Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Healthcare Hospital Grants topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Newton Medical Center says rural hospital grants funded emergency-department, dialysis and tele-nephrology upgrades
Summary
Newton Medical Center presented completed projects funded by KDHE’s Rural Hospital Innovation grants — expanded behavioral-health rooms, a decontamination area, covered ambulance garage and new tele‑nephrology/inpatient dialysis services — and thanked Harvey County for helping administer state funds.
Representatives of Newton Medical Center reported to the Harvey County Board of County Commissioners on April 29 that state and local grant money funded a series of emergency-department and renal‑care upgrades the hospital says are now operational or coming online.
Hospital speakers told commissioners the Rural Hospital Innovation grants paid for a roughly 50% expansion of treatment space in the emergency department, including three behavioral‑health treatment rooms built to be safer for psychiatric patients, a larger decontamination room and a covered ambulance garage. The hospital also said the second grant funded tele‑nephrology services and will support inpatient dialysis, which the hospital plans to begin this summer.
Patty (Newton Medical Center representative) described the projects as “transformational,” saying the new rooms will move patients out of hallway care into private space and that tele‑nephrology has already averaged more than 50 consults per month in the first six months. Hospital representatives said project funding came from three sources: one-third KDHE/state funds, one-third private and corporate donations and one-third hospital funds for the emergency‑department expansion; the tele‑nephrology/dialysis work was funded by one-third KDHE and two-thirds hospital funds.
Why it matters: Hospital leaders told the commission these changes are intended to reduce transfers to larger cities for specialty care and to give local patients privacy and faster care in crisis. Commissioners expressed support and thanked hospital staff and county administrators for facilitating grant administration.
No county appropriation or vote was required; hospital leaders thanked the commission for approving the county’s participation that allowed grant funds to flow through the county structure. Commissioners said they would pass the hospital’s appreciation back to state and private partners.
