Patsy McKeever knew her husband needed something different.

This summer, Cecil McKeever was recovering from a stroke in a Wichita hospital when he began experiencing hospital delirium — a condition that causes confusion, restlessness, and agitation. As physicians discussed transferring him to a nursing home, McKeever, a certified nursing assistant with more than four decades of experience, pushed for a better option.

She wanted him back home in Harper County, receiving care at Patterson Health Center, just minutes from their home in Attica.

The very next day, Cecil McKeever was transferred to Patterson Health Center's skilled swing bed program. He remained there for several weeks until he was strong enough to go home and, according to Patsy McKeever, he never experienced delirium again.

"We had the best care there," she said. "You just can't say enough about that family that works at Patterson, because they are fabulous."

For Patterson Health Center leaders, the McKeevers' experience reflects exactly why the hospital exists: to provide high-quality healthcare close to home.

When Patterson Health Center opened in 2019, it represented a challenge by Neal Patterson and the culmination of years of collaboration between Anthony and Harper — two communities, once divided, that chose to unite around a shared vision for sustainable healthcare in Harper County.

The $42 million, 62,500-square-foot facility replaced two struggling hospitals located just nine miles apart. Today, the 14-bed critical access hospital and its team of more than 150 employees provide Level IV Trauma Center emergency care, primary and specialty care, skilled swing bed services, rehabilitation, behavioral health services, diagnostics, telehealth, and a range of preventive health programs.

That gratitude is reflected in more people using the hospital and its clinics over the years. The hospital is expected to provide more than 1,000 days of local post-acute and rehabilitation care this year, while maintaining roughly 3,300 annual specialty care visits. Through the first half of 2026, Patterson Health Center's rural health clinics in Conway Springs and Attica provided 8,776 patient visits — on pace to provide approximately 17,500 visits this year.

Teaff said the hospital is continuing to shift its focus toward prevention, managing chronic illnesses, and helping residents address health issues early to prevent crises.

Another prevention effort is a mobile integrated healthcare pilot program developed in partnership with Norwich EMS and supported by the Patterson Family Foundation. The model allows paramedics, community health workers, and care teams to provide services like blood pressure and blood sugar checks directly in patients' homes — helping reduce unnecessary emergency department visits while improving access to care and connecting patients to primary care services.

Hospital leaders are also listening to community members and expanding behavioral health and addiction services.

"We are trying to be responsive to the needs of our community," Teaff said. "I think we are blazing a trail, to some extent, among critical access hospitals in the state of Kansas by opening an access point to opioid use disorder medication in the Emergency Department."

Listening to the community also means learning which services can be sustained — and adapting when they cannot. The community rallied to raise $200,000 alongside the Harper County Health Foundation to bring dialysis services closer to home. Unfortunately, the reimbursement structure for outpatient dialysis did not adequately support the cost of delivering the service, ultimately making the program unsustainable — a reimbursement gap that reflects broader challenges facing rural providers nationwide.

Meeting community needs requires more than state-of-the-art facilities and services. It requires having the right people.

To strengthen its workforce pipeline, Patterson Health Center partners with area foundations, universities, technical colleges, and local public schools to expose students early and often to healthcare. It also works alongside the Harper County Health Foundation, a major proponent of supporting a "grow your own" workforce — supporting both hospital staff continuing their education and students pursuing healthcare degrees.

The hospital has also partnered with the Harper County Transition to Career Program, a countywide initiative established in 2018 by Attica USD 511 and Chaparral Schools USD 361. The program gives students opportunities to explore careers through presentations from local professionals, job shadowing, internships, and earning professional certifications before they graduate.

One of those students is Chase Struble, a 2025 graduate of Chaparral Jr/Sr High School — located right next to the hospital — who is now pursuing a Physical Therapist Assistant degree at Washburn University. Through the Transition to Career Program, Struble interned at Patterson Health Center before college and recently returned to complete a six-week clinical rotation.

"It was kind of cool to be able to help people who have helped you throughout your life," Struble said.

Nathan Bedel, recently joined as director of the rehab department, has seen the impact firsthand. "His ability to be able to connect with patients that he knows drives their motivation to get better," Bedel said. "It's an asset when you're local and know different families and you know the different people — the patients love that."

Patsy McKeever saw that connection during her husband's recovery. Because Struble was a familiar face in the community, Cecil McKeever immediately felt comfortable working with him — the encouragement and rapport Struble brought to therapy sessions kept him engaged in rehabilitation.

Keeping patients connected to family, friends, and familiar surroundings remains central to Patterson Health Center's mission.

The hospital's rehabilitation department plays a key role in that effort, offering inpatient and outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, and aquatic therapy — allowing many residents to avoid frequent trips to larger cities for ongoing treatment.

The team makes a point to visit swing bed patients twice a day, compared to the standard once a day, to accelerate recovery and help patients safely return home.

"We strive to put a good quality product out there, that way it convinces someone to take valuable time out of their day to see us," Bedel said. "Families don't have to go to Wichita to see excellent care — they can get it right here in the community."

Beyond providing healthcare, Patterson Health Center serves as one of Harper County's largest employers and an important community partner. Hospital leaders recognize that attracting healthcare professionals to rural communities requires more than competitive wages and a state-of-the-art facility — housing, schools, childcare, and other quality-of-life factors all influence recruitment and retention.

"Usually once they get here, they recognize what a beautiful facility it is and they want to work here," Teaff said. "But, we also must be rooted in community by working with our local partners to ensure housing, childcare and schools are strong."

The health facility also takes pride in being a gathering place for all generations in the community — a café, weekly community meetings, farmers' markets on the front lawn, and student learning opportunities from the neighboring Chaparral Jr/Sr High School.

For Patsy McKeever, the value of having high-quality healthcare close to home was never more apparent than during her husband's recovery. Although she admits she may be slightly biased after working at Patterson Health Center for five years, she never wanted her husband cared for anywhere else.

"There's having a job and doing it, and having your heart in it," she said. "And their heart is in it."