IU Health moves operations to new hospital, first baby already delivered

In a news release issued mid-afternoon on Sunday, IU Health announced that the first baby had been born at its new hospital, which is located off the SR 46 bypass on the east side of town.

The news release states: “Parents Naomi and Miguel Ramirez welcomed their child Nahla shortly after 11 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 5 and are happy to report that mom and baby are doing well.”

It was in the early morning hours of Sunday, Dec. 5 that IU Health started its move from the hospital at 2nd and Rogers Street. The facility, which IU Health now calls the legacy IU Health Bloomington Hospital, is now slated for demolition, before it is transferred to the city of Bloomington in a $6.5-million real estate deal.

At 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon, the transport activity around the old site had diminished, but several cars were still parked in the lot at 2nd and Rogers. Over the next hour or so, a few hospital workers emerged from the building, walked down the stairway, got in their cars, and drove off.

A while later, an IU Health ambulance, with lights and siren blaring, sped east down 2nd Street—apparently responding to a call, not performing a transport.

Even though the general location of the new facility is often described as off the SR 46 bypass, the driveways to the hospital are off Discovery Parkway, which was formerly known as Range Road.

Heading east on Discovery Parkway, after the turn from SR 46, two hospital entrances come up immediately on the left. The emergency room is off the second entrance.

After the jump: Photos from IU Health’s documentation of the move.