MDNews - Greater Kansas

But the story runs much deeper than the closing and opening of businesses. Brian Williams, CEO of Labette Health says the community banded together to raise significant local support toward the new $7.6 million facility. The Independence Healthcare Center opened its ER on July 4, 2017, and since has been both profitable and notable. In its first year, the hospital was recognized in U.S. News & World Report. The Independence community raised more than $1.6 million in local support to help equip the Independence Healthcare Center with high-quality equipment, outfitting rooms, such as this trauma room, to save lives. Three phases of the Independence Healthcare Center opened in 2017, including the cancer infusion center, which opened in September. LABETTE INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATES OPENINGS: Local Support, Patronage Help New Ventures Succeed A SOUTHE A S T K A NSA S C OMMUNIT Y hit hard by changes in the healthcare world and a healthcare provider dedicated to caring for rural communities banded together to overcome the odds. In 2015, Mercy Hospital closed its Independence hospital facility. Less than two years later, Labette County Medical Center, dba Labette Health, opened a new ER. "We were told we wouldn't be able to raise $250,000," Williams says. "We received, in donations, $1,344,516 from the community." This is in addition to $100,000 in Montgomery County economic development funds dedicated to creating local jobs and $200,000 in similar funding from the City of Independence, taking total local funding to more than $1.6 million. "One of the things I'm really proudest of is the community and the people there," Williams says. "That's their home, and they rallied to help us." With community support pledged, the doors to the ER fittingly opened on Independence Day, July 4, 2017, and a monument at the hospital's flagpole commemorates that date. Other parts of the operation followed. "We opened the ER in July, the clinic in August and the cancer infusion center in September," Williams says, adding that visits have far exceeded projections in the months since opening. "We thought we'd have 1,387 ER visits, and we've had 3,000," Williams says. "We thought we'd have 5,000 clinic visits, and we've had 7,800. We're right on track for X-rays and CTs. We're fortunate, and it's been profitable." The opening also has begun to positively impact the local economy, which suered an estimated $40 million blow with Mercy's closure. "Us opening was a $10 million benefit to economic development," Williams says. Of additional impact and equal importance is restoring the community's confidence, and Williams says many cards of encouragement have poured in, congratulating the hospital on being honored in U.S. News‹& World Report and thanking sta for their kind and compassionate care. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LABETTE HEALTH "At the end of the day, people were hurt and felt vulner- able," Williams says. "You don't realize what a community college or hospital means. They lost faith in health care and in people doing the right thing. At the end of the day, the most frequent question I got asked was, 'Can you give us a guarantee that the ER can make it?' I always answered it the same way, 'If it doesn't work out, I'm going to lose my job, and I'm willing to risk that for you, your home and your way of life.' "We face a lot of challenges in rural Kansas," Williams told the community. "But, you're as important as an urban community, and you deserve an ER as much as anybody in Kansas City or Wichita. I think they responded to that with a lot of support." ■ M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S G R E AT E R K A N S A S ■ 2 018 R U R A L C A R E ❰❰❰❰❰ 1 9

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