Wichita Health Care Moves Westward
Published Aug 18, 2009
Rendering of the new Via Christi hospital in west Wichita
Residents of west Wichita soon will have even more choice when it comes to close-to-home hospital care. Construction of the new Via Christi hospital featuring 68 private rooms plus four labor and delivery rooms is expected to be complete by August 2010, bringing a complement of medical, surgical, obstetric and emergency care to the city’s west side.
“For generations, the community has counted on Via Christi to provide quality care in a safe and compassionate manner to those in need, and that’s a mission that doesn’t change with the ups and downs in the economy,” says Michalene Maringer, president and CEO of Via Christi Wichita Health Network. “Our new hospital in west Wichita – the first full-service facility to be built in the city in decades – is in keeping with that mission. Designed around the needs of patients and their families, it will bring care closer to home for the more than 136,000 residents living in the immediate area.”
The 144,000-square-foot, 72-bed hospital is located near 21st Street North and 151st Street West. Crafted around the needs of patients and their families, the facility’s biophilic design pulls from research on optimizing outcomes by incorporating nature throughout the physical environment.
“Our goal isn’t to just build another community hospital,” Maringer says. “It’s to create the ideal patient experience.”
Via Christi joins the state-of-the-art Wesley West Emergency and Diagnostic Center, which opened in 2006 as the only full-service emergency department on the west side of the city. The emergency rooms at Wesley West, located on West 13th Street North, and its main campus on North Hillside Street have recently implemented a Fast Track System to more efficiently handle the big emergencies – and life’s smaller ones.
Story by Cindy Sanders
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