South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center broke ground for a new replacement hospital on November  5, 2009. By teaming up with Hutton Construction and Perkins & Will architectural design, construction is estimated to be completed by February 28, 2011. The completion of the replacement facility will bring several advantages to the area’s medical community and our patient’s healthcare.
•        State-of-the-art design combining staff efficiencies and patient convenience in a single story 62,300 sq. ft. facility
•        Acute patient rooms, including 17 private, 5 semi-private, and a negative pressure isolation room
•        5 bed intensive care unit
•        Around the clock emergency coverage featuring 5 exam/treatment rooms and 2 trauma bays
•        6 bed obstetrics wing, featuring family birthing suites
•        Advanced diagnostic technology radiology and laboratory units
•        2 centralized operating rooms and 2 treatment suites for private and convenient outpatient / inpatient surgery

 
History
The SCKRMC replacement facility plan has continued to develop since the mid 1990’s. The original plan was to expand and renovate the current facility. In 2000, the project’s architect presented to the Board of Trustees the initial plan for the hospital renovation.
The plan was eventually rejected by the Board, following a feasibility study that helped to determine the construction costs of renovating exceeded those of building an entirely new facility.

The Land
Once the decision had been made to move forward with the replacement facility, it had to be determined where the facility would be constructed. Several locations were researched, however the eventual choice was first considered in December 2001, when Don and Wilda Patterson donated 168 acres of farm ground for the project.
The land is located two miles north of the current Arkansas City city limits, along Highway 77. The location of the property will allow the replacement facility to be more centrally located in the county, providing easier access to a larger portion of the service area. The entire 168 acres were island annexed to the City of Arkansas City at the request of the medical center. Initial development will include approximately 30 acres.

Financing
Financing the replacement facility, up to this point, has been the project’s largest obstacle to overcome. The initial plan considered partnering with other area hospitals to pool resources. Other concepts included partnering with a private financier and funding through federal programs including the United States Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FHA mortgage insurance program.
For several years it appeared the HUD program could offer the best funding solution for the project. However, after more than two years of working the project through the Federal program’s application process, the SCKRMC replacement facility was denied mortgage insurance on April 1, 2005.

Later that year, a group of local physicians, Midwest Healthcare Alliance, LLC, partnered with Cardiovascular Hospitals of America (CHA). The local physician group had always been a driving force to keep the project moving forward. Unfortunately the joint venture between MHA, CHA and the City of Arkansas City, named CoVista Medical Center, never reached beyond the development stage. After several months of working together, which included early site development, architectural design development, and a groundbreaking held in April of 2006, the construction of CoVista came to a halt as financing difficulty once again plagued the project.
The project stalled as all parties involved worked to dissolve the CoVista partnership and regrouped to determine how to move forward. Eventually in early 2008, the decision was made to attempt bond financing in coordination with the City of Arkansas City through the formation of a public building commission. This multi-step process was boosted by a 10 year, one-half cent sales tax initiative passed by the local voters in November of 2008.  Final issuance of the bonds for the SCKRMC replacement facility occurred in September of 2009.

Personnel
South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center Construction Committee
        Shawn McGrew, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
        Sid Regnier, Board of Trustees member
Phyllis Macy-Mills, Chief Executive Officer
Holly Beaty, Chief Financial Officer
Steve Archer, City Manager – City of Arkansas City
Jean Snell, City Commissioner – City of Arkansas City
Robert Yoachim, Physician – Ark City Clinic
Tyson Blatchford, Physician - SCKRMC

Perkins & Will –Architects for the SCKRMC Replacement Facility
        10100 N. Central Expressway, Ste. 300, Dallas, TX 75231
        214-283-8702
www.perkinswill.com
David Collins, Principal

Hutton Construction – Contractor for the SCKRMC Replacement Facility
2229 S. West Street, Wichita, KS 67213
316-942-8855
www.huttonconstruction.com
Quentin Ellis, Project Executive