NEW PALESTINE — If all goes according to plans, residents in New Palestine will be able to visit a new Hancock Regional Health Complex sometime in 2020.
The first step to bringing a new state of the art health wellness center, physician offices and imagining capabilities to New Palestine, is annexing and purchasing the land for the project.
The decision by Hancock Regional Hospital officials to build in New Palestine is part of the healthcare provider’s over-all goal to keep people out of the hospital through proactive and preventive health care, Rob Matt, hospital chief strategy and innovation officer said.
“The future of health care is not to wait around for people to be ill,” he said.
By providing facilities where people can become more aware of how to create a healthier lifestyle, hospital officials will be meeting their goal of providing county residents innovative care.
Annexation petitioners, Hancock Regional Hospital, StoreNow-New Palestine Self Storage, and Renee and Marlon Corwin are the current owners of property on the south side of U.S. 52, just west of County Road 600W, looking to be annexed into town boundaries.
Officials representing Hancock Regional Hospital said they are currently under contract to purchase approximately 61 acres of real estate, most of which is already in the Town of New Palestine.
Approximately 51 acres of the land is currently owned by the Corwins while five acres is owned by StoreNow-New Palestine Self Storage. Four acres owned by the Corwins and a small piece of land owned by StoreNow, plus 1.18 acres already owned by the hospital are not officially a part of New Palestine.
The decision by the landowners to make sure all of the land is part of the town is a 100 percent voluntary annexation petition.
Town officials got the ball rolling by approving an ordinance on the first read to extend town boundaries for the annexation during their most recent council meeting.
“This will be a great thing for our community,” Dave Book, town manager said.
The town’s planning commission will need to approve the annexation during a meeting set for 6 p.m. Aug. 15, and town officials will then hold a public hearing that same night at 7 p.m.
If all goes well the annexation should be completed by the end of the year, town officials said.
Hospital officials said they plan to close on the purchase of the full 61 acres within the next three months and if all continues to go according to schedule they’d like to start construction of the health complex in 2019.
Specific plans for the facility, such as cost and size, will not be finalized for several months, however hospital representatives at the council meeting said they’re anticipating building a health complex anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 square feet in size.
Hospital officials are excited to offer New Palestine residents a single complex that will house a wellness center with all the state of the art equipment, Matt said.
The new facility will also host all local Hancock Family Medicine physician offices currently located at 7375 West U.S. 52 and expand the practice, which is currently full, to accommodate additional physicians and other providers.
Hancock Regional officials are also hoping to be able to offer better imagining, physical therapy and laboratory services at the new complex.
“We believe we are the leading healthcare provider in the community,” Matt said. “We want to continue to be that and if you’re going to be that you’ve got to provide all the right services to your community and county.”
