$17M Expansion at Franciscan Health Mooresville

Franciscan Health Mooresville is moving forward with significant infrastructure improvements that will pave the way for future building plans, including a new medical office building.

“Our Mooresville hospital continues to address the growing health care needs of Morgan, Hendricks and southwestern Marion counties,” said James Callaghan, MD, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Central Indiana. “This initiative is geared to provide better access and improved services to the patients we are privileged to serve.”

Phase 1 Construction

Phase 1 of the project will modernize and improve several systems throughout the hospital campus at 1201 Hadley Road. The work includes updates to the heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems, installing a new nurse call system and upgrading roofs, siding and sidewalks.

“Patients, guests and vendors will primarily be affected as they make their way to medical practices in the Professional Center and the entrance to the Women’s Center at the south end of the hospital complex. Temporary closures to some parking areas will occur, but there will be directional signs to help get everyone where they need to be for their care,” said Peter Murphy, chief operating officer for Franciscan Health Mooresville. “While we know this will be somewhat of an inconvenience, this work is a necessary investment for future expansion at our campus.”

Phase 1 work begins June 17 and is estimated to be completed by December 2019, according to Tonn & Blank Construction, which is overseeing the work. Engineering firm IMEG and arcDESIGN architects also is involved in the project.

Here’s what happens during Phase 1:

• Patients will find orange construction signs throughout the campus with directions on the route to take and where to park. Individual practices have already contacted patients in advance to let them know about temporary parking closures.
• Perimeter Road will be closed near the Yellow Parking Lot at the Women’s Center.
• Areas that will not be affected include the Red Parking Lot at the hospital’s main entrance, Orange Parking Lot for the Center for Hip & Knee Surgery, and the Blue Parking Lot for the Medical Pavilion.
• Patients going to the Professional Center should plan to enter at the Johnson Road entrance. Signs will direct visitors on Hadley Road to proceed east to Johnson Road. Access from Johnson Road will be available for the Professional Center’s Green Parking Lot.
• The employee parking lot on the east side of the campus will remain unaffected until September. At that time, a temporary employee parking lot will be designated.
• A shuttle bus service from visitor parking lots will be available sometime after the infrastructure and road work begins.

Phase 2 Construction

“After the infrastructure work is complete, the overall project will transition to Phase 2,” Murphy said. “It will begin with the temporary relocation of medical practices in the Center for Women.”

Demolition of the Women Center’s lobby and construction of a new 50,000-square-foot medical office building will then commence. When complete in late 2020, the $17 million complex will house the Women’s Center, medical practices and other additional services and programs.

Built on Heritage, Bolstered by Expertise

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/sanitarium services 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 brought to the community, including labor and delivery.

During the spring of 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, six new operating rooms, a new laboratory and a new 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 by CareChex® in 2018 and 2019.

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.