CRITICAL
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Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photography Provided
Five years ago, the leadership team at Johnson Memorial Health ( JMH) hired a consultancy to study their campus and take a deep dive into the population growth in Johnson County. The company found that the JMH emergency department was not large enough to keep up with the growing county. Therefore, JMH leaders chose to undertake a $47 million expansion project for the campus. Construction commenced just over two years ago. The first part of the project included the west side of campus, which houses orthopedic physicians, physical therapy and interventional pain management facilities. The main part of the expansion is the $34 million Emergency Department and outpatient services building on the east end of campus.
JOHNSON MEMORIAL HEALTH COMPLETES EXPANSION
opening just after the first of the year, but the opening was pushed back due to construction delays. As it turns out, the change in timeline was fortuitous - when the coronavirus began to spread through the U.S. in March, the hospital leaders were able to quickly convert the expanded wing into a COVID-19 unit. “By putting all our resources into making it a COVID-19 unit, that gave us the opportunity to treat more than 20 COVID patients at one time if needed,” Dunkle says. Thankfully, the hospital never reached that number. In fact, the most COVID-positive patients the staff treated at once was seven. But in a time of such uncertainty, the staff liked feeling prepared.
“Better to be safe than sorry,” Dunkle says. “It’s really exciting,” says Dr. David Dunkle, president of JMH, adding that the new In May and June, as the coronavirus Emergency Department was slated for
atCenterGrove.com / SEPTEMBER 2020 / CENTER GROVE MAGAZINE / 15
