Newman Region Health 100th Anniversary

I N S IDE: 100 YEARS OF CARE | LO O KING BA C K | T O D A Y A ND ON W A R D

JASON DAILY PHOTOGRAPHY

INDEX A letter from the CEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

100 Years of Care and Counting . . . . . . . .

Awards & Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Looking Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Hospital Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Denim & Diamonds has Huge Impact . . .

Cover photos: Top and right, Jason Daily.

Bottom left, courtesy Newman Regional Health

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A letter from the CEO Dear Community,

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HANK YOU to our employees, medical staff, volunteers and our community for celebrating Newman Regional Health’s 100th anniversary with us during 2022! It has been a great privilege for me to serve as the CEO of Newman Regional Health during this important time in our hospital’s long history.

Newman Memorial County Hospital opened on March 6, 1922, just three years after the official end of the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Ironically, first identified in the United States just 100 miles from Emporia, when more than 100 soldiers at Camp Funston in Fort Riley, Kansas became ill with flu.

So here we are 100 years later, hopefully near the end of the biggest pandemic since 1919. All those years ago, I wonder if George Newman could have imagined the impact his $50,000 bequest would have on Emporia and the communities around us.

Today, more than 70 specialty, primary care physicians and advanced practice providers work in our hospital and outpatient clinics to provide better access to a wider range of diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical services than any other critical access hospital in the state of Kansas. 600 clinical, professional and support services employees and 225 volunteers support our medical staff in fulfilling our mission.

On behalf of the Newman Regional Health Board, Administration, and Staff I would like to extend my sincere appreciation for your support of the mission of your hometown hospital, “To improve health in our communities by providing high quality care”.

Robert Wright Chief Executive Officer, Newman Regional Health

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NEWMAN REGIONAL HEALTH ANNIVERSARY

100 YEARS OF CARE AND COUNTING

BY RYANN BROOKS

One hundred years after it opened its doors, Newman Regional Health is still committed to continuing — and celebrating — its legacy of caring for the community.

The hospital planned a full year of celebrations to mark the centennial anniversary, coinciding with the 13th annual Denim & Diamonds fundraiser in August.

“It’s a whole year’s celebration because we’re 100 years old until next March,” said CEO Bob Wright. “We wanted to do things through the year that not only recognized the hard work of our employees, our medical staff and our volunteers here, but also things that the community could participate in.” ​​Newman Memorial County Hospital was founded on March 6, 1922.

An open house held March 4 - 5 that year brought in 4,500 - 5,000 people through the doors to see the thenstate-of-the-art features inside the hospital, including water fountains on every floor, running hot and cold water in every patient room, a laundry chute and even call buttons in every patient room.

Wright acknowledged that healthcare looks much different in 2022 than it did 100 years ago. That’s why Newman Regional Health has remained committed to adapting to changing technologies and standards of care over the past 100 years.

“We’ve had a good year recruiting physicians and adding a couple more general surgeons to the community,” he said. “We recently added robotics as another benefit that our community can now take advantage of here locally. We are part of the community and hopefully the community feels that they are part of us. We certainly appreciate what they do for us.”

Community involvement has al-

ways been a part of the hospital’s history, beginning when local businessman George Newman gave $50,000 toward the creation of a hospital in Lyon County upon his death in 1919.

The community jumped to assist, raising $300,000 overall. Today, the community continues to give back to the hospital, through events like Denim & Diamonds.

“We were fortunate to have a community that stepped up through philanthropy to fund the start of this, and then fortunate to hire an administrator [Cora Miller] who also started a school of nursing at the same time,” Wright said. “Those things go handin-hand; if you don’t have the staff then you can’t provide the services.

It’s just a building if it’s not full of trained and dedicated people to take care of patients. I think a convergence of good fortune and the fact that we were a prosperous community gave us the ability to evolve.”

Newman Regional Health planned a number of events throughout the year to honor and recognize this milestone service anniversary, beginning with its weeklong kickoff celebration in March.

