Franciscan Health Crown Point opened to patients at its new location at 12750 Saint Francis Drive in Crown Point this morning.

The hospital, which replaces the 50-year-old Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital at 1201 S. Main St., follows Franciscan Alliance’s regional approach to the latest in state-of-the-art healthcare, which optimizes facilities and resources to improve the level of care for all of Northwest Indiana.

“This second-to-none facility has been mindfully constructed to support the highest acuity of patients in a convenient location,” Franciscan Health Crown Point President and CEO Daniel McCormick, MD, said. “This facility was designed to keep patient care and safety at the center while enveloping employees, patients and families in our Catholic traditions.”

Construction management company Tonn and Blank, headquartered in Michigan City, broke ground on the seven-story hospital project at the southeast corner of U.S. 231 and Interstate 65 in September 2020.

The transition from the former hospital to the new hospital began at 6 a.m., when the emergency room at the Main Street hospital closed as the emergency room at the new hospital simultaneously opened.

Franciscan contracted with Health Care Relocations, which specializes in hospital moves, to assist in the logistics of moving inpatients from the Main Street hospital to the new hospital.

Approximately 125 hospital inpatients were moved via Superior Ambulance Service and Franciscan Health ambulances beginning at 8 a.m. Nurses were moved via City of Crown Point trolley from the existing hospital to the new hospital.

The new, modern Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital includes 199 inpatient beds with room to expand to 300, as well as an attached medical office building and expandable diagnostic and treatment centers. It includes a hybrid operating room with the latest technology to care for cardiac patients, a neonatal intensive care unit with private rooms, a pediatric floor and the latest in technologies to enhance patient safety and convenience.

The hospital and its St. Joseph Chapel were blessed and dedicated on Jan. 10 by The Most Rev. Robert McClory, Bishop of the Diocese of Gary.

Sister M. Aline Shultz, OSF, chairwoman of the Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees, reflected on the 148-year legacy of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration who arrived in Lafayette from Germany before establishing their first hospital to care for the poor and sick.

“They did not have the technology or comforts that surround us today,” she said. “What they did have and what we continue today is our deep commitment to the Catholic Franciscan healthcare ministry entrusted to us.”

The hospital on Main Street will now be known as Franciscan Health Main St. Outpatient Center, A Division of Franciscan Health Crown Point. It will continue to house a variety of outpatient services.

The new Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital is located at 12750 Saint Francis Drive in Crown Point, Indiana on the southeast corner of U.S. 231 and Interstate 65. It is accessible from the roundabout on U.S. 231 just east of I-65 by turning right onto Saint Francis Drive.

More information is available online at www.franciscanhealth.org .