History of Goodland Regional Medical Center
COMPILED BY: DALE A. SCHIELDS, former NWKRMC Resource Development Director
This excerpt is taken from Millie Wright, resident of Sherman County.
“Dr. Carmichael opened the first hospital in Goodland in January, 1907, in the upper story of the Stevenson building. Before this time, if someone had to be hospitalized, they had to be taken to Norton, Kansas. According to the local newspaper, Dr. Carmichael had elegant apartments in his suite of rooms over the store. He had all the needed accommodations and appliances for treating and ministering to the sick.
The hospital had 12 rooms including office, dispensary, operating rooms, bathroom, and rooms for accommodation of patients. It was well ventilated, well lighted and provided with both electric lights and hot water radiators. It was open for all reputable practitioners for treating patients and for all kinds of medical and surgical treatment. Dr. Carmichael and T.A. Stevenson owned the property. Dr. and Mrs. Carmichael had an apartment in the upstairs of the building until 1920 when they moved to a new home at West 10th and Sherman Streets. Dr. Carmichael continued to occupy his office rooms in the brick building over the Higdon Drug Store when Mr. Stevenson sold his business in 1908.”
Hospital services, like practically all facets of life in Goodland, have indeed come a long way in terms of the community’s first 100 years.
While Goodland observes its centennial in 1987, it should be noted that the community lacked a hospital until 1923. It was in 1921 that Goodland began exploring the possibility of establishing a medical facility, when it became known that the Methodist Conference was interested in building additional hospitals in western Kansas.
As there was no hospital within 100 miles of Goodland, (Norton was the closest), local citizens began their initial contacts with the Methodist Hospital Commission of Northwest Kansas on February 16, 2921. In a telegram to the groups’ meeting at Salina, local hospital proponents advised that Sherman County would furnish 40% of the money needed for a hospital, plus providing a building site.
When the State Legislature determined it was illegal for counties to use taxation to build church hospitals, it became necessary for the money to be raised by subscription. This plan was detailed to the Methodist Conference at a subsequent meeting in Salina, whose membership was so impressed with the presentation that they tentatively agreed to build a 35-bed hospital in Goodland.
By October of 1921, the Methodist Conference agreed to raise $60,000 for the new facility if Sherman County would raise $40,000. Through a fund drive initiated by Goodland shortly after by Methodist Conference officials and the 15-member local hospital Board of Directors, 19 Goodland businessmen pledged $1,000 each towards the local cost of the project. Through benefits and the donations and pledges of other concerned residents, Sherman County was able to exceed the $40,000 needed by February of 1922.
At that time, the local hospital board instructed the building committee to begin work on a nurse’s home as soon as plans could be made and material and workmen obtained. The original location had been the west half of block 31 and the east half of block 32, (the west half of block 31 is between 5th and 6th Streets and faces Main Street; the Medical Arts Clinic is now on the east half of block 32). The local board subsequently added the west half of block 32, and it was at its southwest corner that construction on the nurse’s home began in March of 1922.
Plans called for a structure that would be 52’ X 56’ with two stories and a basement. The basement would be the nurse’s quarters, as well as the location for the furnace room, kitchen, dining room, laboratory, X-ray and dark room, as well as the janitor and cook’s bedrooms.
The second story (main level) was to have a reception area, an office, operating room, recovery room, sterilizing room, and four wards accommodating two patients each. On the third floor there were to be eight ward rooms for two patients each, which gave the hospital a total patient capacity of 24 instead of the 35 initially planned. There was also to be sun parlor on the third floor.
The architecture was described as being of square type and built of brick. As soon as the nurse’s home in the basement was completed, work began on the hospital proper in November of 1922. Total cost of the hospital was to be $15,000 with the balance of $25,000 to be used for equipment and furnishings. The hospital Auxiliary was instrumental in the latter regard.
