Elkhart General Hospital located in the city of Elkhart, Indiana, is a 367-bed facility providing care in the areas of rehabilitation, psychotherapy and acute care. Though Elkhart General is the only hospital located within the city of Elkhart, the facility experiences considerable competition from hospitals located in surrounding cities.

To provide even better care, Elkhart General decided to add a 180,000 square foot wing to house thirty-six LDRP rooms, an eight- station NICU, and the waiting, lobby and ancillary areas to support these rooms. The hospital staff felt strongly about creating a facility that was modern in appearance as well as in technology. The design firm of ESA out of Nashville, Tennessee was given this task.

The hospital project team also felt strongly about all patients in the new wing being able to look out of their windows, which meant creating a unique wedge-shaped headwall for each patient room. To meet this challenge and for the custom pieces required for the project, ESA turned to Nemschoff. “We had an extremely tight deadline and a very complicated custom-designed headwall. Without the help and expertise of the entire team at Nemschoff we could not have pulled it off,” commented Tom Lefever ESA’s project architect.

Nemschoff worked closely with ESA to design custom headwalls complete with monitor cabinets and bassinets for each LDRP room, as well as custom bedside cabinets, TV armoires and tables. All of these products were specifically designed to meet the space requirements and the aesthetic standards of the project. Many of the products were used to conceal equipment, creating continuity throughout the entire wing.

In addition to the custom products designed for the LDRP rooms, over 380 Nemschoff chairs were used in the project. Nemschoff styles found throughout the new wing include Vega, Cities®, Karisma Wallsavers, Prísto™ Treatment Chairs, Foxxman® stools, Capella side chairs and SleepOver® Settees.

Business Furnishings based in Elkhart, Indiana, installed all of the Nemschoff furniture. “This was a major project for my firm and for the hospital. As with most large projects, a few small glitches did occur, but the staff at Nemschoff addressed them immediately. The hospital received the products on time, and everything was installed quickly and easily. The aesthetics that the hospital desired were achieved, allowing it to have a successful launch for the new area. So successful, in fact, that now the new aesthetics are being proposed for other areas of the hospital,” stated Mark Macheca, Business Furnishings owner.

“All of the products that we purchased from Nemschoff fit seamlessly into our facility, giving us the style and the quality that we desired,” said Dave Furlong, Director of Engineering Services at Elkhart General Hospital.