Hutchinson’s growing number of care providers and increasing use of sophisticated medical technology has made the city a regional health-care hub.

Hutchinson Area Health Care
Hutchinson Area Health Care includes Hutchinson Community Hospital, Burns Manor Nursing Home and Dassel Medical Center. Its vision is “Safe, Superior Care.”

The hospital, between Century and Freemont avenues directly east of State Highway 15 South, is a full-service facility. More than 30 consulting physicians offer their services.

Programs include BirthCare, same-day and inpatient surgery, critical care and emergency services with 24-hour physician staffing, occupational therapy, cardiac rehabilitation, diagnostic and lab services, and inpatient and outpatient mental health services. Orthopaedic services are provided by the Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic of Hutchinson, a service of Hutchinson Community Hospital.

Community education efforts include diabetic education, nutrition counseling including a gastric bypass support group, cancer support group, BirthCare prenatal classes and breast-feeding classes, as well as many one-time, monthly and annual seminars for area residents and health-care professionals.

Once city-owned, Hutchinson Area Health Care incorporated as a private, nonprofit organization at the end of 2007. It also owns and operates Burns Manor Nursing Home, and a primary-care clinic in Dassel, the Dassel Medical Center, which opened a new facility in January 2007.

Hutchinson Area Health Care is governed by a seven-member board of directors, and is managed by Allina Health Systems.

Burns Manor Nursing Home
Burns Manor Nursing Home is Hutchinson Area Health Care’s skilled nursing facility. This 120-bed facility has four private rooms and one private special-needs suite. Burns Manor is able to provide specific care needs such as short term/rehab, memory/behavioral support, medically complex and general population.

Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, registered nursing assistants and trained medication assistants provide 24-hour-a-day skilled care. A family nurse practitioner assists nurses and physicians in the day-to-day monitoring of resident care. Burns Manor also has onsite consulting psychiatry services. To help residents achieve the greatest possible degree of health and independence, Burns Manor has fully staffed, in-house rehabilitation services.

Burns Manor also offers activities designed to meet the spiritual, social, psychosocial and physical leisure needs of the residents.

Hutchinson Medical Center
Hutchinson Medical Center, a physician-owned clinic, has a staff of more than 30 full-time local providers, including family practice physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and specialists in the areas of general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and podiatry.

The clinic is on the east side of the Hutchinson Community Hospital complex.

Hospice
Birchwood: The Mary Burich House, McLeod County’s first residential hospice, opened its doors in 2005. The house, tucked into a wooded lot on a quiet cul-de-sac at 710 Park Island Drive S.W., was created to provide people an alternative to being in a hospital, nursing home or their own home during the final stages of life.

Residential hospice care is a relatively new idea in Minnesota. Only six or seven hospice houses currently operate in the state.

Birchwood offers eight private rooms for hospice patients, each complete with a comfortable sleeper-sofa and chairs for visitors. The common area on the main floor features an open plan incorporating a kitchen, dining room and great room. There is also a separate room designated as a chapel for personal reflection. The lower level features two overnight guest rooms and a large recreation room for relaxation, plus the offices.

The home is operated by ConnectCare, a home health care agency jointly operated by Hutchinson Area Health Care and Glencoe Regional Health Services. For more information, call ConnectCare at (320) 234-5031.

Other health care services
Hutchinson is home to a home health care agency as well as many highly skilled dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists and other health-care providers. Providers have been innovative in their efforts to aid patients who might not otherwise receive services. For example, Hutchinson dentists have set up a program with the Hutchinson Area Foundation for Health Care and Hutchinson School District 423 to serve children in low-income families. Under the program, general dentistry such as fillings and extractions is offered free of charge to students in kindergarten through eighth-grade who have no other place to go for help. The schools refer the children to participating dentists.