St. Luke receives $100,000 for Living Center windows

Windows at St. Luke Hospital Living Center will be replaced before winter thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Sunderland Foundation of Overland Park.

“Windows may have been one of those things that may have been left until later,” St. Luke CEO Jeremy Ensey said. “By getting this grant, it’s something that will happen sooner. We’re very excited, to say the least.”

Windows figure into an overall plan to increase heating and cooling efficiency in the Living Center, Ensey said.

Sunderland Foundation was established in 1945 by Ash Grove Cement Company president Lester T. Sunderland to support civic capital improvement projects for human services, higher education, arts and culture, and health care and hospitals.

Foundation president Kent Sunderland said St. Luke’s request was a good fit.

“We know the importance of health care, particularly in smaller communities,” he said. We don’t necessarily focus on smaller communities, but we try to help out where we can.”

The donation was a welcome boost to St. Luke’s fundraising campaign for improvements to the physician’s clinic and Living Center, Ensey said.

“I had to look at it twice to believe it,” he said. “It’s not every day you get a $100,000 check. With that grant, we’re now at $832,000, or almost 56 percent of our goal.”

Clinic expansion and renovations have been completed, while major work on Living Center dining and commons areas, offices, heating and air conditioning systems, and other renovations remain.

Same-day appointments

Patients needing immediate treatment for illness and minor injuries have a new option for same-day appointments at St. Luke Medical Clinic.

Patients need to call before 3 p.m. to arrange same-day appointments. Calls after 3 p.m. will be scheduled the following day.