Nearly 3 years after twister, Kansas hospital to rise from rubble

GREENSBURG, Kan. — In just a few weeks, one of Greensburg’s most recognizable community landmarks will reopen.

But the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital won’t be in the same location and it will look nothing like the 1950s-era hospital that was destroyed in the May 4, 2007, tornado.

However, it will have much of the same staff and the same values, more deeply instilled through the tragedy of the tornado and the ups and downs of rebuilding.

The new hospital, while smaller, will offer all the services it did before the tornado, with the exception of a behavioral health department, which has moved to Kinsley.

It also will boast new services such as an employee day care center and space for a third-party retail pharmacy.

Like many of Greensburg’s "landmark” buildings, the hospital has been built to LEED Platinum standards, the highest-rated certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Form and function

The hospital’s design has both form and function, allowing it to look like a piece of art and also efficiently serve the purpose of a hospital.

The hospital is built mainly of pre-cast concrete. It also includes a lot of glass, including banks of windows on the outer walls and an upper level "clear story.”

Interior rooms feature glass walls that allow sunlight to filter through to the center of the building. Because of the building’s design, sunlight can even make it into the basement.

The natural lighting makes the hospital feel more cheerful, and it has a marked effect on patients.

"The American Hospital Association did a study on patients after surgery,” hospital administrator Mary Sweet said. "Those recovering in lighted rooms needed 22 percent less pain medication than those recovering in darker rooms.”

The hospital’s 10 patient rooms are arranged on the southern wall of the hospital, each with a floor-to-ceiling window.

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