When University of Chicago Medicine opens the doors of its 132,000-square-foot multispecialty care center this week in Crown Point, local leaders hope the facility will bridge healthcare gaps in Northwest Indiana.
UChicago Medicine Crown Point held a ceremonial ribbon cutting and tours on Thursday.
Tom Jackiewicz, University of Chicago Medicine Health System President, said bringing academic medicine to Northwest Indiana has been a longtime goal for the Illinois-based company. The process of finding the right location spanned years.
“We are glad to be a part of this community. When we were looking for locations, I first learned about Crown Point,” Jackiewicz said. “And this turned out to be the best place for the center. This is our first investment in Indiana, and it won’t be our last. It fits in with the focal point of the University of Chicago Medicine, which is to offer all specialities with high-end care to as many people as possible. Now those who live here don’t have to go to Chicago for that. We are bringing that level of care closer to home.”
The facility, located at 10855 Virginia St. in Crown Point, is characterized by open, airy spaces and shades of sandy and sea glass colors. The lobby has high, cloud-like lighting fixtures and scenes of nature and birds can be found throughout the center, which has patients already lined up for appointments.
“This is the first I’m seeing it and it’s beautiful,” said Jennifer Hill, secretary of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board. “They really breathed into it themes of Northwest Indiana, with pictures of the dunes and the greens and blues. It’s very purposefully designed to honor Northwest Indiana.”
Crown Point Mayor Pete Land was glad the final choice landed on Crown Point. The official groundbreaking happened in 2022, when the land was just a field, he said.
“That important step in that journey is what led us here today,” Land said. “This is the result of local leadership and leadership in the University of Chicago Medicine. We worked together. We had a shared vision of helping to ensure Crown Point, Northwest Indiana, and quite frankly Northern Indiana had the highest level of healthcare.”
The center’s main function will be advanced specialty care, such as pediatric services from the UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, as well as cancer care from the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.
There will also be doctor’s offices for outpatient appointments, infusion therapy, radiation treatment and medical/surgical oncology for cancer patients. Patients will also have access to a breast imaging center and MRI, CT, PET, X-ray and ultrasound imaging capabilities.
Other features include an ambulatory surgery center, advanced laboratory services and a small emergency department and inpatient unit.
Dr. Mark Anderson, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine, shared a personal story that tied into the occasion.
“I had a sister who lived in Merrillville who became critically ill, and she was ill enough that I talked to her doctor a lot,” Anderson said. “I flew out to see what was the best thing to do, her sickness was becoming too complex to deal with at this very good hospital… And we talked about where we should send her, and he said either IU or the University of Chicago. And I asked, ‘If she were your sister, where would you send her?’ And without missing a beat he said, ‘I would send her to University of Chicago.’”
The UChicago Medicine’s clinical trials program is set to bring academic medicine to Northwest Indiana, company leaders said.
“You can see from the list of specialists we are going to have tremendous people here,” Jackiewicz said. “We want to make sure we work really closely with local physicians and hospitals — we don’t want to be in competition. We want to be a partner with local healthcare providers.”
An estimated 15% of Northwest Indiana patients leave the region for their medical care, according to a study conducted by UChicago Medicine. Of those, 1 in 5 visit UChicago Medicine’s facilities in and around Chicago, the study said.
Local leaders said they hope this facility helps fill in the gaps for local healthcare needs.
“Pediatrics is a shortfall in Northwest Indiana, so that’s very needed here,” said Lake County Councilman Charlie Brown, D-Gary.
Lake County Commissioner Michael Repay, D-Hammond, said he sees the variety of specialties in cancer care being a huge benefit to residents, who no longer will have to drive to Chicago for certain treatments and appointments.
“I’m excited to have top-tier medical care in this community, and I look forward to seeing what they’ll do here,” Repay said. “…It’s good to have this in the southern hub to be able to service the rest of the Region.”
Hessville native Dr. Blase Polite, the University of Chicago Medicine Northwest Indiana Physician-In Chief, said this center’s opening means a lot to him personally.
“We have probably the most robust pediatric subspecialty program here on this site anywhere outside of Riley (Hospital for Children) in Indianapolis — and to me, that tells me everything,” Polite said. “And it embodies the vision we all share, which is: We didn’t come here to compete and put people out of business. We came here to partner and provide things for clinicians, for patients and for many of the residents here in Northwest indiana. And we know our being here will only help the community to continue to grow and make it a very attractive destination for people interested in moving into the Northwest indiana area.”
Registered nurse Elizabeth Lavendusky grew up in Hebron and lives in Portage. She said by working at the new center, she now has the ability to refer parents to any medical specialty their child might need — even to the point of video calling doctors from around the country.
“I started out as an EMT starting right out of high school, and now to have this here in the community — it’s amazing,” Lavendusky said.
Marsha Sumner, University of Chicago Medicine Director of Spiritual Care, spent some of her early years as a chaplain traveling around Northwest Indiana.
“The people of Northwest Indiana have a special place in my heart,” Sumner said. “My first job as a chaplain was at a hospice here, traveling all over the area, including Crown Point. Meeting people in their homes and care facilities. …My own spirit was renewed from the people and the landscape. So I was thrilled when the University of Chicago Medicine was going to bring our world class care here to Northwest Indiana.”
UChicago Medicine also has clinics in Merrillville, Munster and Schererville and in September 2023, it acquired four regional oncology centers from Michiana Hematology Oncology.
Jackiewicz said they already added another 14,000 square feet to the originally planned space, and have the ability to add more.
“I think as you see, it will build and grow and be a bigger and bigger part of the community,” he said.
Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
