Wellington hospital that closed in March will reopen ER under Ascension Via Christi

After closing its doors earlier this year, the Sumner Community Hospital will have its emergency room reopen in 2021 as part of Ascension Via Christi, the hospital system said Wednesday.

The city of Wellington owns the approximately 50-year-old facility, which abruptly closed its doors on March 11 after years of financial difficulties. The closure was partly the result of the state’s indecision on expanding Medicaid in Kansas, Wellington City Manager Shane Shields told The Eagle.

It was the seventh rural hospital to close in Kansas in the past 10 years, records show.

As part of the reopening agreement, Wellington will provide $700,000 in capital improvements to renovate the space that will house the emergency department and associated services. Part of the funding will come from an endowment.

“We appreciate Ascension Via Christi’s willingness to step in and address the needs of our community,” Shields said in a news release. “Our collaboration with Ascension will mean that emergency care will be locally available, which will reduce the inconvenience and cost to citizens of EMS transports to hospitals in other cities in many emergency situations.”

Ascension Via Christi will buy furniture, fixtures, equipment and signs reflecting that it is now the Ascension Via Christi Emergency Department in Wellington.

The former hospital’s main entrance will serve as the single point of entry, unless patients arrive by EMS. The emergency department will have four exam rooms, a triage area and a trauma room inside the EMS entrance.

It will also have limited on-site imaging, a laboratory and a hospital pharmacy, “which are the basic support services required by a hospital ER,” the release says.

“We are committed to providing Kansans access to care by collaborating with others to develop sustainable models of care,” Ascension Via Christi’s CEO Don King said in the release.

The release says Ascension Via Christi started working with Fort Scott city leaders in 2019 to reopen its shuttered emergency department.

“Those talks (with city leaders) produced a plan similar to the highly successful model being used in Fort Scott,” the release says.

Contributing: Dion Lefler of The Eagle