AVON — After years of planning and grinding out details, Thursday was a day to celebrate.

The YMCA, Town of Avon, and Hendricks Regional Health hosted an official groundbreaking ceremony at the site of what will become the Hendricks Regional Health YMCA.

“This is a great day,” Dennis Dawes, president and CEO of HRH, said. “Those of us at Hendricks Regional Health are excited about this opportunity and excited that we are to this point of official groundbreaking.”

Dawes said he is even more excited about the future.

“I am excited about the next step where people are going to literally see a building starting to come up out of the ground,” he said. “They will then know that the Hendricks Regional Health YMCA will be a reality.”

The YMCA, which is expected to open in the spring of 2011, is expected to create 325 new jobs and have 450,000 visits each year.

Dr. John Sparzo, vice president of medical affairs at HRH, said, “(I feel) a great deal of relief, satisfaction, and excitement — all mixed together. A lot of the pieces here took a long time to get through. Now is the great part. The building is going to be the epicenter of all of the things that we’re talking about.”

The projects marks central Indiana’s first fully-integrated YMCA and hospital collaboration. The 122,000 square-foot facility, deemed a “Healthy Lifestyle Center,” will sit on 28.8 acres of land north of U.S. 36 in Avon. The facilities will allow both organizations an opportunity to provide the most comprehensive health, wellness, nutrition, and stress management services available to the westside community.

“I really want to see everything that happens here go way beyond the walls of this building itself,” Sparzo said. “This is where the real fun and excitement comes together. I think we are going to do things that have not been seen before in the Midwest. I don’t know about the country. That’s our goal.”

Eric Ellsworth, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, said he couldn’t be happier with the partnership.

“On the YMCA’s side of the equation, this is going to be a fantastic partnership between Hendricks Regional Health and the YMCA,” he said.

The Hendricks Regional Health YMCA will offer a host of health and wellness services under one roof and many outdoor facilities as well. The YMCA’s amenities will include an indoor aquatics center, a state-of-the- art wellness center, a dance/aerobics studio, a gymnasium, a teen center, a child watch area, an indoor climbing wall, outdoor sports fields, walking trails, and an outdoor education center. HRH will provide physical and occupational therapies, cardiac rehabilitation, complete lab and X-ray services, new medical practices (including family practices), sports medicine, and other hospital outreach services such as nutrition counseling and diabetes education.

In addition to the YMCA and HRH, the Town of Avon will include a 10-acre public park. The park will be west of County Road 900 East. It will contain open playing fields, walking paths, and is within walking or biking distance of 1,600 homes.

The south end of the Hendricks Regional Health YMCA campus will feature businesses that cater to improving health and wellness.

Avon Town Council President Greg Zusan said, “This is a great partnership with the YMCA and Hendricks Regional Health. The little bit that the town has been able to provide, we are excited about. This is giving back to your community and that’s what it’s all about.”

Zusan added that he’s excited to get things underway.

“It’s like anything,” he said. “You see dirt and you can’t see the foundation. The next thing, you will see the walls going up and then the roof. It will get more exciting as time goes by.”

Long-time Avon resident Florence Cartlidge, who had previously owned the land that the campus will occupy, was on hand for the groundbreaking festivities.

Dawes said, “Florence and her family have been a part of this community, living on this site for more than 50 years. She is in her 90s and I think that it’s exciting for her to know that the land that she has sold us will be used for a very good community purpose. That’s part of the reason that she wanted to sell it to us, because she knew that it was not going to be used for something that is going to tear the community down, but to build the community up.”

The YMCA is still raising funds to complete the new facility, but it is closing in on its fundraising goal. Anyone who is interested in contributing, may call Mary Beth Carmichael at 484-9622.

For more information, visit the website at www.indymca.org or www.hendricks.org.



ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com