Via Christi Hospital St. Joseph is undergoing a major renovation that when completed will consolidate Via Christi Behavioral Health’s full complement of inpatient care on the same family-care campus as all of its outpatient programs and services.
Thanks to the generosity of the community, plans also include a psychiatric observation unit on the hospital’s lower level, where up to 16 patients having a behavioral health crisis can be de-escalated with immediate medication and therapeutic intervention and help reduce the need for an inpatient admission.
All of the $630,000 needed to renovate the space and equip the unit has come from donors, said Monica Coen, Via Christi’s chief philanthropy officer, who in partnership with Lyndon “Lyndy” Wells, the Via Christi board member who chairs the Philanthropy Committee, has led the fund-raising efforts.
Of that, $110,000 is coming from cash and in-kind donations from Conco Construction, Alloy Architecture and Professional Engineering Consultants.
Via Christi Volunteers Partners in Caring, whose more than 1,400 members donate their time and talent to supporting Via Christi’s mission, recently pledged $230,000 toward construction of the new unit.
The balance came from Via Christi board members, leaders, physicians and other members of the community.
“We had 100 percent participation by the lay members of our health system and Wichita hospital boards, for which we are extremely grateful,” said Coen.
Moneeshindra Mittal, MD, medical director for Via Christi Behavioral Health, also expressed his gratitude for the support of a project designed to improve the environment of care and outcomes for patients in crisis.
“We are so thankful for everyone’s pledges to our new psychiatric observation unit,” said Mittal. “It will make a world of difference for the patients and families we serve when it opens early next year.”
To date, Coen said, Via Christi has raised more than $1.8 million of its $3 million capital fund-raising goal for Project Renewal, the name given to the St. Joseph renovation project.
Via Christi has received $850,000 in commitments to the project’s therapeutic activity center, including $300,000 from the Lattner Family Foundation; $260,000 from Walmart/Sam’s Clubs; $150,000 from Intrust Bank; and $100,000 from JE Dunn.
Another $900,000 must be raised by July 1, 2018, to receive a $300,000 Mabee Foundation challenge grant contingent upon Via Christi raising 90 percent of the project’s capital fund-raising goal.
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About Via Christi Health
In Kansas, Ascension’s Via Christi Health operates nine hospitals and 75 other sites of care and employs more than 6,000 associates. Across the state, Via Christi provided more than $77.8 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty in fiscal year 2016. Serving Kansas for more than 135 years, Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension is the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system, operating 2,500 sites of care – including 141 hospitals and more than 30 senior living facilities – in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Visit www.viachristi.org
