Published: October 03, 2008 12:04 am            

AP&S Clinic makes $300,000 donation to Union Hospital expansion

TERRE HAUTE — Associated Physicians and Surgeons Clinic announced on Thursday it will give $300,000 to the capital campaign of Union Hospital’s expansion/renovation project.

A $185 million construction project is under way on a new four-story, 500,000-plus-square-foot, 380-private-room hospital on the north side of Terre Haute, slated to be completed in early 2010.

Once completed, work will start on renovation of about 104,000 square feet of existing space, which will include some additional private outpatient rooms, said Jerry Einstandig, chairman of the hospital’s Distinctive Past, Exceptional Future Campaign.

“Every patient in Union Hospital will be cared for in an up-to-date, newly equipped, private room,” Einstandig said.

The project is the largest construction effort in the hospital’s 116-year history.

AP&S Clinic, established in 1916, is composed of 70 physicians, two nurse practitioners, one physician’s assistant and more than 400 staff members, offering services in 19 medical specialties.

“The physicians are real pleased to do this. There are not too many groups of physicians and hospitals that have a near 100-year history together of working collaboratively together,” said Patrick Board, chief executive officer of the clinic.

Dr. Hans Andreasen, a family medicine physician and board chairman at AP&S Clinic, said he was in his residency training to become a doctor at Union Hospital “when some of the old hospital was new back then, and that was over 20 years ago. It is really exciting to see the growth here.

“When you see what is going on over in Indianapolis with some of the hospitals, it is nice to be able to say that we are going to have a hospital that can compete with anybody in the country and hopefully we will become the westside medical complex for Indiana and the Wabash Valley,” Andreasen said.

“It is nice for us to be able to give back to the hospital and the foundation and for our relationship between the hospital and clinic to continue another 90 years,” he said.

Union Hospital Foundation now has raised nearly $4.5 million of an $8 million capital campaign. That includes more than $2.7 million from the internal “family” campaign, which is ongoing, as well as five early community gifts totaling more than $1.5 million. The family campaign includes gifts or pledges from employees, medical staff, the service league, members of hospital boards and other groups.

The campaign funds will primarily pay for renovation of the hospital’s existing west side as well as complete some spaces in the new hospital, said Jim Bertoli, executive director of the Union Hospital Foundation.



Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

        

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