About NVCH
Mission and Vision
“The Nemaha Valley Community Hospital is dedicated to providing quality health care and other related services in a com- passionate manner sufficient to meet the primary health needs of its patrons within the scope of its resources and staff.”
Our History
According to an article in the September 14, 1946 issue of the Saturday Evening Post, the idea for a community hospital began in 1940 when Mrs. J.P. Koelzer heard that the town was in danger of losing its two medical doctors because it did not have an adequate hospital. She quickly organized 40 women from every woman’s group in Seneca to begin a petition drive. The petition asked for a special city election to approve a $30,000 bond issue for construction of a modern hospital.
The women immediately hit an obstacle. They were informed that a state law prohibited the kind of bond issue they were requesting. A committee of 7 men from Seneca went to Topeka to ask for legislation to correct the problem. The Kansas legislature quickly passed a new law and Seneca voters approved the $30,000 bond issue at a special election in 1941. An additional $35,000 for construction of the city-owned hospital was promised by the Federal government.
Seneca City Council appointed a three-member hospital Board. A site was selected and ground was broken on December 18, 1941, shortly after the United States entered World War II. As a result of the war, construction of the hospital was delayed and some of the government funding through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was withdrawn. The City of Seneca provided an additional $10,000 to keep the project going.
The 30-bed hospital was completed in September 1943 and total cost including equipment was about $75,000. This figure would have been much higher if the community had not contributed thousands of dollars in donations for furnishings and equipment.
The City of Seneca signed a contract with the Sisters of St. Joseph allowing them to manage and operate the hospital as a non-profit institution. The Sisters of St. Joseph operated the hospital for more than 25 years.
The hospital opened its doors on September 14, 1943. It was fully equipped with modern equipment including an X-ray room, an operating room, nursery, delivery room, kitchen and administrative offices.
The hospital was so successful that it outgrew the original building. Patient beds had to be put in hallways and other patients transferred to other hospitals because there as no room for them at the Seneca Hospital.
To solve this problem, a $90,000 addition adjoining the west end of the hospital was proposed in 1950. This proposal gained the full support of the Seneca Hospital Guild, a group of women who had literally worked wonders in promoting the interests of the hospital since the day it was founded. Largely, as a result of the efforts of the Hospital Guild, Seneca residents approved a $90,000 bond issue for construction of the addition and was completed in 1953 at a cost of $87,166.
In 1968 consensus was that a local, non-profit corporation should be formed to administer the affairs of the hospital. The Sisters of St. Joseph would then become employees of the corporation. This corporation was formed in 1969 and under this arrangement the corporation leased the hospital from the City of Seneca. As part of this reorganization, the name was changed to Nemaha Valley Community Hospital to better reflect its service area.
In 1973, a contract was signed with Great Plains Lutheran Hospitals, Inc. to operate Nemaha Valley Community Hospital. During this period, there was talk of building a new hospital in Seneca. They learned that it was difficult and expensive to remodel a poured concrete building. A proposal was placed on Nemaha County ballots for approval of a countrywide, two-mill levy for construction of a new hospital in Seneca which was soundly defeated.
In March 1983, the Board submitted a letter of intent to the Kansas Department of Health & Environment for a major remodeling project. The proposed renovations would cost nearly $2 million. Did it make sense, the Board wondered to spend $2 million to improve the old facility and there was no guarantee that the project would solve the hospital’s problems longer than five years. The Board scrapped the remodeling plan and approved plans for a new $3.8 million hospital. In October 1983, the Hospital Board voted to move ahead with its plans for a new hospital facility. The Hospital Board signed an agreement with St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Topeka to manage Nemaha Valley Community Hospital effective January 1, 1984.
The staff of the Health Systems Agency of Northeast Kansas recommended disapproval of the certificate of need. A public hearing was held for further discussion of the hospital’s application for a certificate of need which drew over 500 people from Nemaha County including Sabetha hospital officials who stated that the future of their hospital would be harmed by a new hospital in Seneca. A few days after the hearing, HSANEK announced not to approve the certificate of need for a new hospital in Seneca. As a result the hospital plan was “put on hold” until the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health & Environment made her decision and she denied the certificate of need. In April, the Hospital Board asked for a reconsideration hearing for a 24-bed hospital rather than 31-beds initially proposed and this request was granted in July. Seneca was granted the right to build a new hospital.
Groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday, August 30, 1987. A completion date of June 1989 was set for the new facility.
On January 1, 1989 the management services agreement with St. Francis Hospital expired and Nemaha Valley Community Hospital began operating on its own but would continue to use the management consulting services offered by St. Francis but the day-to-day operation of the hospital would be the responsibility of the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital Board of Trustees.
Due to favorable weather conditions, the new hospital was completed ahead of schedule and the grand opening was set for May 7, 1989.
“The new Nemaha Valley Community Hospital facility is now a fact, not a dream. The key ingredients – hard work, perseverance and community spirit – that made it all possible are the same ingredients that gave the Seneca area its first hospital nearly 50 years ago.”
Several years ago, the Hospital’s Board of Trustees launched a comprehensive analysis of its facilities and services. The greatest challenge was how best to bring the provider practices to the Hospital and at the same time, provide access to outpatient ancillary services at a reasonable cost. The analysis concluded that the Hospital had serous shortcomings because it lacked efficiently organized outpatient, treatment, storage and medical office space.
After extensive analysis of the various recommendations and floor plans, the Hospital’s Board of Trustees and the Hospital Foundation Board of Directors recommended launching a major fund- raising drive that would consolidate all the healthcare service to a single campus by relocating and expending the Seneca Family Practice in a new Outpatient Center with enough offices, examination and treatment rooms to accommodate up to six physicians. The new Outpatient Center will include a separate waiting room, examination and treatment rooms for the Specialty Physician Clinics.
Relocating Seneca Family Practice to the main Hospital campus will provide easier access to the lab, radiology, occupational and physical therapy and other outpatient services. The new Out- patient Center will be build just west of the existing Hospital.
“We know that without the hard work, perseverance, and old-fashioned community spirit of the resident of Nemaha County, the new Hospital would not have been built. We believe when people learn more about our plans, they will once again step forward to support our efforts to significantly improve the health care services at the Hospital,” said Ron Johnson.
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