Wichita infectious disease specialists add moving to their already packed schedules

Way back two and a half years ago — or a lifetime ago by today’s pandemic standards — the physicians at Wichita’s Infectious Disease Consultants began thinking about a new office for the practice.

The doctors considered a lot of things, such as an easy-access site central to all the area’s hospitals. The chief concern was the amount of space their busy-to-the-point-of-being-overwhelmed practice would need.

What they didn’t consider is that they would be making a decision and moving during the busiest time in their careers thanks to COVID-19. There wasn’t much of a choice, though.

“We were kind of desperate for space,” said physician Maggie Hagan, a member of the practice who also is medical director of infection prevention for Ascension Via Christi.

“With infectious patients, we really don’t like to crowd them all together,” Hagan said.

At more than 10,000 square feet, the new office at 310 S. Hillside is more than 3,000 square feet bigger than the practice’s previous space at 1100 N. St. Francis. Also, it’s not fragmented the way it used to be, she said.

“It’s all together and a lot better functionality for us.”

There now is a lot more room for the infusion part of the practice, which administers IV antibiotics and other medicine and is something the physicians are wanting to grow.

“It allows us to keep people out of the hospital,” Hagan said.

The new space also has “a lot of exam rooms so we can move patients through faster,” she said.

Hagan said creating a modern, clean decor with a mix of natural light and other good lighting was important, too.

“We wanted it to be aesthetically nice. . . . We put some money and effort into pleasant lighting.”

The physicians, who also wanted to own their space instead of renting it, considered building from the ground up but decided remodeling an existing space would be smart.

“There’s something to be said for renewal,” Hagan said.

She said she felt good about choosing to make something nice and new in the city’s core “rather than go build a shiny new building on the outskirts of town.”

Hagan and fellow member physician Maha Assi said a good plan and team, including a contractor they’d worked with in the past, and the ability to meet via Zoom helped. They also credit Doug Kaufman, who manages the practice and became something of a surrogate building contractor.

Assi said it was amazing to see people pull together to make it happen.

As the only infectious disease practice in the state west of Topeka, Hagan and Assi said they were already busy before the pandemic.

Even when COVID-19 hit, Assi said, “We were not thinking we were going to work from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.”

That’s what they’ve been doing, though, partly through seeing so many more patients and partly because there’s so much to keep up with, from new variants to new treatments.

“It changes just so rapidly,” Hagan said.

There are now seven members of the practice with the new addition of physician Garret Seiler and a total of about 50 people who work there.

Assi gives credit to them all.

“It’s been long hours and a lot of commitment on all fronts.”