Giving Care

Finding new ways to help after a century of care

Frequently recognized nationally for their level of care, Schneck Medical Center has been dedicated to filling the healthcare needs of their local community for the last 100 years.

In 2016, when a community assessment revealed there was a lack of access to certain types of care and local residents were traveling outside the community – sometimes more than an hour - Schneck launched a physician recruiting plan to attract both primary care providers and specialists. To accommodate the planned increase of physicians, Schneck decided a campus expansion was needed.

Former President and CEO Warren Forgey made it his goal before he retired in August of this year to leave the organization prepared to serve the community for generations to come. After a decade of strategic planning and saving, they had enough reserves set aside for the needed renovations and expansions.

"We realized early on that we had an issue with our project budget. Pepper stepped up and worked with us to create significant savings that had no noticeable difference in the project itself. Pepper really knew what our end plan was and brought that level of professionalism to the project."

Debbie Mann, Vice President of Finance and CFO, Schneck Medical Center

Schneck and Pepper have worked together on subsequent projects since the completion of the medical office building and parking garage. Additional work includes an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Moderate Acute Adult Care Unit (MAACU) renovation and expansion, additional Operation Rooms (OR) and a new outpatient care center.

"The word 'partner' is key. Most contractors, architects and engineers feel like vendors, but Pepper feels like a partner. They're always looking out for our best interest and they want to make sure we're getting what we need." - Jason Fee, Director of Facilities, Schneck Medical Center

"When we were interviewing firms, we felt a connection to Pepper's culture of people, safety and wanting to provide the best service and product they could," Debbie Mann, Vice President of Finance and CFO, Schneck Medical Center agreed.

After state mandates suspended elective and non-urgent medical procedures in the spring, Schneck's volume is back to near capacity. The provider is confident, now more than ever, that it is prepared to serve its community well into the future.

Raising the standard of care for a community in need

As the first rural community health clinic in the IU Health Network, the new Paoli Family and Internal Medicine primary care facility aims to improve the quality of life of Paoli's 3,600 residents. 

Multiple renovations keep a hospital healthy

How do you keep a hospital going for more than 100 years?

Originally established in 1906, Morris Hospital has completed several additions and modernizations over time to better serve their local community. In addition to providing healthcare, they are their county’s largest employer and a vital part of the community.

During phase two of the hospital's recent renovation (cardio-diagnostics, diagnostic imaging and infrastructure), Pepper needed to replace the above-ceiling piping in the kitchen. Though it is not a critical-care space, the kitchen is part of the lifeblood of the hospital's operations.

The time it would take to open the ceilings, perform the work and clean and sanitize the space to serve the hospital the next day would have meant extra measures to mitigate potential safety exposures and would have drawn out the construction schedule extensively. Plus, there was no room for error – the kitchen absolutely had to open on time each day. So they started exploring alternative options.

At the heart of an addition to triple patient rooms

The eight intensive care rooms at Community Heart and Vascular Hospital's north campus location were regularly at capacity. Faced with a vital need for more space, the Community Health Network team began planning for a 31,809-square-foot addition and renovation to expand services for residents of Indianapolis and its surrounding communities.

However, the needs of current patients weren't simply going to go away – even temporarily – during the year-long construction process. Planned facility updates included additional patient rooms, nurses' stations, a lab and a decontamination area. Finding a way to maintain a high standard of care through a phased construction approach was essential, and it was facilitated by technology. 

Virtual models were used to develop a phasing plan that allowed us to build around the original space without compromising care or creating delays. The HoloLens was used for field verification.

During the project, the hospital was faced with finding space for COVID-19 patients, and they asked us to help them convert some spaces into isolation rooms. We are grateful for our clients who are serving on the front-lines and are happy to do our part.