. Engineering firm IMEG and arcDESIGN Architects are also involved in the project.
Groundbreaking Advances
The campus improvements and infrastructure work mark the latest development at Franciscan Health Mooresville. In spring 2008, Franciscan Health Mooresville completed its $42 million expansion, adding a 34-bed orthopedic inpatient unit, a 26-bed adult medical-surgical inpatient unit, an eight-bed intensive care unit, added operating rooms, a new laboratory and established the facility’s first-ever emergency department. In total, the hospital grew from 258,000-square-feet to nearly 400,000-square-feet.
For many years, Franciscan Health Mooresville has been home to the internationally acclaimed Center for Hip & Knee Surgery and its Franciscan Physician Network Joint Replacement Surgeons. The Center has been recognized as No. 1 in Indiana for joint replacement each year since 2018.
The hospital also offers state-of-the-art services by highly regarded Franciscan Physician Network Indiana Heart Physicians, Franciscan Physician Network Indiana Colon & Rectal Specialists and Franciscan Health Cancer Center.
Currently, the hospital has a 100-bed-plus licensed bed capacity, a full range of outpatient care, employs more than 300 full-time clinical and support staff, and has 400 active/affiliated physician.
Built on Heritage
The Mooresville hospital has a much-storied past. Its origins, in fact, trace back to the 1880s in downtown Mooresville, when Dr. Clark Robbins and his son-in-law, Dr. E. Bert Hadley, established a clinic specializing in the treatment of rectal diseases. The practice and its hospital expanded greatly over the decades and later became known as Kendrick Memorial Hospital, named in honor of Margaret Kendrick, founder of the first physician answering service in Indianapolis and mother of the hospital’s clinical leader, Dr. William Kendrick.
In the early 1970s, leaders looked to the east and decided to relocate the hospital to its present location with the vision and leadership of the Swisher family. Less than a decade later, more plans for expansion were on the horizon.
In January 2000, Franciscan Health acquired Kendrick Memorial Hospital and more comprehensive services were immediately brought to the community, including labor and delivery.
Contact
Joe Stuteville
Media Relations Manager, Indianapolis and Central Indiana
Phone: 317-528-7986
Phone: 317-946-9930
Email: Joe.Stuteville@FranciscanAlliance.org
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