“Patients are familiar with x-rays and stethoscopes during a visit to the doctor, but rarely consider that behind those hospital walls is a complex web of systems that work together to help doctors and nurses provide care,” said Brendon Buckley, director of healthcare integration at Johnson Controls. “Building technologies play an important role in delivering better healthcare at a lower cost.”

Technologies inside Eskenazi Health patients’ rooms, such as nurse call, heating, air conditioning, lighting and television, digitally communicate to improve care and safety inside the hospital. For example, security systems communicate with nurse call devices to alert staff if a patient or clinician needs help. Nurses also stay at the patient’s bed side longer with mobile access to medical records, such as medication.

“Our nurses and doctors need the right information at the right time to provide the best care possible for our patients,” said Lee Ann Blue, chief nursing officer and executive vice present of patient care services at Eskenazi Health. “This new facility is designed to give our clinicians the technologies and resources they need to treat patients safely and effectively.”

The integrated technology lowers energy and operational costs. The new facility is on track to become the first certified LEED® Silver hospital campus in Indiana.

HOK and Jacobs Engineering managed the design and construction of the more than 1.2 million-sq-ft, 315-bed facility. The design and construction process leveraged a Johnson Controls Technology Contract to create a connected medical environment where more than 20 clinical, business, and building systems communicate with over 40 interface points.

According to Johnson Controls representatives, technology contracting lowers initial construction costs and decreases long-term operational and utility expenses by converging individual systems into a single networking solution. The health campus will save critical resources by eliminating the need to manage multiple, duplicate, or discrete systems under various vendors, contracts, and proprietary protocols in the constantly-evolving technology marketplace.

 The new hospital campus replaced Wishard Hospital and includes 19 operating rooms, an administrative building, an inpatient mental health unit, an outpatient care clinic, a 2,700-space parking garage, and a central utility plant.