Nemaha Valley Community Hospital

Description

Nemaha Valley Community Hospital
Nemaha Valley Community Hospital plays a vital part in the health of patients in and around Nemaha County It is a notforprofit Critical Access Hospital providing adult and pediatric hospital based healthcare services inpatient and outpatient surgery 24 hour a day emergency room services diagnostic laboratory services radiology services including inhouse diagnostic CT sonography and mammography in addition to mobile MRI Other diagnostic and treatment services provided are Physical Therapy Respiratory Therapy Speech Therapy Occupational Therapy and Cardiopulmonary Rehab NVCH also conducts a large outpatient clinic service that provides a variety of specialties of which are mostly staffed by physicians from Topeka and Manhattan

Seneca Family Practice is a rural health clinic with a satellite clinic located in the nearby town of Axtell The practice is staffed by three fulltime doctors and one nurse practitioner Both entities are Medicare and Medicaid certified and licensed by the State of Kansas
For the past several years the hospital has been exploring how best to address the lack of outpatient surgical treatment storage and medical office space at the hospital After reviewing several alternatives the hospitals Board has determined it must expand and remodel selected areas and consolidate all healthcare services to a single campus These improvements will significantly improve patient care at the hospital Please go to the donate tab to find out more about how you could help make this expansion become a reality

Mission Statement
The Nemaha Valley Community Hospital is dedicated to providing quality health care and other related services in a com passionate manner sufficient to meet the primary health needs of its patrons within the scope of its resources and staff

History

Our History
According to an article in the September 14 1946 issue of the Saturday Evening Post the idea for a community hospital began in 1940 when Mrs JP Koelzer heard that the town was in danger of losing its two medical doctors because it did not have an adequate hospital She quickly organized 40 women from every womans group in Seneca to begin a petition drive The petition asked for a special city election to approve a 30000 bond issue for construction of a modern hospital

The women immediately hit an obstacle They were informed that a state law prohibited the kind of bond issue they were requesting A committee of 7 men from Seneca went to Topeka to ask for legislation to correct the problem The Kansas legislature quickly passed a new law and Seneca voters approved the 30000 bond issue at a special election in 1941 An additional 35000 for construction of the cityowned hospital was promised by the Federal government

Seneca City Council appointed a threemember hospital Board A site was selected and ground was broken on December 18 1941 shortly after the United States entered World War II As a result of the war construction of the hospital was delayed and some of the government funding through the Works Progress Administration WPA was withdrawn The City of Seneca provided an additional 10000 to keep the project going

The 30bed hospital was completed in September 1943 and total cost including equipment was about 75000 This figure would have been much higher if the community had not contributed thousands of dollars in donations for furnishings and equipment

The City of Seneca signed a contract with the Sisters of St Joseph allowing them to manage and operate the hospital as a nonprofit institution The Sisters of St Joseph operated the hospital for more than 25 years

The hospital opened its doors on September 14 1943 It was fully equipped with modern equipment including an Xray room an operating room nursery delivery room kitchen and administrative offices

The hospital was so successful that it outgrew the original building Patient beds had to be put in hallways and other patients transferred to other hospitals because there as no room for them at the Seneca Hospital

To solve this problem a 90000 addition adjoining the west end of the hospital was proposed in 1950 This proposal gained the full support of the Seneca Hospital Guild a group of women who had literally worked wonders in promoting the interests of the hospital since the day it was founded Largely as a result of the efforts of the Hospital Guild Seneca residents approved a 90000 bond issue for construction of the addition and was completed in 1953 at a cost of 87166

In 1968 consensus was that a local nonprofit corporation should be formed to administer the affairs of the hospital The Sisters of St Joseph would then become employees of the corporation This corporation was formed in 1969 and under this arrangement the corporation leased the hospital from the City of Seneca As part of this reorganization the name was changed to Nemaha Valley Community Hospital to better reflect its service area

In 1973 a contract was signed with Great Plains Lutheran Hospitals Inc to operate Nemaha Valley Community Hospital During this period there was talk of building a new hospital in Seneca They learned that it was difficult and expensive to remodel a poured concrete building A proposal was placed on Nemaha County ballots for approval of a countrywide twomill levy for construction of a new hospital in Seneca which was soundly defeated

In March 1983 the Board submitted a letter of intent to the Kansas Department of Health amp Environment for a major remodeling project The proposed renovations would cost nearly 2 million Did it make sense the Board wondered to spend 2 million to improve the old facility and there was no guarantee that the project would solve the hospitals problems longer than five years The Board scrapped the remodeling plan and approved plans for a new 38 million hospital In October 1983 the Hospital Board voted to move ahead with its plans for a new hospital facility The Hospital Board signed an agreement with St Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Topeka to manage Nemaha Valley Community Hospital effective January 1 1984

The staff of the Health Systems Agency of Northeast Kansas recommended disapproval of the certificate of need A public hearing was held for further discussion of the hospitals application for a certificate of need which drew over 500 people from Nemaha County including Sabetha hospital officials who stated that the future of their hospital would be harmed by a new hospital in Seneca A few days after the hearing HSANEK announced not to approve the certificate of need for a new hospital in Seneca As a result the hospital plan was put on hold until the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health amp Environment made her decision and she denied the certificate of need In April the Hospital Board asked for a reconsideration hearing for a 24bed hospital rather than 31beds initially proposed and this request was granted in July Seneca was granted the right to build a new hospital

Groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday August 30 1987 A completion date of June 1989 was set for the new facility

On January 1 1989 the management services agreement with St Francis Hospital expired and Nemaha Valley Community Hospital began operating on its own but would continue to use the management consulting services offered by St Francis but the daytoday operation of the hospital would be the responsibility of the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital Board of Trustees

Due to favorable weather conditions the new hospital was completed ahead of schedule and the grand opening was set for May 7 1989

The new Nemaha Valley Community Hospital facility is now a fact not a dream The key ingredients hard work perseverance and community spirit that made it all possible are the same ingredients that gave the Seneca area its first hospital nearly 50 years ago

Several years ago the Hospitals Board of Trustees launched a comprehensive analysis of its facilities and services The greatest challenge was how best to bring the provider practices to the Hospital and at the same time provide access to outpatient ancillary services at a reasonable cost The analysis concluded that the Hospital had serous shortcomings because it lacked efficiently organized outpatient treatment storage and medical office space

After extensive analysis of the various recommendations and floor plans the Hospitals Board of Trustees and the Hospital Foundation Board of Directors recommended launching a major fund raising drive that would consolidate all the healthcare service to a single campus by relocating and expending the Seneca Family Practice in a new Outpatient Center with enough offices examination and treatment rooms to accommodate up to six physicians The new Outpatient Center will include a separate waiting room examination and treatment rooms for the Specialty Physician Clinics

Relocating Seneca Family Practice to the main Hospital campus will provide easier access to the lab radiology occupational and physical therapy and other outpatient services The new Out patient Center will be build just west of the existing Hospital