Topeka ER and Hospital expected to open in coming weeks

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - The ground breaking was pushed back around three months but the Topeka ER and Hospital beside the West Ridge Mall is expected to open on time in about two weeks after a state inspection.

The parent company is Nutex Health out of Texas said their physician investors made it possible.

It is a micro-hospital which means they have less than 15 short-stay beds.

Although it is smaller than a regular hospital, it has almost everything a big one would have.

It has eight emergency beds, six in-patient beds along with technologies able to perform CT Scans, MRIs, X-Rays and they have their own pharmacy.

It will have 10 ER doctors, nurses, pharmacists, radiographers and paramedics.

Medical Director Dr. Jared Schreiner said although it is small, it has its benefits.

“We know that sometimes hospitals can be an intimidating situation and we wanted to minimize that,” said Dr. Schreiner. “We actually want to be different. Our Emergency Department is set up like any hospital in the country, with the difference that while we have a waiting room we don’t plan to use that waiting room.”

He said it’s meant to be efficient.

"We're going to focus on wait times and wait times in the emergency department being as short as possible. We know people have things they need to do with their days and a lot of emergencies are really inconvenient and we're going to try to minimize that."

They focus on trauma and stabilizing the patient.

“We can handle gunshot wounds, heart attacks, we can handle strokes, and we can handle cuts.”

If the patient needs surgery, they will send them to one of the hospitals in town that can take them in right away.

"We have already put agreements together and we've been working really closely with both hospitals in town. So that on-patients who may need those surgery or ICU situations and may not know it, we've got agreements to able to get them that care once we got them stable here in the emergency department," said Schreiner.

Schreiner said they are even ready for the coronavirus.

“We have all the negative pressure rooms, we have ventilators, and we’ve got teams that are already experienced in dealing with COVID-19, in patient doctors that are ready and experienced with dealing with patients with respiratory stress. We’re ready for COVID-19.”

Topeka ER and Hospital will accept all commercial insurances, but not Medicare or Medicaid.

The state inspection should be conducted within the next seven to 10 days for them to open. Schreiner said the plan was and always has been for the opening date to be July 27.

It is located on SW 17th street across from Topeka Pizza.

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