Why a District?

“Union Hospital and its Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health, Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute, Indiana State University and Ivy Tech Community College Wabash Valley (collectively, “the Founding Partners”) each have successful programs to recruit students into health care focused careers and particularly to prepare them for service in rural areas. Building on this nationally-recognized record of success, the Founding Partners - which also includes the Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation and the City of Terre Haute - are jointly developing a Rural Health Innovation Collaborative (“the Collaborative”) in Terre Haute, Indiana, to respond to the current and worsening health care worker shortages. In addition to addressing workforce needs, the development of the Collaborative will result in neighborhood revitalization and economic development, including physical infrastructure build-out, business expansion and attraction, and the increase of rural health care services, training and research.

“The Collaborative will be anchored by the Union Hospital campus to the north and the Indiana State University campus to the south. This largely distressed area will become the site of an unique and expanding constellation of mixed-use commer­cial and residential property, as well as multidisciplinary, rural-focused training and research sites. As such, the Collaborative and the focused redevelopment will make critical contributions to the health and economic vitality of the local community, the region, and the state.”

http://www.therhic.org/vision.html

The Site

The RHIC District includes 170 acres of north central Terre Haute. The boundaries are 8th Avenue to the north, US 41 (3rd Street) to the west, Tippecanoe Street to the south, and the alley east of 9th Street to the east.

Major existing land uses include Medical Campus at the north end and Indiana State University Campus at the south.

Goals and Objectives

In addition to the core mission of the RHIC to promote inter-professional education and collaboration particularly in rural settings, it is the desire of the Collaborative to integrate physi­cal development with academic endeavors. The goal is to create a vibrant and collaborative district that links institutions and encourages creativity and investment in the community.

The Collaborative is looking for a creative and visionary ap­proach to the redevelopment of this area that addresses the following objectives:

• Build upon the knowledge and progress of current plan­ning efforts in the community, such as Union Hospital’s master plan, ISU’s master plan, the Collett Park Neigh­borhood plan, Riverscape, and the Downtown Terre Haute Vision plan, to develop synergies that benefit the entire community.
• Endeavor to set the standard of a neighborhood that exemplifies wellness, one that is not just sustainable but sustaining.
• Extend the successes of the Landsbaum Center to create a multidisciplinary educational quadrangle that encour­ages use by the partner institutions and inspires the education of future health care professionals.
• Create an area dedicated to business incubation and technological progress that capitalizes on the proximity to the partner institutions and the rural health advances being made by them.
• Establish an exemplary mixed-use neighborhood that can provide for spontaneous meeting places, aid in the recruitment of professionals and create a stable, long-lasting living option near Downtown Terre Haute and abundant cultural resources.
• Promote multimodal transportation and study appropri­ate connections from Union Hospital to Indiana State University and on to Downtown Terre Haute.
• Seek opportunities to integrate public spaces and green corridors throughout the area that encourage wellness and long term livability of the area.