By Judy Sherard
Hays Daily News
April 8, 2016

Friday’s nearly perfect weather was a great incentive to take a stroll along the Hays Medical Center fitness trail and enjoy an outdoor lunch to celebrate HaysMed’s 25th anniversary.

The medical center is the result of the merger between St. Anthony Hospital and Hadley Regional Medical Center on April 8, 1991.

Approximately 50 people attended the Friday morning ceremony recognizing “25 years helping people be healthy.”

Some were HaysMed employees and sported T-shirts commemorating the event.

Those attending also received a T-shirt.

Lois Aschenbrenner came with her grandson, Chase, 3. The pair enjoyed the nature walk before eating lunch near the playground equipment.

Chase’s mother and Aschenbrenner’s daughter-in-law, Tara, is a registered nurse and planned to join them for lunch.

“It’s a great place. I’ve had medical work done here,” Aschenbrenner said.

President and CEO Dr. John Jeter welcomed the attendees. Jeter said he was “incredibly proud to be here representing my father, Norman, who was involved with Hadley for 45 years and Hays Medical Center for another 10.”

Those representing the St. Anthony and Hadley boards “had no idea where it was going to go. They just had this faith it was the right thing to do,” Jeter said.

Many of the employees, physicians and board members have been at the medical center for the full 25 years.

“I didn’t get here until 1996, and I think the seeds of our success had been planted,” Jeter said.

Those attending were invited “to take a little walk down memory lane,” Jeter said.

Memory lane was the fitness trail featuring “signposts representing every year, and things that we felt were good to recognize that happened that year.”

Some of the highlights noted along the commemorative walk included the first open-heart surgery in 1998, the Center for Health Improvement opening in 2002, 3D mammograms and Bickle Family Tower opening in 2013.

Kayla Lonnon and Lisa Unrein came to support the hospital.

“We knew they were doing the trail (markers), and we wanted to see the different milestones,” Lonnon said.

“Yeah, it’s really neat. Some of the stuff you don’t realize how many years ago that was that they added a service,” Unrein said.

“We’re the biggest hospital in the western half of the state,” Jeter said. “Who would have ever thought that 25 years ago because we certainly weren’t then.”

After walking the trail, celebrants were treated to a healthy lunch of a turkey sandwich or chicken-caesar salad.

“It’s very exciting. We are equally excited about the future, the next 25 years, and we don’t know where it’s going. We’re excited about our opportunities here,” Jeter said.

By Patrick Lowry
Hays Daily News
April 6, 2016

Not every community in Kansas is fortunate or large enough to have its own hospital. Some exist primarily because of local taxpayer support while others barely hang on as decreasing Medicare reimbursements take their toll.

Mercy Hospital in Independence shut its doors last fall, leaving the southeast Kansas community without a hospital for the first time in more than 100 years. Mercy was the 56th rural hospital nationwide to close in the past five years. Voters in Sheridan County just yesterday shot down a proposal to fund a $16.9 million renovation of the Hoxie facility.

In short, no city or town should take its medical center for granted. With state and national policy decisions having dramatic effects on healthcare facilities, not every hospital can be assured of its continued existence.

Residents of Hays are blessed not to have to worry about such trends. Having one of the state’s strongest regional hospitals providing quality care and serving as the city’s top employer, HaysMed is here to stay. The hospital, which had more than 300,000 clinic and outpatient visits last year and generated more than half-a-billion dollars in total patient revenue, is going strong.

The medical center is celebrating its 25th anniversary this Friday. To fete its silver milestone, HaysMed will have a come-and-go celebration from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. that the public is encouraged to attend.

There is a lot to celebrate. In 1991, St. Anthony Hospital and Hadley Regional Medical Center were merged to provide one unified option for patients.

“The merger combined two great hospital cultures that facilitated growth in all areas of health care,” said Ken Beran, HaysMed board member and past chairman, in an interview with The Hays Daily News.

Since then, the facility has done nothing but grow — both in size and scope of services offered. Licensed to have 207 beds, the Hays campus features several well-reputed centers of excellence. Amongst others, the DeBakey Heart Institute, Dreiling/Schmidt Cancer Institute, Center for Health Improvement and Hays Orthopedic serve patients from throughout western Kansas and beyond. HaysMed has its Convenient Care Clinic — currently operating at the Oak Park Medical Complex — as well as the St. Rose Health Center in Great Bend and Pawnee Valley Community Hospital in Larned.

