Hospitals around Indianapolis and the nation are expanding programs to help people before they become patients. They are trying to teach cooking as well as treat cancer, to do social work as well as do surgery.

The hospitals owned by Boone and Hamilton counties are following the lead of Indianapolis-based Wishard Health Services and its parent organization by acquiring far-flung nursing homes, hoping the strategy proves as lucrative.

Wishard Health Services will change its name to Eskenazi Health after receiving a $40 million gift from Indianapolis real estate developer Sidney Eskenazi and his wife Lois, the county-owned hospital announced Wednesday morning.

The team, which plans to build an office building in the 200,000-square-foot range, beat out six other groups that submitted proposals.

About $72 million in bids have been awarded so far for the $754 million Wishard Hospital project—ahead of schedule and under budget, for the time being—including demolition and foundation work.

Ernest Vargo II's Vargo's top priority will be guiding the foundation's $50 million capital campaign for the construction of the new, $754 million Wishard Hospital.

Historically low bond rates will help the parent corporation of Wishard Health Services build hospital for less money than expected.

The Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County got good news in its first round of borrowing to finance a new Wishard Hospital: so far, it is paying less than planned.

After winning 83-percent support for $754 million hospital, Wishard officials hope to sell bonds, pick construction firm by year's end.

Unofficial results from Tuesday night's special election show more than eight out of 10 Marion County voters supporting a new $754 million hospital for Wishard Health Services.

The Wishard Foundation said it has received a $6 million grant from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation that will be used to help fund construction of a new Wishard Hospital, if Marion County voters approve the project.

Tuesday's vote will determine if Marion County Health & Hospital Corp. can sell up to $703 million in taxpayer-backed bonds to replace the county-owned hospital.

You know, there’s an election on Nov. 3, right? We’re not voting for president, governor, mayor, or even dog catcher. We’re voting for a critical piece of the health care delivery system in central Indiana: whether to allow Marion County Health & Hospital Corp. to sell bonds to build a new Wishard Hospital.

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce announced its support for construction of a new Wishard Hospital and promised to take a leadership position to help hospital leaders win voter approval for the project.

To pay for a shiny new downtown hospital, the parent corporation of Wishard Health Services will commit itself to yearly debt payments 10 times as high as they are now. But Wishard officials have no doubt they can bear the extra load because of places like Rosewalk Village, a nursing home that sits on the eastern side of Indianapolis.

The CEO of the Wishard Foundation resigned last month, prompting the fund-raising arm of Wishard Health Services to tap consulting firm Johnson Grossnickle & Associates for a replacement.

Matt Gutwein and Lisa Harris drive into work each morning knowing their hospital, Wishard Health Services, will lose half a million dollars that day. But they're OK with that. In fact, they're laying a plan to keep it up for the next 20 years. Looming large on their to-do list: building a new hospital.