On June 9, 1923, dedication ceremonies for the Goodland Methodist Hospital and Training School for Nurses, which were to have been held on the steps of the new building, took place in the Methodist Church due to rain. A number of visitors and ministers who were to have participated were unable to attend because of muddy roads.
The dedication ceremonies at the Methodist Church featured a financial report by Board Treasurer, Thomas P. Leonard. Musical entertainment was provided by a quartet of Dr. and Mrs. J.H. Bunker and Mr. and Mrs. Gerhard Hansen, accompanied by Miss Marie Tapper (Teeters). Following an address by Dr. Davis, National Secretary of the Methodist Board of Hospitals and Homes, those assembled moved to the new hospital. There, Board President Frank Dawson formally presented the building to Dr. Davis, who dedicated the facility to God and humanity.
Dr. B.H. Rouse, a surgeon recommended by the Methodist Conference, was appointed as house surgeon. Local physicians joining him on the hospital’s medical staff included Drs. Beckner, Gulick, Smith and McCullough. Mrs. John Starrett was the first Superintendent and her staff constricted of an assistant, a night supervisor, and four young ladies who were enrolled as student nurses. Mr. and Mrs. Price were janitor and cook.
Later that year, the local hospital board was asked by the Methodist Conference to assist in raising the remaining $60,000 for the facility from the six counties in the Goodland zone, which they subsequently did with the help of Rev. Frye and Rev. Bauchop.
Interestingly enough, in December 1923, rumors and charges that patients were being barred from the hospital and being forced to go elsewhere for major operations, caused the Board of Directors to appoint a committee to investigate the conduct of Dr. Rouse and former Superintendent, Mrs. J.D. Starrett, who had resigned in November due to ill health. Both Dr. Rouse and Mrs. Starrett were subsequently exonerated by the committee, who determined that the allegations brought against them “were false and without foundation.” Three student nurses, however, were dismissed for neglecting their patients.
The Goodland hospital’s school for nurses produced a total of 10 graduates in its eight years of existence, one of whom, Syrena Taylor-Ratcliff-Bergsma, recalled the early hospital as follows: “The hospital was a red brick with white trim, two-story building with a basement, located at 120 West 6th Street. The interior was quite attractive with highly polished hardwood floors, colorful drapes, and white scrim curtains at the windows. There was a pleasant reception room just west of the front entrance. It was furnished with green wicker furniture with traces of gold on the finish. There was a small desk with a chair, a davenport, and two chairs with colorful floral cushions. The office was just across the front hall from the reception room."
Mrs. Bergsma continued her description by noting, “There were 12 rooms in the hospital, but in the early years, three of the rooms were occupied by nurses. The delivery room was at the northeast corner of the hospital and the nursery was across the hall at the southeast corner on the first floor.”
Regarding her nurses training, Mrs. Bergsma continued, “When we worked on the floor taking care of patients, there was always a Registered Nurse available at all times. There were very few patients in the hospital and at those times, all windows were washed, wardrobes, bathrooms, diet kitchens, and the medicine cabinets were cleaned, and the floors were waxed by the student nurses. Many times the hospital was overflowing and patients were put on the sun porch on the second floor and even in the reception area. At times, the nurse’s rooms were also used for patients.”
Mrs. Bergsma described the nurse’s uniforms as “blue and white chambray dresses with huge pockets, a big white bib which covered the front of the blouses of the dresses, and crossed in back, stiffly starched 3” deep cuffs and collar. The apron of the muslin gathered to a wide band at the waist. There was a stiffly starched white cap, with the addition of a black velvet stripe during the third year of training and two stripes at graduation.”
