Franciscan Alliance says it will transition its Dyer hospital to a behavioral health campus in late 2027. Inpatient, emergency, surgical and inpatient rehabilitation services are all set to move to Franciscan's expanded Munster campus, about two miles away.
At that time, the Dyer emergency room will become a "high acuity Franciscan ExpressCare," as well as an emergency intake department specifically for behavioral health. Franciscan Health Dyer's current 92-bed inpatient behavioral health unit will be expanded, and behavioral health service will be added.
Franciscan Alliance says there's a growing need for behavioral health care, and in 2022, Lake County had the second-highest suicide rate in the state.
The hospital system says the changes are part of its "regional approach" to health care. The expansion of the Munster campus is currently underway, with a three-story addition to an existing three-story building, plus the construction of a new five-story medical structure. Franciscan closed the former St. Margaret Hospital in Hammond at the end of 2022.
