In 1939, a gift in memory of an esteemed surgeon in Valparaiso, D.J. Loring, MD, led to the creation of the first county hospital in Porter County: Porter's Valparaiso Hospital Campus. When Dr. Loring's family gave a more than $25,000 trust to the county with the condition that it be used to construct a county hospital, Porter County voters agreed it was time to build a new, modern hospital in Valparaiso with their financial support.

Today, what started as a single hospital has grown into an expansive health care system that touches the lives of families across Northwest Indiana. Thirteen facilities now serve the residents of Northwest Indiana, with hospital campuses in Valparaiso and Portage, medical campuses in Chesterton, Demotte and Hebron, the out-patient campus in Valparaiso, out-patient rehabilitation campus in Portage, occupational and oncology centers, and EMS services. Virtually every health care need is met at Porter.

Because of changes in health care delivery and technology, the Porter Board of Trustees recently determined that it needs to build a new hospital campus in Valparaiso to provide the state-of-the art health care that its residents deserve. In order to accomplish this major new facility, the Trustees have begun a strategic planning process to identify a partner to help move the project forward. Land has been identified in Valparaiso for the new campus. New and exciting changes are on the horizon for Porter and the patients it serves, with compassion and attention to the quality of care.

Your Health. Your Porter. Your Future.

Leading Porter to a Bright New Future

A new Porter Board of Trustees will guide the health system through an historic period as a new state-of-the-art hospital is constructed with the technologies of the future in mind. The new hospital will reflect on the outside the world-class health care you have come to expect inside Porter.

“This is an exciting time to be at Porter,” says Jonathan Nalli, interim CEO of Porter. “The individuals who have been selected to serve on this Board of Trustees are proven leaders, individuals who feel passionately about Porter and who want the very best in health care for the residents of this community.

Five physicians and three non-physicians will have the distinction of serving on the board. All of the board members are residents of Porter County.

Physicians named to board include:
Sudhakar R. Garlapati, MD, Family Practice;
James E. Turk, DO, Otolaryngology;
Keith M. Atassi, MD, Cardiology;
Mary Y. Klein,  MD, Medical Oncology; and
Joseph A. Venditti, MD, Thoracic Surgery.

Non-physician members of the board are:
Janet Brown, Dean, School of Nursing at Valparaiso University;
Mike Berta, Superintendent of Portage Community Schools; and
David Rose, Porter County President, Horizon Bank.
Dr. Garlapati has been selected chairman of the new board.

Jac Cooper, MD, president of Porter’s Medical Staff, and Douglas A. Mazurek, MD, vice president of the Medical Staff, will serve as ex-officio members of the board.
Dr. Cooper said the members of the Board of Trustees will help usher in a new era in health care as they plan and execute a plan to construct a 225-bed, private-bed hospital that will meet the needs of Porter County today – and in the future.

“The future of health care in Porter County is very bright and these individuals are the ones who will help lead us there,” Dr. Cooper says.. “I have great faith that, with the leadership provided by this board, Porter County residents will continue to have the best medical care in the best medical facility, one that will serve as a model not only for the state of Indiana, but for the country.”