WARSAW — A steady stream of guests filed through the doors of the new Parkview Warsaw at its open house Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20. “There’s been a tremendous crowd,” said Scott Gabriel, president of Parkview Warsaw and Whitley complexes. “We’re quite excited on the responses for far. People have been blown away.”

The new complex is located on Mariners Drive, next to Parkview Warsaw YMCA.

Thousands attend the the open house at Parkview Warsaw.

A VIP event was held Friday evening with 350 in attendance for a dinner and tour. The open house received 850 RSVPs for the event but over 1,000 were anticipated.

The opening was “right on target,” said Gabriel. Offices of three physicians — Dr. Gary Pitts, Dr. Elizabeth Brauchla and Dr. William Schuler, opened on Jan. 21. Schuler is primarily located in Milford.

“Next week will be opening up the outpatient services which will include lab, radiology and physical therapy on Feb. 23. The ER will open on April 14.” Gabriel further explained the physicians group will include three physicians, four allied health professions, with another two physicians joining the group in the summer. Specialty clinics will be moving in on March 14 — cardiology, urology and several other specialties. These clinics will be held one day a week and rotating throughout the week.

Scott Gabriel, president, Parkview Warsaw and Whitley, was on hand to greet guests to the open house.

The open house provided each visitor a tour “of what we built at this point,” said Gabriel. Guests walked through each area from the emergency room, lab and radiology departments, physical therapy and physicians area. Because of the sensitivity of the MRI unit, only the area outside the unit was shown. “The MRI unit is one of the only MRIs (of its kind) in the area,” said Gabriel, pointing out the MRI will allow images to be taken of hip and knee replacements. “The clarity is second to none.”

During the walk through guests were given details of what each area contained. The ER will have nine rooms with the capacity of 14. Trauma rooms, special behavioral health rooms, isolation rooms and family rooms were shown. The lab, two X-ray rooms, CT scan machine, ultra sound room and equipment could be viewed along with the physical therapy department. The physical therapy department will include a physical therapist, a physical therapist assistance, an occupational therapist and two message therapist.

The physicians group area, located on the second floor, has 23 exam rooms and three procedure rooms.

Samaritan Helicopter was seated on the landing pad and viewed by many.

Joni Landen, quality control/accredtation specialist, tells visitors about the Emergency Room to open in April.

The third floor remains incomplete and will be completed once the hospital knows what the community wants and needs.

Throughout the building large photographs, submitted by local residents, showing the area were displayed. Over 100 photos are on display ranging from wildlife, flowers, signs, athletes in action and scenes catching the eye of many visitors.

Each guest was presented with a Parkview umbrella and a lunch bag containing a lunch, outside the Cafe Aspaetto, The cafe will offer salads, sandwiches, Frappes, espresso, and hot drinks.

Parkview will be going beyond just providing medical services and will be a participate in the community. “Parkview doesn’t do anything half way. We’re all in,” said Gabriel. “We’ve already started things going with Joe’s Kids and looking at lots of other opportunities.”

Parkview Warsaw is an 86,000 square foot facility. The $20 million project will provide approximately 100 jobs. The construction on the facility began in late 2014 and the complex will be fully-functioning when the ER opens on April 14.

“Parkview is committed to improving the health and well-being of the communities we serve and Parkview Warsaw provides a unique and innovative campus designed to best meet the needs of the Warsaw and greater Kosciusko County community,” said Gabriel. “Many hours of careful thought and evaluation went into the planning of this facility and it’s exciting to see this project near its completion.”