Mrs. Bergsma stated the student nurses “were extremely fortunate to have the local doctors and nurses for their instructors.” They included: Drs. M.J. Renner, E.J. Beckner, A.C. Gulick, B.H. Rouse, Jennie McCullough, Smith and H.M. Steever, a local dentist who was the anesthesiologist. Nurses were: Mrs. Rose Hillman, Miss Ethel Thompson, Miss Lillian Bradbury, Hanna Schmidt, and Margaret Harris, many of whom also served as Superintendents. Besides their local training, the student nurses had six-month affiliations with either Methodist Hospital in Omaha or Denver General Hospital before completing their three-year training period, noted Mrs. Bergsma. Graduates then had to go to Emporia, Kansas to take their State Nursing Board examinations to become qualified as Registered Nurses. Proudly, Mrs. Bergsma stated, “All passed.”
On February 10, 1929, the name of the hospital was changed to Boothroy Memorial Hospital in honor of Mrs. Hulda Emma Boothroy. Her husband, Joseph Benjamin Boothroy, gave considerable property to the hospital with the stipulation that the hospital be called Boothroy Memorial in memory of his wife.
The nurse’s school was discontinued at the Boothroy Memorial Hospital in 1931, but anyone who recalled the early hospital had not-so-fond memories of its elevator that was hand-operated. Said Mrs. Bergsma, “If the janitor was there, he operated the elevator, but often the nurses had to literally pull the patient to the desired floor. Needless to say, relatives were requested to walk upstairs. Occasionally, a patient’s husband was asked to help operate the elevator.”
Former hospital nurse, Superintendent and Board Member, Mrs. Beulah Rockwell came to work at Boothroy Memorial Hospital on June 1, 1934. She recalls, “There were very few general duty nurses, but lots of private duty nurses in the community who would relieve if needed. When it got cold in the winter, it was common for the nurses to have to go down and stoke the furnace between 2:00 and 8:30 a.m. when the janitor came in. We worked one month on nights and one month on days, with one or two half days off per week. Shifts were from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.”
“The ban on married nurses working at the hospital was lifted in the late 1930’s,” said Mrs. Rockwell, “but for a time they had to stay in the nurse’s residence at 6th and Center which had been purchased by the Board in the late 1920’s for its nurses and students. Eventually, however, the Board agreed to pay the married nurses an additional $10 a month if they lived outside the nurse’s home,” she said.
Mrs. Rockwell continued by saying, “The Board allowed us to switch to the present eight-hour shifts instead of the 12-hours we had been working in the early 1940’s. In addition to myself, the only other Registered Nurse we had at the hospital was Superintendent Hanna Schmidt. That’s when we began using Nurse Aides. We later managed to get a night nurse, but there was hardly a night that went by that I wasn’t called out two or three times. In the little box hospital built for 24 patients, we often had 40 or more during the war, many of whom were in the hall. We had lots of soldier boys when flight training was being done in Goodland.”
After the war, natural gas was installed at the hospital for heating and cooking, along with “other conveniences” said Mrs. Rockwell, who resigned after the war to spend more time with her family. At times, however, she continued to assist Drs. Robinson and Renner in surgery.
In the early 1950’s work began on a two-story addition to the hospital to be located just east of the original hospital structure. RN Vernice Degnan-Leslie, another Superintendent, came in 1947 and recalled the addition as such: “It was known as the “Sweet Annex” and was formally dedicated by the Methodist Church and the local Board June 14, 1953. It added a total of 26 patient beds to the facility in a combination of private, semi-private, and ward rooms on both the main level and the second floor to bring the hospital’s total capacity to 50. The basement was also extended to the east to encompass an emergency room, lab, X-ray, nurses and doctor’s dressing rooms, as well as a new delivery room and surgical suite. A freight dock was built on the rear or north side of the hospital and a ramp was added to facilitate not only deliveries of supplies but incoming emergency patients.
But the best part, according to both Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Rockwell, was the addition of a new electric elevator with the “Sweet Annex” in 1953. “It was one of the best gifts we nurses ever received from the hospital,” they both indicated.
The hospital hired its first Administrator in 1951, but according to Mrs. Rockwell, who returned as Nursing Director that year, “Administrators came and went pretty fast until Harvey Archer took it over in 1954.” Archer served as Administrator until 1962 when he was succeeded by Bill Wilson.
