About Us

Providing personalized and compassionate care for our friends, family and neighbors

Our Mission, Vision and Values

Mission Statement:

Clara Barton Medical Center and its affiliates are dedicated to meeting the health care needs and improving the quality of life for the community we serve. We continually pursue clinical excellence in an atmosphere of caring and compassion. We are deeply committed to serving all in need within our resources. 

Vision Statement:

Be recognized as the premier community medical center and the health care “provider of choice” in our region through the delivery of comprehensive, high quality and compassionate services.

Values:

Serving the Hoisington Community and Beyond

Clara Barton Medical Center is a not-for-profit organization located in Hoisington, Kansas. Hoisington is located in central Kansas, just 125 miles northwest of Wichita, and is often referred to as the “Heart of Cheyenne Bottoms” due to its centralized location among the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, the largest inland marsh in the United States.

Clara Barton Medical Center has a 25-bed critical access hospital serving primarily rural Barton, Rice, Rush, and Russell counties. All 25 beds are Medicare-certified acute care beds and are certified for participation as swing beds. CBMC also manages Clara Barton Medical Clinic, Clara Barton Medical Clinic – Great Bend and Clara Barton Medical Clinic – Russell, which are designated Rural Health Clinics that provide primary care to thousands of patients each month.

Clara Barton Medical Center includes a full-service community hospital that offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services to the entire community. The hospital offers post-surgical care for general surgery patients as well as physical rehabilitation. Patient services offered in-house include: Primary Care, Surgery, Laboratory, In-patient Pharmacy, Radiology, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Respiratory Therapy, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Dry Needling, Lymphedema Treatment, Wound Care Treatment and Emergency Services.

At Clara Barton Medical Center we are dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs and improving the quality of life for the community we serve. We continually pursue clinical excellence in an atmosphere of care and compassion and are deeply committed to serving all in need within our services area

Clara Barton Hospital's Journey Through Time

The original Hoisington Lutheran Hospital was dedicated in February of 1950, with four doctors on staff. The hospital was leased by the city to the Lutheran Hospital Association, who furnished and maintained the hospital. I.C. Walter was the first full-time administrator, serving from 1951 until 1957.
A new addition in 1977 provided space for a Physical Therapy Department and a solarium for use by visitors and patients. In 1982, a newly renovated wing of the hospital housed the Family Recovery Center, a substance abuse unit. An Intensive Care Unit and Swing-bed Program were also added at this time. The additions and improvements between 1950 and 1990 were made possible by $1.3 million in private funding.

A foundation was formed in 1990 and a new hospital board was elected from the foundation’s membership. The foundation guaranteed every member of the community and service area an opportunity for involvement. It was decided by the foundation that a name change to the hospital would reflect that the hospital serves more than one community or denomination. It was voted in 1990 that Hoisington Lutheran Hospital’s name would be changed to Clara Barton Hospital. This name was chosen in honor of Clara Barton, who was the founder of the American Red Cross. Her example of selfless service is still the ideal pursued by every employee at Clara Barton today.

As Clara Barton Hospital continued to grow, there became a need for the hospital to expand by opening a family-practice clinic. In 1997 Clara Barton Hospital established a Rural Health Clinic within the hospital. As the practice became larger, there became a need for additional space, so in 2000 the hospital began construction of a 10,000 square foot clinic building that would be located directly east of the hospital. The new clinic was part of a $5 million renovation project to expand and make updates to the current hospital building. The clinic construction was completed in September of 2000 and the rural health clinic was moved from the hospital to its own building next door.
Less than 6 months after the clinic was completed, on April 21, 2001, Hoisington was hit by an EF-4 tornado that flattened a ¼-mile wide and two-mile long path through the center of town. The tornado devastated the community and caused extensive damage to the hospital, blowing out all the facilities windows as well as puncturing holes in the roof due to flying debris. The storm also severely damaged the newly completed clinic, mangling the walls and leaving it in disrepair.

In the hours and days following the tornado, Clara Barton Hospital was unable to treat patients within the facility, so many nurses and medical staff treated patients at triage locations set up at both city hall and the Catholic Church. Volunteers and staff worked diligently in the days following the tornado to clean up and make repairs so the hospital could reopen. Just 13 days after the tornado, Clara Barton was back in full operation.

The tornado left the medical clinic irreparable, therefore the clinic had to be rebuilt from the foundation up. The clinic construction was completed and reopened in 2002. The hospital renovation project also continued after the hospital became operational, adding a new in-patient wing, new ER suites, physical therapy area and remodeled lab and radiology departments. The hospital’s renovation was completed in 2003.
Also in 2003, Clara Barton Hospital and Clinics expanded their service-region to the Russell area by opening Russell Family Medical Care, a family-practice clinic in downtown Russell. In 2011, Clara Barton Hospital bought out Central Kansas Surgical Services and opened Clara Barton Surgical Services. CBSS primarily practiced out of the Hoisington location located just across the street from Clara Barton Hospital to the west. The surgical clinic also practiced out of their outreach location in Great Bend once a week.

As services began to expand, the hospital’s physical therapy department began to outgrow their small area nestled in the back of the hospital. In 2012 the hospital broke ground on a $1.4 million therapy and laundry expansion project that was added to the north end of the hospital. In 2014 the expansion was completed adding 5,577 sq. ft. for Therapy Services and the addition of an in-house laundry facility.

Also in 2014, the Great Bend surgical clinic location was turned into a family-practice location offering a convenient clinic location to those residing in the Great Bend area. 

As Clara Barton Hospital and Clinics continued to grow and expand services, employees felt as though they were ‘bursting at the seams’ outgrowing their existing space. In efforts to provide the necessary square footage and increase efficiency for both recent and upcoming additions, Clara Barton Hospital broke ground on their expansion project in May of 2021.

The expansion included reconstruction of the parking lot for additional stalls, construction of a new surgical clinic and imaging center, adding MRI in-house, and remodeling the existing surgery department, emergency room, laboratory, in-patient pharmacy, and hospital lobby.

Not having enough space also became the issue at the Clara Barton Medical Clinic – Great Bend location. In addition to taking on the expansion of the hospital in Hoisington, a new facility was constructed at 906 McKinley in Great Bend to house the rural health clinic. The general surgeons at Clara Barton also visit this location several days a week for pre- and post op appointments as well as minor procedures. The old clinic location in Great Bend at Jackson Square is now utilized as an outreach clinic, providing several specialty services from across the state. 

In addition to the expansion, to better encompass all services the Clara Barton organization has to offer, a new, refreshed logo was created and the gradual shift was made to Clara Barton Medical Center instead of Clara Barton Hospital and Clinics.

Through the sacrifices and generosity of many, Clara Barton Medical Center has made quality healthcare a reality for Hoisington and the surrounding region. Being part of the regional healthcare community has been an important goal, and with your support and loyalty Clara Barton Medical Center can continue to provide health services that you and your family can depend on.