Health Care &

Community Services

Heartland Regional Medical Center was born out of need – the need for expert, precise health care for St. Joseph and Northwest Missouri. Created out of the merger in 1984 of the Methodist Medical Center and St. Joseph’s Hospital, Heartland is a non-profit, comprehensive regional health care facility serving as many as 2,000 patients every day. That makes the center both St. Joseph’s largest employer and one of Northwest Missouri’s greatest assets.

With two campuses, the Heartland Health System is able to meet residents’ varied medical needs. The West Campus, in downtown St. Joseph, provides rehabilitation as well as chronic and long-term care.  The East Campus focuses on acute care with an obstetrics unit, critical care unit, pharmacy, laboratory and emergency room.

In a recent public message, Lowell C. Kruse, Heartland’s president and CEO, observed that the center is “driven by a strong sense of mission and obligation to do whatever is possible to meet the health care needs of the people we serve.” Two recent additions The Cancer Center and The Heart Center  prove the mission hasn’t changed.

The Cancer Center is staffed by professionals dedicated to treating every appropriate need of every patient. Physicians, nurses, dietitians and pharmacists focus on the most innovative cancer treatments with access to new technology and experimental procedures and drugs. Clergy and social workers tend to patients’ emotional and spiritual needs.

Also dedicated to current technology is The Heart Center, which serves cardiac patients across Northwest Missouri. This state-of-the-art facility has the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment as well as prevention, education, counseling and rehabilitation services. This facility introduced Northwest Missouri to innovative cardiac care with its first open heart surgery in 1991.

“The availability of quality health care in St. Joseph is excellent,” says Patt Lilly, president and CEO of the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce. “The core of doctors we have ranges from general practitioners to highly trained specialists. This has eliminated the need to go anywhere else.”

Heartland also believes strongly in caring for the region’s older residents with its Hands of Hope Hospice and the Heartland Health Club. The health club is free and open to anyone age 50 and older. It encourages members to maintain an independent, healthy lifestyle by providing health education and wellness programs and activities.

More than 200 people compete each year in the club’s Good Life Games numerous events including tennis, swimming, track and field and miniature golf.  The Healthy Hikers Walking Club is a joint project with the East Hills Shopping Center in St. Joseph.

Another prominent employer in St. Joseph provides care for patients with chronic mental illnesses the Northwest Missouri Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center. This nationally-accredited facility replaced the St. Joseph State Hospital, then 123 years old, in 1997. Serving about 25 counties in Missouri, the center has 108 beds for adult patients and six cottages for patients who are near release. Most patients have been committed through the courts, many of them found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Two smaller facilities in St. Joseph provide children’s mental health care and family support the Woodson Children’s Psychiatric Hospital – and help for people with cerebral palsy, developmental disabilities, Down syndrome and epilepsy – United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Missouri.

Other medical facilities in the region include St. Francis Hospital in Maryville, Cameron Community Hospital in Cameron, Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe and the Wright Memorial Hospital in Trenton.

Several local and regional community service organizations also help meet the community’s needs. Inter/Serv is a non-profit interfaith organization that assists more than 17,000 people in the St. Joseph area. They provide child care with financial assistance if necessary, after-school programs, summer youth and volleyball leagues, counseling, RSVP (Retire and Senior Volunteer Program), in-home services for shut-ins and Meals on Wheels for senior citizens.

The Patee Market Health Center houses services offered by the Buchanan County Health Department, the Social Welfare Board and the Youth Health Center. All are inside Patee Hall, a historic building that once housed the region’s only farmer’s market.

The center offers many free services to all county residents, such as all childhood and some adult vaccinations, pregnancy testing and case management, blood pressure screenings, hepatitis testing, and HIV/AIDS testing and prevention programs. Also administered at the center is the Women, Infants and Children program that provides nutritional services for at-risk mothers and their children. The Welfare Board also provides medical and dental care for patients meeting financial guidelines.

St. Joseph also offers the Joyce Raye Patterson Senior Center.  Here, seniors can participate in health and wellness programs, art and crafts, games, dancing and even computer classes. The Muchenberger Center provides similar services to children and their families.