CATHOLIC HEALTH PARTNERS
Community Mercy Health Partners of Springfield, Ohio, has opened a $250 million, 254-bed hospital in downtown Springfield to replace two aging campuses.
Mark S. Wiener, president and chief executive of Community Mercy, said that system made the choice to locate the new Springfield Regional Medical Center in urban Springfield rather than in the more affluent suburbs so that health care services would be accessible to people most in need.
Springfield Regional replaces Springfield's Mercy Medical Center and Community Hospital, which merged under Community Mercy in 2004 and which together had 284 beds, some of them semiprivate. At the time of the merger, Community Mercy leadership said it would replace those campuses with a new hospital.
The campus that opened in November has all-private rooms, an emergency department with 41 exam rooms, a three-story women's health center and an attached medical office building. It has environmentally friendly lighting and other energy-saving features, including a green roof.
Community building
About 190 households in a low-income part of Springfield, Ohio, had to be relocated to make room for Springfield Regional Medical Center.
Community Mercy Health Partners collaborated with the city of Springfield and a housing counseling group to assist the displaced residents. The city provided financial incentives to the residents to buy homes in the city, Community Mercy helped to reimburse the city for the incentives and the housing group educated people on home buying.
Of the 190 households relocated, 139 were tenancies. Fifty of those renters became first-time homeowners. Forty of that group remained in the city.