New hospital to continue long history of quality health care in Concordia

For the second time in nearly 120 years, the location and name of the hospital in Concordia have changed.

With the completion of the $40.35-million, 82,000-square-foot facility, North Central Kansas Medical Center is set to open on November 16 on College Drive.

The history of the hospital in Concordia started with the opening of St. Joseph's Hospital on East Fifth Street in 1903.

The Sisters of St. Joseph spearheaded the construction of a new hospital on Highland Drive that was dedicated in 1951.

St. Joseph's Hospital became Cloud County Health Center in 1995.

As rural health care changed over 70 years, so did facility needs.

Hospital administrator

David Garnas announced in July 2019 that Cloud County Health Center, with the support of Salina Regional Health Center, had plans to build a 14-bed, modern medical facility on College Drive.

During the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital in March of 2021, the announcement was made that the name would be changed to North Central Kansas Medical Center.

The new hospital, with a new name, will continue the tradition established by the Sisters of St. Joseph back in 1903, of providing quality health care services to the residents of Concordia and the surrounding area.

The Sisters of St. Joseph came to Concordia and staffed the Nazareth Convent and Academy that was located on East Fifth Street, just east of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

By 1900 there were 40 student boarders and 20 Sisters and it became evident that a new facility was needed. A new motherhouse and academy were built at the end of Washington Street in 1902.

The Sisters moved into the new building in June of 1903 and began remodeling the old convent building into a hospital.

A story carried in the Concordia Kansan stated, “In the entire history of Cloud County, no enterprise has been more timely than the founding of St. Joseph's Hospital by the Sisters of St. Joseph. The building to be used for hospital services is the old Nazareth Academy recently vacated by the removal of the school to their magnificent and commodious new quarters on the hill at the foot of Washington Street. The old building is a three-story brick structure surrounded by trees and a well-kept lawn. It is being remodeled and thoroughly equipped with the latest equipment. A fine operating room, fully equipped laboratories, X-ray and dietary departments and a capacity for 40 beds. It is filled with every advantageous facility known to modern medicine and surgery.”

The first patients at St. Joseph's Hospital were admitted in 1903 and Sister Clare Cuff was recalled from her work in Michigan to be the first administrator.

It was written by Sister Isabelle Marie Finn in her story entitled “St. Joseph's Hospital 1903-1987” that Sister Clare had experience and was a genius in business affairs as well as a determination to found a hospital second to none.

Dr. W. R. Priest played a significant role in the planning for the new hospital.

Sister Isabelle wrote that Dr. Priest laid the foundation of a practice that increased steadily until it extended over most of Cloud County and the surrounding area.

Working with Sister Clare were Sisters Boniface Bachle, Zita Martel, Irene Pheaume and Philomene Belisle.

There were no graduate nurses at the facility.

Miss Ann Ford of Elmira, N.Y., a graduate and registered nurse, was brought to the hospital and stayed until after women were trained as nurses for the institution.

Needing more room, St. Joseph's Hospital was expanded to 75 beds with an addition on the east side at a cost of $65,000, and more modern equipment was installed.

The medical and nursing staffs were also increased.

A school of nursing was established in 1918.

St. Joseph's would later enter into an affiliation with Marymount College in Salina for the nursing school.

It was reported that hundreds of patients came by train from all parts of Kansas to the hospital in 1916.

Dr. Haughey stated that patients sometimes paid the sisters for the medical services with produce.

After 48 years of serving patients at the Fifth Street location, it became evident that St. Joseph's Hospital needed more space.

The site for a new hospital in the west part of Concordia was given to the Sisters by Dr. and Mrs. Gelvin, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bennett and Mr. and Mrs. Milt Soren.

An application was made for Hill-Burton Funds for the building and the equipment, but it was refused on a government technicality that they were building a larger hospital than a city with a population of 7,000 or county of 14,000 required.

The Sisters of St. Joseph and the citizens of the area took on the responsibility of raising the funds.

With a cost estimate of $1,750,000 for the new hospital, the Sisters contributed $1,500,000 and the public was asked to contribute $250,000.

It was reported that ground was broken on the new five-story, 150-bed hospital on August 15, 1949, and that Bishop Frank A.

Thill participated in the ceremony.

The hospital was dedicated on March 6, 1951. It was known for its surgical specialists, and in the 1950s and 1960s, many physician specialists located in Concordia.

In March of 1970, through the advice of auditors and legal counsel, the hospital was incorporated.

The Nazareth Convent and Academy Corporation retained the ownership with the delineation of legal, financial and management responsibilities to the St. Joseph's Hospital board of trustees, that was composed of seven members of the Sisters of St. Joseph congregation and six lay members.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia operated the hospital until 1985 when ownership was transferred to CSJ Health Systems of Wichita, Inc.

In September of 1995, when the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother joined to establish Via Christi Health System, the ownership of the hospital was transferred to Salina Regional Health Center and it became Cloud County Health Center.

Salina Regional Health Center was established with the consolidation of St. John's Regional Health Center and Asbury Hospital in Salina.

CCHC became a critical access hospital in 2002 and in 2003 it became a stand- alone facility.

An aging facility and drastic changes in rural health care led to a pair of attempts by CCHC to secure funding for the construction of a new hospital.

A $28.9-million bond issue to acquire land and construct and furnish a new hospital was voted down by Cloud County voters in 2008.

During a special election in 2013, voters defeated a proposal to build a new hospital adjacent to Blosser Municipal Airport, with construction to be partially funded by bond financing and a countywide .75 percent sales tax increase.

CCHC entered into a clinical and operational affiliation with Salina Regional Health Center in May of 2016.

In conjunction with Salina Regional, CCHC embarked on a four-month Master Plan and Facility Plan process in the winter of 2018 to evaluate the current market position and to match the strategic goals with its facilities needs over the next 10-20 years and beyond.

According to the Master Plan and Facility Plan, the findings of the review team did not support the continued use of the current hospital building for acute care, nor for outpatient care functions.

CCHC moved forward with the plan to construct the new facility that is set to open for business.