And Wright said the hospital is not anywhere close to slowing down as it heads into the next 100 years, even if healthcare looks different a century from today.

“I think the concept of a place to come for care will always exist, because there are things that you cannot do remotely, there will be diseases that cannot be addressed simply with medication,” he said. “There will always be a concept of a hospital. What it looks like and what services are provided within the hospital as compared to the home, I think that will look differently. I believe that we’re in a large enough area that we will be able to sustain and adapt, just as we have done in the past.”

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Awards & Recognition Newman Regional Health has long been an award winning facility, bringing the best of healthcare and providers to Lyon County and the surrounding areas for a century.

Here’s a look at some of the many achievements of the hospital and its staff over the last five years.

2021

• The Compliance Team Exemplary Provider Status • High 5 for Mom & Baby Premier Recognition • Emporia Main Street Business of the Year • Kansas Newborn Screening Program AllAround Best of the Best

2020 • Kansas Newborn Screening Program AllAround Best of the Best • Center of Excellence in Education and Training for Infants and Families Affected

by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Designation • Highest Achievement with Distinction Recognition for Patient Safety Achievements • Midwest Transplant Excellence in Donation Award

2019 • The Chartis Center of Rural Health and National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health Performance Leadership Award in Outcomes • Kansas Healthcare Collaborative Population Health and Chronic Disease Management Recognition • Becker’s Hospital Review Critical Access Hospital to Know Recognition • Becker’s Hospital Review Critical Access Hospital CEOs to Know Recognition, Robert Wright

2018 • Becker’s Hospital Review Critical Access Hospital CEOs to Know Recognition, Robert Wright • Kansas Healthcare Collaborative Quality Improvement Fellowship, Ester Knobloch, Infection Preventionist • BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas Quality Bonus • The Chartis Center for Rural Health Top 100 Critical Access Hospital Recognition • BlueCross BlueShield of Kansas Blue Distinction Center for Maternity Care

JASON DAILY PHOTOGRAPHY

NEWMAN REGIONAL HEALTH ANNIVERSARY | 5

Looking Back Newman Regional Health through the years

Newman Regional Health opened its doors March 6, 1922 as an 81-bed hospital. The hospital was built as a result of a $50,000 bequest that was left by George Newman.

Today Newman Regional Health is a not-for-profit 25-bed critical access hospital, owned by the citizens of Lyon County. A 10-bed acute inpatient medical rehabilitation unit offers patients the opportunity to recover from serious illness, injury, or debility close to home, after treatment at Newman Regional Health or after returning from more distant facilities.

More than 70 specialty and primary care physicians and advanced practice providers work in the hospital as well as the outpatient clinic. 600 clinical professional and support services employees and 225 volunteers support the mission “to improve health in our community by providing high quality care.”

Newman Regional Health has been ranked among the Top 70 Critical Access Hospitals in the

Pre-timeline

United States and among the Top 10 Hospitals of any size in Kansas.

Throughout their 100 years of operation the hospital has made continuous improvements to the medical campus.

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Campus Improvements

East Wing, 1951 South Wing, 1980 First floor hospital renovation, 1996 Newman Medical Plaza, 1996 Same Day Surgery Unit, 2002 The Central Cancer Center, 2003 Breast Care Center, 2012 W.S. & E.C Jones Cardiovascular Lab, 2013 New Emergency Room and Clinical Decision Unit, 2018 New Express Care Clinic, 2018 Expansion of Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit, 2020 Pharmacy expansion and Renovation, 2020 Pharmacy Sterile Compounding Center, 2020 Outpatient Physical Therapy Center, 2021

1922

History Tidbits

BY BOBBI MLYNAR

1920s Morris Franklin Cooper, age 5, the first baby born in Newman Memorial County Hospital, was one of 138 other Newman babies who attended an annual observance of National Hospital Day on May 12, 1927. Barbara Dean Kitts, who was born that morning, was the youngest child registered.

