Stockton breaks ground for new medical clinic
By KALEY CONNER, Hays Daily News, 1/21/2011
STOCKTON -- Efforts to construct a new medical clinic here took a big step forward with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Construction of the project, located on the 400 block of Main, is slated to begin early next month, weather permitting.
The ultimate goal of the project is to offer Stockton residents better access to health care closer to home, said Kathy Ramsay, director of the Rooks County Healthcare Foundation.
"Community
members and hospital administration and staff saw a need to build a new clinic
where people had the opportunity to receive the care they deserve close to
home," Ramsay said.
The need for more accessible care was confirmed in a Kansas Hospital Association study, which found only 25 percent of Stockton residents received care in their hometown, Ramsay said.
There are about 1,360 residents in the small northwest Kansas town, according to the 2009 census.
The clinic tentatively is slated to open in September. General contractor for the project is Plainville-based Cornerstone Building and Design.
Funds for the project are being raised by the Rooks County Healthcare Foundation. The cost of the clinic -- an outreach of Rooks County Health Center -- is estimated at $1.5 million, but organizers are hoping costs will be significantly lower.
The foundation has collected a total of about $834,000 for the project and is continuing its efforts. Included in that number is $250,000 in community service tax credits from the Kansas Department of Commerce.
The Rooks County Commission also has designated $25,000 toward the project, using funds from the county's recent sale of the former Schult Homes manufacturing facility. Another $25,000 was pledged from Rooks County Economic Development.
"It is an important economic development project, not only for the city of Stockton, but also for the county," said Economic Development Director Roger Hrabe. "Not only are there going to be jobs created, but it will be a very good complement to the hospital. It's been awhile since we've had any full-time doctors here in Stockton."
The goal is to raise enough funds to support a built-in maintenance fund.
If the amount of money raised falls short of the necessary amount, the foundation will secure the rest of the funds, Ramsay said.
The current clinic, located at 623 S. Second, was built in the 1950s and had begun to deteriorate, Ramsay said. It also was cramped for space and had enough space for only one physician to practice.
The new 6,000-square-foot building will house two full-time physicians, a part-time nurse practitioner and other visiting physicians. Two current University of Kansas School of Medicine students are contracted to begin work after the clinic opens in the fall. Dr. Mike Oller, who grew up in Hays, and Dr. Beth Loney are contracted to work full-time in the new clinic, Ramsay said.
Genny Robben-Rahjes is a longtime nurse practitioner who has been providing care at the clinic three days a week for the past 15 years.
"These people are just near and dear to my heart, and we've worked in some not-so-perfect places," she previously told The Hays Daily News. "The building we're in now was built in the '50s, and it's just time. The people deserve it."