History
Lucas County Health Center History
Lucas County has a rich heritage of quality healthcare, beginning with the arrival of two brothers-William D. Waynick, M. D., and Wyatt W. Waynick, M. D., in June, 1848. From those pioneering family doctors to Lucas County's first private hospital operated by Dr. Albert Yocom to the cutting edge medical teams of the 21st Century, residents have long reaped the benefits of a strong tradition of healthcare excellence. Lucas County Health Center is the most recent example of Lucas County residents’ commitment to providing quality healthcare locally.
In 1956, a group of citizens interested in developing a county hospital gathered 200 signatures in support of the project and placed the matter in the hands of the Lucas County Board of Supervisors. A public vote Nov. 6, 1956, showed the public was firmly behind constructing a county hospital. The supervisors issued $200,000 in bonds to begin the process. The supervisors also applied for and received an $180,000 Hill-Burton federal grant.
The Lucas County Memorial Hospital Foundation formed and organized a drive to raise matching funds to comply with the Hill-Burton requirements. Foundation members Judge Harold Levis, John Woodman, F. B. Ryan and John Baldridge were able to raise $170,000 in private funds.
The hospital’s founding fathers organized when its first Board of Trustees meeting convened. The first trustees – Delbert James, Arthur Keller, Oliver Kent, Fred Curtis, Dean Ferguson, Earl Wright and Oran Garrett – met to decide how to pursue the construction of a modern hospital in Chariton. Months of attention to the smallest detail produced a hospital plan including 12 baby beds and a thoroughly modern surgical facility.
Construction on what would become Lucas County Memorial Hospital began in the fall of 1959. A Grand Opening was held May 1, 1961, to announce the community’s modern medical facility was open for business.
The hospital was so well used by area residents, that a 48-bed addition was constructed in 1969. A two-unit ambulance service was added in 1970. To meet the growing needs of Lucas County residents, a four-bed intensive care unit was equipped in 1971 with the latest technology.
As healthcare needs continued to evolve, the Lucas County Memorial Hospital Board of Directors kept pace. In 1985, Northridge Living Center was developed to meet the growing need for residential facilities for the elderly.
The 1990s brought more changes to the hospital, including a name change. Lucas County Memorial Hospital was renamed Lucas County Health Center. A spacious medical office building was added to the north side of the building, a project that included the construction of an airy atrium entrance to the Health Center.
The LCHC Mammography Center began offering on-site mammography every weekday in 1999. Neal Sokol, D. O., joined the LCHC staff in 1999 as general surgeon before opening his own practice, Surgical Clinic of Southern Iowa, P.C. on Court Avenue in Chariton two years later. Nearly 1,000 surgeries were performed from 1999 to 2000. Procedures performed by Dr. Sokol and other visiting physicians now include general surgeries; ear, nose and throat; oncology; podiatric; orthopedic, cataract removal and many others.
Other LCHC departments include physical, occupational and speech therapies, athletic training services, counseling services, women’s health services, and obstetrics. LCHC also has a comprehensive laboratory and full radiology services with the latest technology offered through CT, digital mammography, and mobile MRI. The Health Center also offers sleep studies, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, infusion therapies, diabetes education, and wound healing treatment. LCHC owns and operates Humeston Medical Clinic in Humeston, Iowa, which has two providers - Sharon Squibb, CNM, and Julie Harvey, ARNP. Harvey provides health services for the entire family. Squibb provides health services for women of all ages, including prenatal, obstetric, and postnatal care. Squibb delivers babies at LCHC in the state-of-the-art labor and delivery suites.
The Lucas County Health Center Foundation purchased in 2001 the former corporate headquarters of Hy-Vee, Inc. The purchase was made possible through a donation from The Vredenburg Foundation, with support from Hy-Vee, Inc. Located on Osceola Avenue in Chariton; the building encompasses 55,000-square feet on two stories. A large portion of the second story was remodeled to house LCHC’s Kids’ Life Discovery Center and Discovery Preschool. Other parts of the building are leased to various tenants. In December, 2008 ownership of the Vredenburg Center transferred to the Lucas County Health Center. By 2009, Kids’ Life Discovery Center had created a Nature Explore Classroom for playground use. The special space was recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
Also in 2009, LCHC expanded physician access through its Emergency Department by establishing a close working relationship with Docs Who Care, a physician group providing emergency medicine services. In early 2010, LCHC’s new obstetrics wing offered an expansion of labor and delivery services to area families. The beautifully appointed renovation includes two luxurious whirlpool suites, as well as state-of-the-art technology for the delivery of each baby. The birth experience at LCHC is very private and personal, with the physicians and obstetric nurses focused entirely on the mother and child.
LCHC works closely with the physicians of Chariton Family Medical Center (CFMC) and Red Haw Family Medical Center (RHFMC), the only two local family practice clinics in Chariton. Those physicians are Kenneth Anderson, D.O., Greg Cohen, D.O., Douglas Hoch, M.D., all of CFMC; and Philip D. Sundquist, M.D. of RHFMC. Also involved in the CFMC practice are Allison Krutsinger, PA-C, Chris Osier, PA-C, Jasmina Salcinovic-Spahic, PA-C, and Juanita Durham, ARNP. Chelsey Bonnett, PA-C, sees patients at RHFMC. Dr. Michael Gorski is the physician employed by the Health Center as Emergency Department Director. Other physicians who work closely with LCHC include pathologist Ashok Pradhan, M.D., Neal Sokol, D.O., FACOS, FICS, who maintains his general surgery practice at Surgical Clinic of Southern Iowa, P.C.; Chief Radiologist Robert Filippone, D.O.; and psychiatrists Loren Olson, M.D. and James Brooks, M.D.
The tradition of providing quality healthcare continues in Lucas County. Under the guiding hand of its Trustees – Chair Roger Struve, Vice Chair Corliss Klaassen, Treasurer Natalie McGee, Secretary Betty Hansen, Randy Westman and Sue Frazier– and administration, Lucas County Health Center keeps its ear tuned to the constantly changing needs of rural healthcare, and keeps its eye on the future. Plans are underway for the celebration of LCHC’s 50th anniversary, with a kick-off event schedule for May 2010 and the culminating celebration set for May 2011.