More than 600 people participated in the event and reception afterwards in the Nurses’ Home. Hosts were Miss Louise Evans, Misses Mollie Bowman, Harriet Holmes, and Dorothy Wecker, registered nurses; Miss Sarah Hoeffer, dietitian; and Mrs. W.A. White.

Dr. C.H. Miller, a staff member at Parsons Cancer Control Clinic, announced in March 1925 that the American College of Surgeons had approved Newman Memorial County Hospital for a cancer diagnosis clinic. The ACS also approved Newman for nurses’ training.

1926-1950

Miller spoke before a capacity crowd during a county-wide meeting at the Little Theater in the Civic Auditorium. He said the need was for the clinic was great in this area, and that the Kansas division of the American Cancer Society would subsidize some of the expense, if the community would underwrite the initial cost of basic diagnostic and therapeutic X-ray and related equipment.

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1930s A program to celebrate National Hospital Day in 1931 included information about births during the nine years the hospital had been open: Twenty-two percent of the births in Lyon County had been in Newman Memorial County Hospital, the average stay of maternity patients was 12 days and the stillbirth rate was 5.8 percent, which was deemed a “very low” rate.

A total of 1,206 babies had been born in Newman during those nine years. The average cost to the mother and baby had varied between $55 and $75 total, “which is no more, and in many instances less, than

1963-1977 1963 — Newman Memorial County Hospital expands again, adding the West wing.

GW Newman — The hospital was named in honor of the late George W. Newman who passed away in 1919. In his will he provided a gift of $50,000 for construction of a new county hospital and $10,000 to start an endowment fund to be used “to pay for the services of physicians and surgeons who may render services at the county hospital for needy and deserving persons, residents of Lyon County.”

1971 — A new Nurses’ school and dormitory opens on the northeast corner of the Newman campus.

A public open house for the newly completed Newman Memorial County Hospital was announced in the March 3, 1922 edition of the Emporia Gazette. The article states the hospital would begin accepting patients Monday, March 6, but in a separate article in the same edition Caroline B. Phelps was admitted as the first patient on March 2.

Photo from the 1930s shows 12th Avenue as a dirt road leading to the original Newman Memorial County Hospital building. The building to the right of hospital is the nurses’ home built in 1926.

Two more expansions were completed in 1961, and a $1.2 million dollar expansion was planned. In 1976 another expansion was approved.

1950s — Additional patient rooms including a pediatric unit were added with the addition of the East wing completed at the end of 1950.

1977 — The South wing is added for the cost of $8,000,000.

previously paid for home care,” the event’s program stated.

required to pass entrance exams and be between 17 and 35 years old.

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With considerable foundation laid

by Emporia Dr. Phillip Morgan, the Kansas Heart Association was organized as an affiliate of the American Heart Association at a dinner meeting in Emporia’s Broadview Hotel in January 1949. Morgan was absent because he was “in the Newman Memorial hospital recovering from an appendectomy,” according to a Jan. 7, 1949, report in The Gazette.

The article quoted University of Kansas Medical School Dean Dr. Franklin D. Murphy as saying Dr. Morgan’s efforts were “largely responsible for the birth of the new association.”

1940s In late January 1949, the American College of Surgeons announced that Newman Memorial County again was on the ACS’ list of approved hospitals. Newman’s cancer clinic also received full approval from the ACS. Full approval required passing a 10-point assessment; several hundred hospitals received only provisional approval.

Former Emporian Ed Cramer returned home to become the hospital’s business manager. He replaced R.V. Cotton, who had resigned to accept a job at Emporia State Bank.

H.C. Jeppesen of Twin Falls, Idaho, was hired in May 1948 to replace Newman Administrator Miss Zillah Leasure, who had resigned. Mrs. Rosetta Giese had served as acting administrator since Miss Leasure’s resignation.

