KENDALLVILLE — Five years is a pretty short amount of time in hospital years. Yet, Parkview Noble Hospital has managed to build a long list of accomplishments since it opened on July 1, 2004.
Nearly 2300 people took part in a public celebration — a 5th birthday party — Saturday, July 11 at the hospital. There were reduced-cost health tests, followed by a free picnic lunch and fun and educational programs for children and adults.
Progress and success have come quickly since Parkview officials cut the ribbon on their new 108,000 square-foot hospital on 66-acres on Kendallville’s west side. The hospital administration has concentrated on developing the area into a diverse health-care campus with the addition of many new features designed to serve the public.
Among the highlights being celebrated by Parkview are:
• Parkwest Medical Building, housing physician offices and outpatient rehabilitation services;
• Providing property for headquarters for Noble County EMS;
• A three-quarters of a mile paved, HealthWalk and meditation garden bordering a lake;
• New office buildings for Brooklyn Medical Associates and Dr. Tom Miller, OB/GYN, and;
• Last year’s major addition - the Endoscopy Center added on to the south side of the hospital.
The Kendallville Renal Dialysis Center also opened last year and sits adjacent to the campus.
“The public seems to genuinely appreciate the efforts we have put into developing this area into a health campus,” noted Dave Hunter, chief operating officer for Parkview Noble, who said he hears comments, frequently, from the public about that growth. “They are able to access more services in one convenient location.”
In addition to the buildings, Parkview Noble has been successful in recruiting several new physicians to the community. “We are very proud of the depth and scope of our medical staff, including family practice, surgeons and other specialists,” Hunter said. “The team of caregivers and staff at Parkview Noble Hospital seeks to provide excellent service to every patient, every time. We strive to be a great place for patients to receive care, doctors to practice and employees to work.”
In 2008, the hospital experienced significant growth in the community’s use of the hospital. “We saw tremendous increases in both inpatient and outpatient areas,” Hunter said.
Some of the areas Hunter highlighted included emergency room (ER) visits up by 10 percent, radiology procedures increased nine percent, EMS saw an increase of 14 percent, surgical procedures were up 13 percent and patients treated for rehabilitation increased 11 percent. He noted that the growth since the opening of the new hospital has been phenomenal with areas such as ER and Family Birthing Center growing close to 40 percent, inpatient admissions at 30 percent and most outpatient services in the 20 to 30 percent range.
“The growth has exceeded our expectations,” Hunter said.
The new 3,800-square-foot Endoscopy Center opened at Parkview Noble in September of last year and features state-of-the-art high definition screening capabilities. Also added last year at Parkview Noble was a 16-slice CT scanner, which also offers CT-guided colonography.
Hunter believes both of these new technologies show Parkview Noble’s commitment to its mission: providing quality care and improving the health of the community.
“Parkview does a community health assessment every two years,” he explained. “And the most recent data revealed less than 40 percent of Noble County residents, age 50 and over, had a cancer screening colonoscopy. We know colon cancer can be prevented and successfully treated if found early and the best way to do that is through a screening colonoscopy.”
Already in 2009, Parkview Noble added a new building with the relocation of offices for the physicians at Parkview FirstCare in Avilla. Late in 2008, Parkview purchased the former Western Tack store and remodeled it into modern medical offices for family physicians: Dr. James Chandler, Dr, Phil Corbin, Dr. Lisa Lane and Dr. Gerald Warrener.
The hospital’s mission also includes Community Health Improvement funds initiatives, partnerships and programs aimed at health education, prevention and screening, and disease management. A major initiative for 2009 involves the Parkview Noble Hospital Board of Directors’ goal of improving the health of the community. One way they hope to work on this is through the hospital’s involvement with the Noble County Health and Wellness Alliance, which is made up of health agencies from throughout the county including Parkview Noble, the Cole Center Family YMCA, Drug Free Noble County, Tobacco Free Noble County, Purdue Extension, East and West Noble Schools, government officials and others.
Parkview’s Community Nursing initiative has placed a Parkview Noble nurse educator at Central Noble schools to assist school nurses with additional health programs aimed at improving the lives and health of children in that community. This program is expected to evolve to East Noble and West Noble schools.
The hospital partners with other agencies in our community who have common missions such as the Cole Center Family YMCA, LEAP of Noble County, Noble House, Life and Family Services, Noble County Council of Aging, St. Mary’s School, along with internal programs including the Parkview Noble Medication Assistance Program. Last year some of these partners received more than $156,000 in financial support with an additional $20,000 donated to area food pantries. Through June of 2009, Parkview Noble has given nearly $89,000 in support to its partners.
Another way in which Parkview Noble works to improve community health is through the health fairs, free or reduced cost health screenings and tests offered at the health fairs, and community health education programs and classes offered at the hospital.
“We take our responsibility to help improve the health of our community very seriously,” said Hunter. “We will continue to provide and fund programs to support those initiatives. We realize that in these tough economic times, it becomes even more important than ever that we focus on the health needs of our community and do our best to meet them.”