The ribbon was cut Monday afternoon at the newly named St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center, formerly Central Kansas Medical Center. The Great Bend Chamber of Commerce event drew a large crowd to the facility.
“This is exciting,” said Leanne Irsik, the new St. Rose vice-president and administrator. She said she is proud to be a part of the continuing health care tradition established by the Dominican Sisters so many years ago.
“I feel that St. Rose has opened a new era of providing health care to the Great Bend area,” said Mark Mingenback, executive director of business development, strategy and foundation for St. Rose. “Specifically, our team is changing the method of health care delivery in order to better serve our patients and their families.”
Mingenback said the center’s leadership has identified that the outpatient setting is the best place to care for the vast majority of our patients. “We also have determined that with the reality of health care reform coming in the near future, it is imperative that our St. Rose team be willing to make changes in order to continue to provide excellent, safe and cost effective health care to our community.”
St. Rose’s comprehensive urgent care center, formerly referred to as the emergency room, will continue to staff the same five CKMC emergency physicians. They have immediate access to state-of-the-art equipment to handle injuries and illnesses that require immediate care but may not be serious enough to warrant an emergency-room visit.
 The center is owned by Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives which also owned CKMC. The Dominicans, who founded in the 1900s what became CKMC, were instrumental in CHI’s founding and hold prominent positions on its board of directors.
 Irsik was born In WaKeeney and moved to Pratt when she was 10 years old. Her resume includes many years as a CHI employee in Garden City and Baker City, Ore.
The grand opening will be scheduled for later this year.