The Public Health Service notified hospital superintendent Minnie Cox in a telegram that the Newman Hospital School of Nursing had been approved to become part of the U.S. Cadet Nurses Corps program.

Cadet nurses would receive $15 a month for the first nine months of their course, $20 a month for the next 15 to 21 months, and “at least $30 a month for the remainder of their course until graduation,” a Sept. 11, 1943, article reported. Students were

1980-1996

three-story job in late February 1950.

Newman Hospital Auxiliary members held a major fundraising event in December 1955, with approximately 150 paying guests on a Christmas “Homes Tour” of houses belonging to J. Manuel Hughes, Otto Teichgraeber, Stanley Hagan, Frank Warren, and W.A. Larkin. “The homes, all chosen because of distinctive architecture or furnishings, scarcely needed their lavish Christmas decorations to complete their beauty,” the story noted.

1950s

No county tax appropriation was needed for 1955, when Newman Memorial County Hospital operated “in the black” that year. Operating revenue was $506,173.59, while expenses were $506,272.18, which left a $98.59 balance.

A 2,000-pound Otis freight elevator was the biggest expense — $11,550. Among the other new equipment purchased, all for the cafeteria, were three walk-in refrigerators, a 30-quart Hobart mixer, two hot-top Vulcan ranges, a large bake oven, deep-fat fryer, a dishwasher, and a unit to electrically heat hot foods with separate thermostat controls under the food compartments.

A dedicated brick-laying crew built a temporary shelter around exterior walls, so the area they were working on could be heated to 32 degrees Fahrenheit — enough to allow them to continue laying bricks in the frigid weather. They completed the

On Jan. 28, 1958, The Gazette reported that Newman had served a record total of 8,965 patients in 1957. The figure represented a 10 percent increase over 1956’s patient tally.

Nearly of half of the total came to the hospital for various diagnostic and therapeutic out-patient services. One-third of the patients came from outside Lyon County.

The hospital ended the year with an excess of $1,850 income over expenses, which reportedly had increased sharply from the previous year.

Miss Lucie Wilson, 83, who lives on a farm five miles northeast of

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2001-2014

2019

Madison, became the first donor to the Newman Memorial Hospital Endowment Association Inc., on May 31, 1957. Miss Wilson stated she preferred her $1,000 donation be used to pay hospital bills of needy people, preferably children.

She is a member of a Southern Lyon County pioneer family and has lived on the same farm since 1878 a Gazette “Localettes” item reported.

An electric generator large enough to provide power for the entire hospital — with the exception of air conditioning — was installed at Newman in late 1958.

The Gazette reported on Dec 9, 1958, that the generator would turn on automatically, after a 10-second delay. It also was connected to two fuel sources, to ensure its operation: a natural gas line and as an alternate, a 55-gallon drum of gasoline buried underground near the hospital.

Civil Defense Director Alvin J. King arranged for his organization to pay almost one-half of the $9,500 cost.

“We are relieved to have this equipment,” Administrator Ivan Anderson was quoted as saying, “because up to now we have had to resort to prayers that power would not fail.”

Battery-operated lights for the operating room and a few portable lights had been available before the generator was installed.

(Cont. Page 10)

2020

2019 — New 19-bed emergency room and clinical decision unit and express care clinic.

2020 — Newman Regional Health continues to offer quality healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the first 50 years Newman Memorial County Hospital expands.

2001 — Emporia Gazette, 8.3.2001 New name “Newman Regional Health” and logo.

1996 — Newman Medical Plaza, a four-story physician office building and $5.9 million renovation of the first floor.

2014 — Emporia State University takes over nursing program.

NEWMAN REGIONAL HEALTH ANNIVERSARY

Miss Pauline Trubshaw in September 1958 returned to her job as director of the Newman School of Nursing, after spending a year doing graduate work at the University of Colorado. She replaced Mrs. Earl Stout, who had retired. Mrs. L.G. Coleman, who filled in during Miss Trubshaw’s leave of absence, was named assistant director of the school.

