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The city's second largest hospital plans to open a freestanding, 15,000-square-foot emergency and diagnostic center on Wichita's west side.
Wesley Medical Center officials expect to open the center, to be located in the former Albertsons on the northeast corner of 13th Street and Tyler Road, in early 2005.
The center will be a full-service emergency room capable of handling nearly all life-threatening emergencies except for the most serious traumatic injuries.
"Whatever comes in there, we've got to be able to handle," says Sam Serrill, chief operating officer of the FICA Inc.owned hospital.
Wesley's plans come on the heels of a decision by competitor Via Christi Regional Medical Center to convert Via Christi Riverside Medical Center, which operates the only fullservice emergency room on the west side, into a specialty surgical hospital.
Via Christi officials say they will close Riverside's ER when the conversion is completed this fall.
"We felt it important to announce our plan to meet the emergent and immediate medical needs of westsiders," says Wesley CEO David Nevill. "In...