An innovative approach provides healthcare solutions to rural towns in Kansas
The Patterson Health Center opened July 2019 and is unlike any other health facility. The visionaries behind it turned their focus from healing the sick, to creating a healthy environment with accessible healthcare to the surrounding rural communities.
Growing up and keeping ties to the area, Cerner founder Neal Patterson realized there were unmet needs in rural health care. Patterson believed everyone deserves access to not only a quality healthcare facility, but a healthy community.
Like most rural hospitals, the hospitals in Harper and Anthony, Kansas were struggling. Townspeople traveled for hours to see specialists for needed treatments. People tended to prolong care or skip it all together because one of the biggest challenges faced by rural healthcare facilities is accessibility.
The two communities teamed up with Patterson to combine resources and build the state-of-the-art Patterson Health Center. It includes everything the communities need to foster the health and well-being of nearby residents, including operating rooms, administrative offices, patient rooms, a clinic, an imaging department, a pharmacy, a lab, physical and occupational therapy, Teladoc rooms, cafeteria and support spaces.
“Our goal is to focus on population health and transform hospitals from being a place that takes care of sick people to a place that keeps people well,” said Pat Patton, CEO of Patterson Health Center. “That’s why we decided to call it a health center instead of a hospital.”
“The project was awesome in of itself, being a rural, ground up hospital. When most rural hospitals are closing, it was great to work with the communities of Harper and Anthony and turn their vision into a reality,” said Mitch Binns, McCownGordon Construction Wichita market leader.
“Our preconstruction and construction teams have seen it all and work with hospitals and health care leaders to provide innovative solutions that will benefit community members, as well as hospital staffs and physicians.”
To learn more about building relevant healthcare facilities and construction delivery methods, check out McCownGordon’s thought leadership articles.
McCownGordon Construction is recognized as one of the region’s largest construction managers with offices in Wichita, Manhattan and Kansas City. Focused on core values of integrity, relationships and performance, McCownGordon is committed to building collaborative partnerships to create the best building experience for associates, clients, partners and the community.
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