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The main hospital building at Mercy in Independence will shut down tonight at midnight. All patients will be out of the facility by 9 o’clock. And the facility will cease operation by 12 o’clock tonight.

Independence City Manager Mickey Webb says the City Health Care Committee has worked out an arrangement with Mercy Health group so that St. John’s Hospital and Jane Phillips Hospital will continue to operate the Mercy Health Clinic at 800 West Laurel. They will provide family health care at that location. The plan is for Jane Phillips to develop an advanced urgent care facility to operate at least 12 hours a day, taking care of minor emergencies. If the clinic is patronized by the citizens of Independence and the surrounding area, then the facility will expand to a 24-hour urgent care operation. The city has agreed to subsidize the cost of operation for the first two years.

The emergency medical service is owned and operated by the city of Independence.  It is not affected by the Mercy hospital closure. The EMS will transport patients with life threatening conditions to the nearest hospital facilities that is licensed to provide the necessary treatment. In cardiac cases the treatment window has been determined to be 120 minutes. Until a 24-hour urgent care facility is established in Independence, non-life threatening cases will be transported to the hospital of the patient’s choice or to Jane Phillips hospital in Bartlesville, if no choice is made by the patient.

The EMS and Independence Fire Department merged their personnel in 2010. All 26 of the two department’s personnel are trained in emergency medical care. The EMS department has 13 full-time paramedics and 2 part-time. The city is also making arrangements for air ambulance services through Air Methods Corporation of Tulsa. The helicopter-landing pad at the vacant Mercy hospital building will continue to be utilized.

In a press release from City Manager Mickey Webb this week, he said, “although this option does not provide everything the community needs, it’s the only viable option”. During an interview on Friday morning, Webb was very optimistic that plans have been made to temporarily cover most urgent situations.

Thanks toLance Alred at KGGF, Coffeyville who contributed to this story.