It was during the 1950’s and early 1960’s that several surrounding communities began building hospitals of their own through the aid of the Federal Government’s Hill-Burton program. The Hill-Burton program provided funding for the construction of hospitals in rural communities to alleviate a lack of patient beds in such areas based upon a study conducted in the late 1940’s by the Federal Government. More hospitals meant fewer patients for the Boothroy Memorial Hospital, according to Mrs. Rockwell and Mr. Archer.
The hospitals’ 44-year affiliation with the Methodist Church ended in 1967 when it became the Sherman County Boothroy Memorial Hospital. Former Methodist Minister Harold Steinbach said at the time, “The Methodist Church provided the people of Norwest Kansas with a hospital when it was needed. However, on May 24, 1967, the Central Kansas Conference voted to give the hospital to Sherman County.”
In the mid-1960’s a plan was formulated to replace the existing hospital with a new facility. In 1967, a bond issue to this affect was defeated; however, efforts continued in this regard. The Board of Trustees in 1968 voted to change the hospital’s name to the Northwest Kansas Medical Center in hopes of attracting a more regional clientele. In November of 1969, a second bond issue was passed by the voters of Sherman County to construct a new 60-bed hospital on land located at First and Sherman Streets in the northern part of Goodland. Following bid-letting, formal ground-breaking ceremonies were held March 15, 1970, and the order to commence work was issued April 20, 1970.
Construction of the new facility took approximately 23 months at a cost of $2.5 million. Official dedication ceremonies took place March 11, 1972, with an open house and tours that same day, and again on March 12th. By approximately 3:00 p.m. on March 17, 1972, the transfer of patients from the former hospital at 120 West 6th to the new facility had been completed. At 4:55 p.m. that day, the first birth was recorded at the new hospital, with the arrival of Jennifer Denise Ray, infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ray of Goodland.
The word “Regional” was officially added to the hospital’s name by the Board of Trustees in the late 1970’s. With the resignation of Bill Wilson in August of 1986, after serving 24 years as Administrator of the Northwest Kansas Regional Medical Center, the hospital entered into a management affiliation agreement with Adventist Health System and its Porter Memorial Hospital in Denver. A former employee of Porter, Rick A. Ketchum, was subsequently hired as hospital Administrator.
There were no major changes to the hospital’s physical plant until the fall of 1995 when construction began on a new clinic for the visiting consultant-specialist program that had begun in the mid-1970’s. The new clinic was completed in mid-1996 about the time that the hospital’s name changed for the final time to Goodland Regional Medical Center. The new specialist clinic added 9,000 square feet to the hospital and a total of 18 exam rooms for visiting consultants to use during their visits to Goodland.
During the construction phase, the hospital’s interior was updated with regards to new carpet and furniture, and several departments were either renovated or relocated for improved access to staff and service to patients. The total cost of the new outpatient clinic and other facility improvements came to $1.8 million at no cost to local taxpayers.
In the spring of 1997, the hospital began its second major addition, which had four separate phases:
1. The ambulance entrance was reconfigured to better accommodate emergency vehicles and services.
2. A new 8-suite physician clinic was built for local medical staff providers.
3. The maternity wing was remodeled to provide three birthing suites.
4. The hospital’s pharmacy, tub room, and nurse’s area was expanded and remodeled.
The $1.6 million enhancement to Goodland Regional Medical Center that was completed in May of 1999 was financed entirely by the hospital, again, with no expense to local taxpayers.
While it’s past service to the residents of the Tri-State area of Northwest Kansas, Eastern Colorado and Southwest Nebraska has been filled with many accomplishments, Goodland Regional Medical Center views the future with anticipation.
Our mission statement is:
“PROVIDING COMMUNITY BASED, COST-EFFECTIVE PRIMARY CARE; ACCESS TO SPECIALIZED HEALTH SERVICES; AND HELP TO PATIENTS AND FAMILIES IN MANAGING THEIR HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCE!”