Monday that the new owner entered into a binding agreement with the attorney general’s office for provid-ing charitable care. The new owners also will maintain a community advisory board. Also changing own-ership was Providence Place nursing home. Part of the agreement with SCL Health Systems was that Prime Healthcare agreed to keep the emer-gency room and acute care services open for five years. Prime also has promised to provide at least $10 million for capital and other invest-ment projects during the next 10 years. SCL Health System is keeping the Duchesne Clinic that serves the needy, as well as the St. Vincent Clinic in Leavenworth, and the Providence St. John Foundation.

SCL Health Systems officials testi-fied last week that this was the best offer for the hospitals. Several testi-fied the hospitals might have to close unless they were sold. Most people testifying at the public hearing were in favor of the sale, although there were two opposed, and one wanting to get all agreements in writing. Officials with SCL Health System said at the hearing March 27 that there will be no net proceeds from the sale. Proceeds were estimated at $60 million, bond debt was esti-mated at $103 million, and opera-tions losses were estimated at $78 million, leaving a $121 million deficit to be absorbed by SCL Health

Patty Ingraham, an intensive care unit nurse, went through the closing of Bethany Medical Cen-ter in 2001. Now, almost 11 years later, she works at Providence Medical Center, which was sold to Prime Healthcare, a for-profit company based in Ontario, Calif., on April 1. Ingraham, a Kansas City, Kan., resident, testified at a public hear-ing March 27 on the sale of Prov-idence. She was one of the 300 Bethany employees who came to Providence in 2001 when Betha-ny closed. “My family went through all this change,” Ingraham told Der-ek Schmidt, the Kansas attorney general, at the hearing. Change is now the norm in the field of health care, she added. “The changing and renewing and revising is what you have to do every day.” Like a lot of those who spoke at the hearing, she was in favor of the sale. Some looked at it as a choice between closing the hospital or sell-ing it. Ingraham said her passion is to take care of patients, and that will not change. She said she sees the future not as a challenge but as an opportunity to make Providence Medical Center the best. While the current owners, some community leaders and some em-ployees asked the attorney general to approve the sale, he also was asked March 27 to protect the pub-lic interest in the sale of the non-profit Providence Medical Center to Prime Healthcare, a for-profit corporation. The public hearing was held at the George Meyn Cen-ter, Wyandotte County Park, Bon-ner Springs. The attorney general, who is tasked under law with approving the sale, was asked by Mayor Joe Reardon to intervene to ensure that Wyandotte County residents are

protected. The attorney general was asked to make sure that citizens were protected and to make sure the sale was in the best interest of residents, especially because all of the details of the transaction were not made public. Also at the hear-ing, an employee who is with a labor union at one of the health care system’s California locations told the attorney general to be cau-tious in approving this sale.

The former owner of the hospi-tals, the Sisters of Charity of Leav-enworth Health Systems, had ear-lier announced an agreement that the new owner would provide levels of charity care equal to the current levels. The sale of the Providence Med-ical Center, Kansas City, Kan., and St. John Hospital, Leavenworth, was completed shortly after the at-torney general announced on

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Candidates for Piper Public Schools superintendent interviewed Four candidates for Piper Pub-lic Schools superintendent visited the schools Monday and Tuesday, toured the school buildings, inter-viewed and met with parents and students. The four candidates, according to a Piper district spokesperson, are Steve Wiseman, the superin-tendent of USD 377 Atchison County Community Schools; Chris Kleidosty, the superintendent of USD 362 Prairie View; Tim Con-

rad, the principal of Piper High School; and Brad Reed, the director of student services in the Benton-ville, Ark., School District. Meet-and-greet sessions were scheduled earlier this week for the superintendent candidates to meet the public, tell about themselves, and answer questions. The Piper School Board was scheduled to meet and discuss the candidates earlier this week.

Providence Medical Center sold to for-profit company

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt listened to testimony March 27 about the sale of Providence Medical Center. The public hearing was held at the George Meyn Center, Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs. (Staff photo by Mary Rupert)

Roy Robinson, chairman of the board of Providence Medical Center, said, “The sale is a win-win-win.” It was the best solution for SCL Health System, Prime Healthcare and the citizens of the community, he said. (Staff photo)

by Mary Rupert

see Providence page 12