New Hospital Facility

We have completed construction on our new facility!! We moved in and opened December 4, 2007. Why did we build a new facility?? The administration, Trustees, hospital staff, physicians, community leaders and experts from around the county spent the last several years formalizing a strategic plan committed to providing quality health care
for the future in Barton County.

Today, hospital leaders are faced with the indisputable need to replace Barton County Memorial Hospital. Like any hospital built almost 60 years ago, BCMH was constructed on the principle that a hospital’s primary function was to admit patients for lengthy stays, with outpatient services playing a minor role. This model is no longer relevant and after careful consideration between the cost of renovating a building built in 1949, or building new, all the feasibility studies, financial data and expert opinions confidently state;
building is the best option.

The Challenge

BCMH is pledged to provide the best health care preventive, diagnostic and rehabilitative services with compassionate and individualized care in Barton County and surrounding area. Accomplishing this task in a worn out building, built in 1949, was a daunting and frustrating undertaking. Especially when trying to implement new health care technology in a facility that is no longer adaptive to the current needs of its occupant or the health care consumer. The 57 year old building is neither capable of housing complex electrical, plumbing and medical gas systems nor able to handle the required physical space needed to deliver the type of quality care the hospital staff is fully capable of providing. The inadequate, out-dated facility dictated how health services were offered, instead of health care services dictating how the facility was used.

The Solution

In response to dramatic advances in health care delivery over the last decade, Barton County Memorial Hospital conducted a master facility plan to determine how the hospital can best continue to meet the needs of the communities it serves. Extensive information was gathered concerning; the structure, mechanical and electrical integrity of the facility; how well the facility matches up with the current programs and the inevitable programmatic changes the hospital will be making in the future to accommodate changing health care needs; and identify construction/renovation projects that will best position Barton County Memorial Hospital to meet the health care needs of the community now and into the new millennium.

From information gathered, options were evaluated for function, cost, disruption of existing services and impact on revenue. After months of rigorous review, the Board of Trustees determined the best possible and financially efficient solution is the construction of a new, modern hospital facility. This construction automatically removes all the obstacles associated with the old building and provides for the addition and enhancement of key hospital services, such as the medical/surgical units, emergency department, physician/specialist clinic and physical therapy. This plan also provided the best solution for the long-term commitment BCMH has with providing quality and compassionate health care in an environment that promotes patient healing, now and in the future.

The Plan

The new building is a 52,500 sq. ft., one level patient care facility, including a four office Physician/Specialist Clinic. The new facility will include expanded areas for such areas as: Emergency Department, Surgical Suites, Dietary, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Radiology, Physical Therapy, Patient Care Suites, Outpatient Services and common areas. It will also include the infrastructure to manage current and future medical technology upgrades.

Building and equipping a new facility carries a significant price tag. After taking into consideration the equipment and furnishings that can be moved from the current facility, along with the cost of new equipment and technology, the Finance Planning Committee has determined the estimated cost of the new facility is $18 million. To help meet this funding need, the BCMH is launching a capital campaign, Complete the Dream, Continue the Vision. The balance of funds necessary to complete the project will be derived from a combination of hospital financial reserves, financing through a private investment fund and donations from the campaign. Using private investment fund financing will eliminate the need for any County financial obligation related to this project.