HaysMed is one of the region’s top economic drivers. With 1,544 employees system-wide, payroll for the past fiscal year alone was $80.5 million. Looking at just the Hays center, approximately $90 million has been invested in new construction and renovations since the merger. Add in capital purchases of specialized equipment and that number jumps to $150 million.

Investment extends to highly qualified specialists as well. HaysMed has 80 physicians and more than 100 advanced practice providers to help people be healthy.

“We are absolutely continuing every day to understand this dynamic industry we’re in and make bold and innovative decisions going forward,” said Dr. John Jeter, HaysMed president and chief executive officer.

We are grateful this hospital is committed to making Hays and the surrounding area a better place in which to live. HaysMed continues to earn its keep 24/7. Community members who wish to acknowledge the significant contributions this medical facility has made for 25 years should attend the celebration Friday. Visitors are encouraged to park in the lot on the southeast side of the hospital. T-shirts, box lunches and a walk around the fitness trail will follow the opening remarks.

By:  Maggie Gebhardt
Hays Daily News
April 1, 2016

Friday marks 25 years since Hays Medical Center officially opened its doors as the lone hospital in Hays, vowing to “Help People Be Healthy.”

Before HaysMed was established, two religiously operated facilities — St. Anthony Hospital and Hadley Regional Medical Center — separately serviced patient needs in the area.

In 1991, the two merged as one, combining two belief systems and providing one unified option for patients.

“The merger combined two great hospital cultures that facilitated growth in all areas of health care,” said Ken Beran, HaysMed board member and past chairman.

When the two operated separately, Catholics primarily accessed St. Anthony for medical services, while most non-Catholics went to Hadley Medical Center, which was sponsored by the Methodist Church, according to John Jeter, HaysMed president and chief executive officer.

In the early 1970s, both hospitals underwent significant expansion projects.

“St. Anthony moved out to the location where HaysMed is located right now from their original location at 13th and Ash in front of Sunflower Electric,” Jeter said. “Both hospitals spent a lot of money and were buying a lot of medical equipment that was being developed.”

After the expansion projects, Hays saw tough times, according to Jeter. The economy began to struggle due to unemployment, low oil prices and low wheat prices. In turn, the depletions hurt the hospitals.

“Both hospitals are sitting here with a lot of debt from all their equipment they bought from the expansion projects, and then the economy was really in trouble,” Jeter said.

Facing that reality ultimately led to private, secretive meetings between the two medical facilities, as they desperately tried to find a solution to their financial problems.

“As I understand it, there were some meetings between leaders of both facilities that were private; they weren’t public at all,” Jeter said. “I don’t think a lot of people knew it was going on, but they were having conversations about merging.”

After the decision to merge was made, controversy stirred in the community, and it took some time before the concept was accepted.

“People had tremendous loyalty to one hospital or the other, so the idea of putting them together was really controversial and there was concern,” Jeter said.

Jeter’s father, Norman Jeter, actively was involved with the establishment of the merger. He was a lead negotiator for Hadley Regional Medical Center, while Sister Mary Mollison, with the Sisters of St. Agnus, led the negotiation for St. Anthony Hospital, according to John Jeter.

After the decisions were made and finalized, the two medical facilities unified as one, becoming Hays Medical Center — later taking on the name HaysMed.

Jeter said the collaboration faced its challenges. But when he arrived in Hays in 1996, most things had been resolved.

Since becoming HaysMed in 1991, the hospital has seen significant growth and development.

In 1999, the $28.5 million hospital addition was completed, paving the way for other developments. Just a few of the strides included the first open-heart surgery in 1998, the opening of the Center for Health Improvement in 2002, PET scans first offered in 2003, spine surgery established in 2004, HaysMed assuming operations of Pawnee Valley Community Hospital in 2010, robotic surgery established in 2014, and HaysMed and Centura Health establishing St. Rose Health Center in 2015.

“We are absolutely continuing every day to understand this dynamic industry we’re in and make bold and innovative decisions going forward,” Jeter said.

From 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, the hospital will celebrate its 25-year anniversary with a walk around its fitness trail, while exposing key facts about the past 25 years and providing complimentary “on-the-go” box lunches. T-shirts will be given away to the first 150 people.