This month Indianapolis saw the opening of the new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital, part of Eskenazi Health – one of the top five largest safety net health care systems in the nation and the largest provider of indigent primary care, specialty care, mental health care, and low-cost pharmaceuticals in Indiana. The new 1.2 million-square-foot public hospital – on track to become the nation’s first LEED Silver campus – replaces the 150+ year-old Wishard Hospital and includes 315 inpatient beds, an adult Level I trauma center (there are only two other Level I trauma centers in Indiana), and a sky farm on the rooftop of the campus’s new Outpatient Care Center, among other features.  The new hospital will serve 20 percent more patients, providing a stronger safety net for metropolitan Indianapolis’s growing Medicaid and underinsured populations.

Eskenazi Health boasts an impressive list of accreditations, including: American College of Surgeons Level I Trauma Center, American Burn Association (Regional Burn Unit accreditation for the Eskenazi Health Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center), College of American Pathologists, American Association of Blood Banks, Hospital Accreditation from the Joint Commission, and Level 3 patient-centered medical home (PCMH) designation by the National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for Eskenazi’s community health centers (with nine locations throughout Indianapolis).

As the philanthropic arm of Eskenazi Health, the mission of the Eskenazi Health Foundation is to raise funds to enable Eskenazi Health to provide quality health care for all without exception. The level of community and business support Eskenazi Health Foundation has received confirms its pivotal role in the community, including $40 million from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, $6 million from Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, $5 million from Fifth Third Bank and the Fifth Third Foundation (the largest charitable donation from a financial institution in Indiana’s history), $4.5 million from employees and physicians, as well as gifts from Eli Lilly and Company Foundation and the Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis.

Words for Good® has been privileged to work with Wishard Health over the years, and now Eskenazi Health, as it works to “do good” and serve the vulnerable populations of Marion County. Congratulations on your new home, Eskenazi Health!