The University of Kansas Health System in Great Bend celebrated its fifth anniversary as part of the health system on Aug. 1-2. Bob Page, president and chief executive officer of the health system, and Tammy Peterman, MS, RN, health system executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer and president Kansas City Division, visited Great Bend to celebrate the anniversary. 

Page and Peterman stopped and visited with staff at the St. Rose Medical Pavilion, orthopedics, home health and hospice and Great Bend Campus, and thanked employees for their partnership in the health system’s growth in Great Bend. 

The University of Kansas Health System expanded to Great Bend as part of its commitment to support access to high-quality health care across Kansas. Providing high-quality care close to home eliminates the stress of travel and allows patients’ support systems to play a role in treatment and care. 

“Whether in Great Bend or in Kansas City, we share a common vision of providing the best care for our patients,” Peterman said in remarks during a celebration at the hospital. “Here in Great Bend, we provide high-quality care close to home, which allows people to focus on their healing without the stress of having to travel a long distance for treatment.”

“We can’t provide this support without good people,” Page said, also during the celebration. “Our people are the most important asset we have. We are so appreciative of the hard work each of you do every day to care for patients and the community.”

John Worden, Great Bend Campus administrator, echoed Page’s sentiments, saying the health system’s “guiding formula for success is having the best people, and we have that here in Great Bend.”

Page and Peterman also expressed how important the support of the community has been for the health system in Great Bend, acknowledging the trust each patient and their family place in the staff when they receive care at the health system. 

Less than two years after Great Bend joined the health system, the global pandemic hit, causing changes that immediately affected patients and staff and the delivery of care. Despite the challenges the pandemic presented, care teams in Great Bend continued to provide exceptional care to patients. 

Team members from all locations celebrated over two days with cookies and a photo booth at St. Rose Medical Pavilion, orthopedics and the hospital atrium.