LAGRANGE, Ind. — Beginning July 17, patients of Parkview LaGrange Hospital will be treated in a new, $25 million facility.

The three-story, 75,000-square-foot hospital is located directly north of the old structure, which, said Operating Manager Bob Bloomfield, will be leveled by the first week of October.

Among the hospital’s many improvements are a 25-bed critical access facility with all private rooms, a larger emergency department, an additional operating suite, an electronic intensive care unit, and a mobile robot called “RoboDoc.”

The main objective for those involved in the planning and architectural process was to focus on the patients, Bloomfield said, and to create a comfortable, homey atmosphere that is private and discreet.

All outpatient services are located on the first floor, including the phlebotomy department, radiology, the emergency and surgery departments, as well as mamogram and ultrasound services.

The two new operating suites, both larger than the one at the old hospital, are “state of the art,” said Dr. Joe Greenlee, chief of staff at Parkview LaGrange. “With the booms (lighting), there are no cords running over the floor.”

The ventilation systems surrounding the operating beds are also important improvements, said Rob Myers, chief operating officer of Parkview LaGrange. The vents “provide an extra level of air, and create an air curtain” which “pushes everything away from the surgical bed, keeping a sterile environment.”

With the operating rooms’ new technologies, the hospital will be able to provide more specialized procedures, such as total hip and knee replacement surgeries, Greenlee said.

The hospital also has an on-site MRI machine. The previous hospital only had access to a mobile MRI machine two days a week

All nine of the ER examining rooms (five more than the old hospital had) have computers, so charting can be done in the same room as the patient.

The rooms are also oversized, said Stephanie Gough, a Parkview LaGrange board member, due to the prevalency of large families in the LaGrange County area.

The second floor is home to all inpatient services, and 25 beds. Four of those are critical care unit beds, 17 are for “med surge” (surgery recovery and long-term patients), and four are obstretrics beds. There are also three labor delivery rooms.

The rooms are about 280 square feet, which is about 50 to 60 square feet larger than average-sized hospital rooms, Bloomfield said.

The electronic intensive care unit, or eICU, is another upgrade. The eICU department includes RoboDoc, a mobile robotic device with a television screen that allows critical care physicians to interact with patients from an off-site location in St. Louis, Mo.

This makes it possible for patients to receive specialized care that was previously unavailable at Parkview LaGrange. The result will be less transferring from one hospital to another, said Julia Walker, a Parkview LaGrange nurse who demonstrated some of RoboDoc’s capabilites.

In two of the ICU rooms, eICU physicians can interact with patients via cameras installed in the walls. The cameras are powerful enough that by zooming in, doctors can check patients’ pupils.

Myers said that the $25 million price tag for the new hospital will not just be paid by LaGrange Parkview patients.

“The costs at Parkview are determined system-wide,” he said, and will be the same at all other Parkview hospitals. Parkview owns four community hospitals in northeast Indiana, including the one in LaGrange, and two hospitals in Fort Wayne.

John Perlich, Parkview Health spokesman, said he did not know if the price of health care was increasing across the board for Parkview patients.

LaGrange hospital’s partnership with Parkview, which was established in 2005, allows LaGrange access to capital it otherwise wouldn’t have, Myers said. With a partnership like this, Myers said, there are “fewer challenges than a stand-alone facility. The affiliation allows us to draw on resources from a larger system.”

Along with the technological draws, the hospital also features furniture made by LaGrange County Amish craftsmen, as well as photographs and quilts by local artists.

Dr. Greenlee described his feelings about the new facility as “giddy. The department is just elated with all of the extra details to make it attractive.”

Greenlee said that with RoboDoc, “our internists can keep (patients) on the spot.

“A lot of things that were pioneered in big institutions are now done routinely,” he added. He said he thinks the new facility will lead more patients to choose Parkview LaGrange.