Newsworthy

Dear Community Partners,

Here are today’s updates:

• Flint Hills Campus Officially Joins Stormont Vail Health
• Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

Flint Hills Campus Officially Joins Stormont Vail Health

A ribbon cutting at noon today capped more than six months of hard work by the Stormont Vail and Geary Community Hospital teams to bring the Geary Community Hospital and Rural Health Clinic into the Stormont Vail Health family. Now known as Stormont Vail Flint Hills, the Junction City campus provides rural health clinic services, surgery and procedures, infusion center, labor and delivery, inpatient care and emergency services among the healthcare services for those in the region.

Trish Giordano, Geary County Commissioner, Brenda Mills, Stormont Vail Board Chair, and Amy Burns, Stormont Vail Foundation President, joined me as speakers at today’s ribbon cutting. A theme shared by all speakers was the involvement and support of the community as important to the successful transition of the hospital.

“Throughout my time with Stormont Vail, I have seen many amazing things happen within the organization…but today stands out. To be here, recognizing the hard work that every person in this room as done to take the Stormont Vail Health system above and beyond what we talked about from the beginning, to reach even more patients in our region in a bigger and better way, is remarkable,” said Brenda Mills.

The ribbon cutting ceremony in the hospital lobby drew a large crowd, including Flint Hills team members and providers, and city, county, chamber and community members. Tim Bergeron, who joins Stormont Vail in April as the Flint Hills administrator, and his wife, Sabrina, joined in the festivities. Also present were Deb Yocum, Vice President, Strategic Development, who has been administrator at the hospital, and Tracy Duran, Acute Care Director Flint Hills/ Regional Director of Nursing.

Those attending had the opportunity to sign a Small Moments banner, which highlights Stormont Vail’s Small Moments culture of taking a moment to see the good in each person we encounter. The banner will be hung in the main lobby of Flint Hills.

A special Community Open House is next planned at the Flint Hills campus on Thursday, Jan. 12. That open house will be from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will coincide with Bulgogi Day at the hospital, when bulgogi is served at the hospital cafeteria. The special menu item is served the second Thursday of each month and draws in a number of community members. The open house will provide community members the opportunity to receive information about services at Flint Hills, available jobs available at Stormont Vail, and information about the Stormont Vail Foundation and how it supports the communities we serve.

Current Status at Stormont Vail Health

The weekly COVID-19 scorecard is posted on the Stormont Vail website. Here are highlights are from the scorecard:

• 15 inpatients are COVID-19 positive. That is similar to 17 last week.
• 95% of recent COVID-19 admissions are unvaccinated or had last dose/booster more than 6 months ago.
• COVID-19 inpatient discharges (previous week): 34. Deaths: 3.
• No COVID-19 positive patients in the outpatient Enhanced Primary Care program.
• 10.9% of people tested for COVID-19 at Stormont Vail facilities the past seven days were positive. That is similar to 12.9% last week.
• 16 team members and 2 providers on contact leave for COVID-19. The total of 18 people on contact leave this week compares to 25 last week.
• 111,141 vaccinations (included boosters) administered.
• To schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment:
  • Use online scheduling assistant at stormontvail.org/covid19/vaccine
  • Call (785) 270-4786.

We together,
Dr. K