Program areas at Great Plains of Ottawa
The Hospital's primary program is the delivery of healthcare and related services to residents of Ottawa County, Kansas. Primary services include inpatient care (acute and swing-bed); outpatient and ancillary services (ER, observation, lab, radiology, rehabilitation therapies, etc.); intermediate swing-beds, and a community Wellness/Fitness Center. Our goal is to ensure that the community and surrounding area have necessary and needed healthcare services available to them locally. During our 2023 fiscal year, the Hospital completed several projects and initiatives to increase the quality of care, safety, and services offered to our patients and residents. Most notably, Ottawa County Health Center ensured that the county and surrounding communities had continued local medical care by taking over the local physician's clinic in July 2023 (see below). - In July 2023, the local clinic became the Family Care Clinic owned by Ottawa County Health Center. Upon hearing the news that the former clinic owner no longer wanted to remain in Minneapolis, OCHC took steps to incorporate the clinic operations into the hospital. This was a necessary move to ensure that healthcare could continue to be provided locally in Minneapolis. At the time the clinic was taken over, we had two providers; however, over the next 6-8 months, OCHC was able to grow the clinic practice to five providers, including two physicians, two physician assistants, and one nurse practitioner, and add many new patients to the practice. Small, rural clinics are difficult to maintain due to declining population bases and low volumes, but these clinics are crucial to the survival of communities and local hospitals, and they are crucial to the overall health of the community. Despite the low volumes and high costs of providing care in the clinic, OCHC is committed to using resources to fund the local clinic to benefit the health of the community. Our goal continues to be the ability to provide quality healthcare close to home. - In addition to the local clinic in Minneapolis, the hospital continues to support outreach clinics in the surrounding communities of Delphos and Miltonvale. These communities have large elderly populations, so these outreach clinics offer easier access to healthcare for these individuals. Again, these are low volume areas, but we are committed to maintaining a healthcare presence in these areas. - A new chemistry analyzer was purchased in our Laboratory department so that more lab tests could be processed in house versus being sent out to a Reference Lab. This improves patient care by providing our doctors with lab results in a more timely manner and thus being able to treat or address patient issues more quickly. - To increase patient safety and reduce medication errors, OCHC purchased a MedBank/Pyxis pharmacy system. The system ensures that the proper drug is given to the right patient at the right time and reduces human error or potential theft. This investment made significant improvements to patient safety. - In response to COVID 19 and to improve the general air quality throughout the facility, OCHC installed a new, improved HVAC in some areas of the hospital. - Throughout the year, OCHC continued to improve facility safety by expanding our security system by adding cameras both inside and outside of the facility. This allows us to improve safety and security and ensure that all patients and visitors are entering through designated and monitored entry points. - The Wellness Center (fitness center and lap pool) is available to the community at reasonable monthly rates. The Wellness Center requires significant funding by the hospital beyond membership dues that are collected. The overall health improvement that is possible from having a fitness center available in our small community is a great benefit to area residents. This has proved to be another means to help increase and encourage fitness and activity for our community. Over the last year, we have seen a drastic increase in Wellness Center usage and memberships. The increase in physical activity is a great benefit to our community and a worthwhile use of hospital resources to benefit the health of the community. - OCHC takes pride in the physical building and appearance of our facility as a crucial part of the economy and sustainability of Ottawa County. Various investments in our building and infrastructure were made throughout 2023 to maintain our facility. - OCHC continues to discuss quality initiatives and improvements throughout the facility and research new opportunities and services to offer to the members of our community. - Approximately $16,000 in charity care was provided to area residents in FY2023. - In addition to Charity Care, the hospital used operational funds to subsidize both the new physician's clinic and the OCHC Wellness Center. In aggregate, this funding was $138,922, $80,527 and $58,395, respectively. Both the Family Care Clinic and the Wellness Center are crucial to the overall health and sustainability of our community.