All members of the Newman Hospital Auxiliary were encouraged to attend a meeting to hear about a new home-nursing program “under experiment in Lyon County,” a Jan. 29, 1959, Gazette article said. The nurse for the program, Mrs. Earl Stout, will be the speaker. Hospital Administrator Ivan Anderson will discuss newly established rates and services of Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

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1960s Fifty Newman employees volunteered to contribute one day’s wages to the hospital’s special modernization and expansion fund. The contribution were separate from a building fund drive to finance an estimated $1.3 million expansion and remodeling project

already in the planning stages.

The “one-day wages” project was initiated by Tom Yearout, a custodian at the hospital, a July 14, 1960, Gazette story reported “Mr. Yearout recalled that when he was a Gazette employee during the Depression, approximately 30 years ago, that employees of a number of Emporia major business firms, including those of The Gazette, contributed one day’s wages to a fund for needy and jobless families,” the article said.

Mrs. W.A. Larkin was appointed “community contact” for Newman Memorial County Hospital, according to a Feb. 22, 1961, article. She will write news articles and help distribute other hospital information, with assistance from Mrs. Elsie Wells. Both women attended training in Topeka conducted by the Kansas Hospital Association, and are donating their time.

Mrs. Larkin is a member of the hospital auxiliary and is director of volunteer services.

Newman Administrator Ivan D. Anderson announced that hospital room rates would increase beginning Oct. 1, 1960. A Sept. 20 story in The Gazette reported the hospital’s operating deficit for the first eight months of the year had been $12,621.94, with another $1,795.55 loss anticipated in September.

The new rates per day would be: $11 for wards; $13 to $14.50 for semi-private rooms; $15.50 to $17 for private rooms; $6 for general nursery; and $8 for incubator.

Commissioners approved the new rates and noted that the increase in the cost of a bed in a ward could add an estimated $5,000 a year to the Lyon County Welfare Department budget.

Newman announced in February 1962 that the monthly payroll to its 260 employees was $39,000, which meant the hospital had one of the largest payrolls in town.

By comparison, the hospital had 143 employees 10 years before, with a payroll of $18,600 per month.

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Construction on the longplanned expansion and remodeling was more than half-completed in July 1962, The Gazette reported. The fastest progress had been made on the new Chronic Care Unit, a 192’ by 48’ building touted as the “most up-to-date establishment for the care of aged persons and for temporary holding and treatment of the mentally dis-

turbed.”

The wing was designed to support a second floor in the future, but initially would have a capacity of 25 patients. Previously, the geriatrics unit in the hospital basement could accommodate 17 patients.

Newman Hospital was one of 10 recipients of a federal Public Health Service grant to hospital nursing homes in Kansas, according to an announcement published June 3, 1967.

The $1,250 grant will be used to help defray costs of training nursing students.

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1980s Christopher M. Ford posed for a photograph with Newman Administrator Thomas McCall after winning the top prize — a $50 savings bond — at the annual Baby Alumni Day in 1988. Businesses whose donated to the event were Marshall’s, Home Health Center, Revco, Walmart, Berg & Frost, the Prescription Center, and Graves drug store. Maplewood Memorial Lawn Cemeteries lent the hospital use of a tent for the occasion.

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THE HOSPITAL TODAY

BY SHAYLA GAULDING

A century of caring for parents is no simple feat, but the medical team at Newman Regional Health makes it seem easy. Their secret? An exemplary staff, unique services, state-of-the-art technology, and a strong, mutually-beneficial relationship with the Lyon County area community.

100 Years of Advancements

Newman Regional Health has been a stable fixture in Lyon County for a century, bringing quality healthcare to its patients since 1922. A century of providing for patients in Kansas and beyond has brought with it many advancements, as Newman Regional Health continues to grow with the ever-changing world of healthcare.

