Near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 190-bed medical center struggled to retain nurses as more pediatric patients needed higher-acuity care than what was available at Hutchinson Regional, according to Chief Nursing Officer Jill White.
At the same time, school and daycare closures disrupted the seasonal patterns of respiratory illnesses.
“It really created this perfect storm for us — not having a great inpatient volume to support the nurses,” Ms. White told Becker’s. “So, nurses were leaving to go other places where they could feel maybe more fulfilled or more [financially stable]. And then pairing that with relying heavily on travelers, it hit this point where it really wasn’t sustainable at that moment for us any longer.”
The unit closed in December 2022.
Local pediatricians in Hutchinson, a city of nearly 40,000 people, advocated for the medical center to restore the 14-bed pediatric unit. With support from Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora and Wesley Children’s Hospital in Wichita, Kan., Hutchinson Regional reopened the unit Jan. 6, 2025.
Ben Anderson, CEO and president of the medical center, underscored the team’s dedication.
“Reopening a dead [pediatric] unit is a massive lift,” Mr. Anderson said. “We’re going in the other direction — it’s a lot easier to close a unit than it is to reopen one. And those three people basically just faced off with this, stared it down and said, ‘No. Kids are going to get care here.'”
The three leaders behind the reopening were Ms. White; Cassie McCarthy, DNP, director of OB-GYN and pediatrics; and Ryne Templeman, HRPN operations manager at Hutchinson Regional.
Dr. McCarthy said the project initially seemed “insurmountable,” but now she feels immense pride in seeing the unit operational.
The reopening did not require extensive renovations since the space was already equipped with medical gas, according to Mr. Anderson. The unit currently has four beds, and the organization plans to renovate an upstairs floor to restore its full 14-bed capacity.
Hutchinson Regional’s pediatric unit also features art from Disability Supports’ The Clayworks, a program that helps individuals with intellectual disabilities create and sell their artwork. One painting in the unit is of a beaver, which the hospital is turning into a stuffed animal for pediatric patients.
“It’s those small things that we can do that just keep connecting those dots … through these partnerships,” Ms. White said. “That, to me, is what makes it so unique and special.”
She emphasized that children’s and maternal healthcare are vital to a community’s well-being, as healthcare decisions start at home.
“If we can establish that trust and relationship with those young families, it really sets us up to care for the whole family,” Ms. White said. “[The pediatric unit is] an entryway into our organization, and we saw that we were really missing an opportunity to serve our community by not having that service available here.”
