FORT SCOTT — Fort Scott will once again have a hospital.
Drew Solomon, chief executive officer of Noble Health Corporation, announced the non-profit will reopen as an acute care facility in what had been Mercy Hospital.
The announcement came at a press conference Monday in the former hospital, which closed its doors in 2018.
“We will be issuing in the coming weeks and months our queue for construction services for the revitalization and restoration of a community hospital in Bourbon County. That is our mission and our focus,” Solomon said.
The new medical center will be called Noble Health Bourbon County Community Hospital.
The announcement came at the conclusion of a monthslong feasibility study funded in part by Bourbon County and Fort Scott donations, who took advantage of $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, made available by the federal government to help governing bodies cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solomon gave no timeline for when the renovated hospital will open its doors.
“It is a long process,” he said. “And I am a realist and an economist.”
Solomon said Noble Health has retained the services of HD Design to oversee the structural changes to the old Mercy building.
“There are a lot of months between now and then, a lot of processes to go through,” Solomon said.
Since Mercy closed, the building has been used as a clinic by the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and the Via Christi Ascension Emergency Department. Their leases end in December 2022.
Fort Scott Community College also rents out rooms in the hospital for student housing.
THE HOSPITAL is west of U.S. 169 on the southern edge of Fort Scott at 401 Woodland Hills Blvd.
On top of the feasibility study, the county has agreed to contribute at least $2 million to finance certain costs related to the hospital.
Also on hand for the press conference were U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, Rep. Jake LaTurner and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Both Solomon and Fort Scott Mayor Kevin Allen spoke about the vitality of having access to healthcare in rural communities.