In the past three years alone, the hospital has expanded its reach, building a new emergency room, clinical decision unit, and urgent care center.

“We’ve kind of changed here as the industry has changed,” Bob Wright, MBA, CPA, and Chief Executive Officer of Newman Regional Health said.

Wright, healthcare administrator for 40 years, said he remembers when insurance did not cover outpatient procedures.

Once, Wright said, a surgeon recommended his wife be kept overnight for a procedure so that it would be covered by insurance. Now, insurance agencies have figured out that out-patient care is cheaper.

“Technology has come about, things continue to move from the in-patient side to out-patient surgery, and there’s more diagnostics being done on the outpatient side,” Wright said.

This transition in healthcare, Wright said, has led to many of Newman Regional Health’s advancements in care options.

“We built the clinical decision unit, we built the new express care center, and we built a much larger ER because that’s where the volume is now residing in hospitals, and most of our revenue is related to tests and out-patient procedures,” Wright said. “At one time we were a 160-bed facility, back when in-patient care was the dominant type of care. Now, it’s probably 30% of what we do, and we are not unusual.”

The structure of the building and its facilities is not the only advancement the hospital has seen in its century serving the Lyon County area.

“In addition to just advancements in diagnostics, therapeutics, and surgical procedures that we can do, we’ve also been significantly impacted by technology, education, and just quality improvements and science,” Cathy Pimple, RN, MSN, DNP, and Chief Administrative Officer, said.

One such advancement in technology, Pimple said, is access to electronic medical records data registries.

“It provides us with rich information that helps us make decisions and rebuild patterns of opportunities for us and opportunities, also, to mitigate risk and capitalize on benefits, ” Pimple said.

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JASON DAILY PHOTOGRAPHY

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Community Impact

Newman Regional Health offers many services to the Lyon County area, including some rarely found in small communities.

“We have the only in-patient rehab in Kansas in a critical access hospital. I’ve looked nationally, and that is a rare thing for our size hospital, and it’s a significant benefit for our community,” Wright said. “Because of our length of stay limitations, being critical access, a lot of surgeries, unfortunately, have to go outside of town to be completed, but then we’re able to take those patients back, those who need additional rehabilitation in our facility, and they can recover here at home with their family.”

The hospital also has a sleep lab, complete with two monitoring rooms, that helps Newman Regional Health diagnose sleep disorders. Having the lab, Wright said, is unusual for a hospital of Newman’s size.

“Sleep studies are becoming more in favor because they found that they have a relationship to recovery,” Wright said.

Another unusual service for a hospital of Newman’s size: interventional cardiology.

“There are now, I believe, four or five critical access hospitals that have interventional cardiology, but we were the first smaller hospital to have one,” Wright said. “Huge benefit to the community; the county has a high incidence of heart disease, because of the makeup of the community, so it’s certainly a benefit to have that service here.”

The hospital also has 3D mammography as part of the W.S. and E.C. Jones Breast Care Center, a cancer center, 24/7 OBGYN coverage, bone densitometry to help diagnose and develop treatment plans for osteoporosis, and a hyperbaric chamber for patients in wound care, which was part of the Denim & Diamonds fundraiser years ago.

Unique services are not the only benefit to the community.

Newman Regional Health also helps fuel the economy.

“Roughly four times the amount we pay in wages to our employees comes back to the community in the form of supporting jobs,” Wright said.

“There are a little over 4,000 jobs in the county, and we are responsible for about 50% of those if you follow the stream of dol-

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lars. We pay the highest wages per employee in the town by the nature of the training that’s required to be in healthcare. And again, according to Kansas state estimates, that comes back full force in goods and services that we buy and the taxes that our employees pay. We are a huge driver of the economy here.”

Many of the jobs at the hospital come directly from the local nursing school, a mutually beneficial relationship for the community and the hospital.

