St. Joseph completes first stage of renovations, moves outpatient programs

A $50 million renovation project at Via Christi Hospital St. Joseph won’t be finished until late 2018, but it has already created increased capacity in outpatient programs, attracted new psychiatrists and consolidated similar programs in one location.

The first stage of St. Joseph’s Project Renewal is complete. This stage included:

• Moving three behavioral health programs (the Via Christi psychiatric residency clinic, Via Christi Clinic and Via Christi adult and adolescent partial day programs) into one location on St. Joseph’s campus at 1515 S. Clifton.
• Increasing capacity from about six to eight patients in each of the outpatient behavioral health programs to 32 in each program
• Relocating cardiac services from the fifth to the first floor
• Expanding support space for residents in the hospital, including putting support space for different specialties together to allow for “multidisciplinary learning.”

Laurie Labarca, the hospital’s president, said the work to Via Christi’s behavioral health services has attracted three new psychiatric specialists to Wichita in the past four months.

“We have been a long time leader in behavioral health services, so for us we’ve decided to lean in rather than stepping back from those services,” Labarca said. “We feel it’s so important.”

The hospital held a blessing and dedication for the three outpatient behavioral health programs Thursday.

Future phases of the renovation will include:

• Renovating the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the hospital to private rooms
• Locating inpatient behavioral health services on the sixth and seventh floor
• Locating all levels of medical surgical care on the fifth floor
• An additional $12.5 million renovation to the hospital’s exterior, including replacing the window structure and exterior facing
• A therapeutic recreational center with open-air space for adolescent and adult behavioral health patients
• A psychiatric observation unit on the hospital’s lower level, with the goal of reducing the need for inpatient admission

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "St. Joseph completes first stage of renovations, moves outpatient programs."