I am from the Hays community and am passionate about our community’s strength and success. In order for any community to be healthy, it must support its children. I’d like to share how we at KVC Wheatland Hospital are working to provide a safe place for children and teens from Hays and our surrounding communities. We are a children’s psychiatric hospital that, for nearly a decade now, has provided inpatient treatment for thousands of kids with thoughts of suicide or in crisis. We help stabilize them and then find them further treatment options to continue to get healthy. We also offer residential psychiatric treatment for youth. These are children and teens who need help finding their way through depression, anxiety, traumatic stress or other mental and behavioral challenges and need longer stays for treatment. While each child is in our care, we offer 24-hour support with round-the-clock supervised care.

In 2017, we also opened a separate short-term children’s shelter for children who need a place to stay until a permanent home can be found. These are children who have experienced abuse, neglect or other family challenges and need a safe place to heal. This facility is the least restrictive of all of our services and the children are able to experience the community through different activities while under the supervision of our KVC staff. By opening this shelter, we’re hoping to ensure all children have a safe and comfortable place to lay their heads and simply be kids.

I’d like to thank the people of Hays for welcoming us into the community, contributing your donations and volunteer time, helping us to fight the stigma around mental health and believing that all children deserve the chance to reach their full potential. The children we are caring for are not bad kids; they are our neighbors who need all of our compassion and help. It’s important to understand that children with significant emotional or behavior challenges have often experienced childhood trauma. It is estimated that 2 out of 3 youth will be exposed to childhood trauma before the age of 16 which includes abuse, neglect, loss of a loved one, domestic violence, parental substance abuse, natural disasters and other life-altering events. Science tells us that trauma impacts the brain, making it difficult to problem-solve, manage stress and build relationships. That is why we provide trauma-informed care that helps you heal from their experience and build resilience. We’re working with these kids to be healthy, happy and positively contribute to their communities.

We are thankful for the amazing men and women of the Hays Police Department, community organizations and every member of the Hays community that help us ensure that the children in our care and other members of the Hays community are safe. If you have any questions about our services, please contact Audrey Lindenmeyer, Program Director at (785) 624-6000. We’re planning a community event in August and will invite those who would like to learn more about KVC Wheatland Hospital and our services. We’ll share updates on our website www.kvchospitals.org/wheatland and Facebook page www.facebook.com/kvcwheatland

Ryan Speier, President
KVC Hospitals