“Newman Regional Health has always been fortunate because the day it was opened, it came with a nursing school, and that nursing school is still with us today,” Pimple said.

A Look to the Future

In the most recent years, like many other hospitals across the county, Newman Regional Health has been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think that we weathered, at least the initial two-and-a half years of the pandemic very well,” Wright said. “I seldom give kudos to the government, because they are here to help us, you know, but the start of the pandemic was really pretty

amazing to me how quickly they were able to get, at least, financial resources to us.”

Wright said the medical staff at Newman Regional Health is a large part of what made the hospital’s response to the pandemic so successful. “[The government] did an outstanding job, I thought, of getting those funds out there, and as a result, we were able to provide the care that needed to be provided in our community.

The medical staff here is outstanding, and I think we were able to get ahead of the game in many areas.”

As the world begins to return to normal, Newman Regional Health is looking to the future.

According to Pimple, the focus will be on investing in trained healthcare providers, growing core and needed services, and continuing to bring value and quality to Newman’s patients to improve the health of the community.

“Looking forward, we’re going to see, again, continued advancements in technology, efforts certainly to stay on top of that, and just continue to build strong infrastructure for this healthcare system,” Pimple said.

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DENIM & DIAMONDS HAS HUGE IMPACT THE EMPORIA GAZETTE

Newman Regional Health is celebrating more than just its centennial year in 2022 with the in-person return of Denim & Diamonds, its biggest fundraising event.

Since 2010, the hospital has raised nearly $800,000 toward the purchase of advanced technology and equipment, benefiting everyone from its youngest to oldest patients. Simultaneously, Denim & Diamonds helps bring in new services to patients located in and around the Lyon County area and empowers Newman Regional Health to continue as a top Critical Access Hospital in Kansas.

Proceeds from this year’s event are designated for the purchase of a C-arm — a mobile x-ray device used to capture real-time imaging during surgical procedures. The C-arm “provides high quality imaging, allowing surgeons the ability to see more detail and anatomy for greater surgical precision and patient safety.”

A variety of surgical services at the hospital will benefit from the purchase of the equipment, including invasive cardiology, general surgery, and orthopedics.

But, like many large-scale fundraising efforts, the hospital’s biggest fundraising event of the year is more than one night.

Denim & Diamonds is a season of contributing activities which start in the spring.

Denim & Diamonds Fund Designations

Restaurants and businesses in the Emporia area host fundraising days for Newman Regional Health during the season, as well as providing items and experiences for the silent and live auctions the night of the event. Live entertainment is also a fun part of the evening.

“The number one thing that we’ve seen has been experiences and getaways.

Things that aren’t really tangible items — once in a lifetime,” said former business development manager McKenzie Cinelli.

But in the end, the most memorable part of the event each year is seeing the support of the community. Support that continued even through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“Fortunately, we were still able to have an online silent auction component last year,” Cinelli said. “Our final total was just over $125,000,” which was a record. “The support that we receive from the community is what makes this event possible and what makes it successful.”

• 2010 – Ultrasound & Motorized Stretchers ($28,000) • 2011 – Cardiac Monitoring Equipment for Clinical Decision Unit ($31,000) • 2012 – Nursing Scholarships & Jones Breast Care Center ($33,000) • 2013 – New Cardiology Program ($41,000) • 2014 – Sonosite Ultrasound machine in Jones Cardiovascular Lab & surgical table for Surgery Department ($58,000) • 2015 – Centralized Fetal Monitoring System in Women’s Life Center ($69,000) • 2016 – Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber ($70,000) • 2017 – Nuclear Medicine Camera ($85,000) • 2018 – Cardiopulmonary Services – Cardiac Monitors, BiPAP machines, Infant CPAP machines ($87,000) • 2019 – Anesthesia Machines ($107,000) • 2020 - Relocation/Renovation of Newman Therapy Services ($64,868) • 2021 - Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit Simulated Apartment Suite ($121,700) • 2022 - C-Arm

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