Top 2018 story: Hospital changes, projects

Editor’s note: The Van Wert independent is doing a series of articles on what it has identified as the top 10 news stories of 2018. The series will run through New Year’s Day and include stories that have generated the most interest from the community and/or involved important local institutions or people. Today’s article features the top story of the year.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The ambitious changes that have been completed — and those still underway — at what used to be known as Van Wert County Hospital have been designated the Van Wert independent’s top story of the year. Changes at the hospital were sparked by results of a strategic planning process implemented shortly after President/CEO Jim Pope came two years ago.

The first change actually began with a groundbreaking ceremony in August 2017 for the $12.5-million Van Wert North facility that was completed this past June at the Towne Center retail development.

The 29,000-square-foot facility includes a walk-in clinic that cares for patients who have non-emergency illnesses and injuries they would normally see a private-care physician for, and also includes a laboratory and state-of-the-art imaging equipment, highlighted by a 1.2-tesla open MRI machine that was the best available at the time the facility was built.

The facility also includes 10,000 square feet of additional space not planned for in the original plans for possible expansion into other medical areas.

Pope said the Van Wert North facility is already performing much better than planned, with more people using the facility than was predicted. That’s a positive, since it lessens the drain on hospital finances planned for by its Board of Trustees.

That project went hand-in-hand with the hospital’s implementation of the Epic medical information software system at the hospital, through a partnership with Ohio State University. The local hospital is also on OSU’s Epic system, meaning that patients at the local hospital who later become patients at OSU’s medical facilities will have their records already available for use by OSU medical staff members.

Other area hospitals using the Epic system include Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, making it also easy to share medical records with those facilities.

In addition, the hospital also underwent a rebranding process that included a number of changes, with the most visible being a new name for the hospital: Van Wert Health. The hospital has also implemented a “high reliability” quality process to improve health care and patient care.

But the biggest change is still in the making: a new 84,000-square-foot, $45-million hospital expansion that will provide four large surgery suites designed to accommodate advanced surgical equipment, including robotics; a new pre-admission testing area with easy access to lab and x-ray services; a private post-surgery pick-up area for outpatient services; a more private patient registration area; all new private acute care patient rooms; a dedicated critical care area that includes five intensive care unit rooms; all new obstetrics labor and patient rooms; a C-section suite, and additional OB/GYN rooms; new IT spaces that will support modern information and clinical data systems; a new café; and a new lobby and parking areas.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in August for the expansion, which is expected to be completed sometime in 2020.

Tomorrow: What local changes lie ahead for Van Wert County in 2019.