New partnership will be beneficial

To the editor:

“Welcome and we’re glad you’re here.”

When Jay County Hospital joined IU Health and became IU Health Jay Hospital on March 1, that was the message you could hear echoing down the halls repeatedly. Teams from Muncie and across the state have descended on Portland in recent weeks to ensure that the transition to joining the state’s largest and most trusted healthcare system would be a smooth one. 

That meant change.

Not just surface-level change, but a change in job titles, a change in processes and computer programs, a change in logos and signs. That level of change is not easy. But we are here to commend the team members at IU Health Jay for their unyielding commitment to their patients and to each other. More than 400 individuals joined IU Health as team members on March 1 and they have navigated the change exceptionally well. 

The result of navigating that change will translate to a higher level of care for the Portland community. A significant investment in the infrastructure and people means Portland will continue to have a quality healthcare partner for years to come. That makes us very proud and very happy and we trust it makes you smile as well. 

The partnership between IU Health and Jay County Hospital has been a healthy one for 20 years. That’s one of the reasons it made so much sense to advance that partnership and add IU Health Jay to the IU Health system.  

But change can be scary and hard. IU Health Ball and IU Health Blackford have experienced similar change. We understand what it means to live in a tight-knit community and process a change like this. Looking back, it is safe to say it was one of the greatest benefits to those two organizations in their long history and every indication is that we’ll be able to say the same about IU Health Jay as well. 

So thank you for tolerating this change and for welcoming IU Health into your community. In exchange we both promise to bring our hearts to work every day to make sure you and your families receive the very best care when you need it most.

Jeff Bird

President, IU Health East Central Region

Dave Hyatt

President, IU Health Jay