Founded in the early 1870s, the city of Wellington, occupies almost six square miles in the prairie plains of south-central Kansas. Often referred to as the Wheat Capital of the World, the city is also home to an 80-bed hospital, Sumner Regional Medical Center (SRMC). Located just 30 minutes from Wichita, Kansas, SRMC is the largest hospital between the Oklahoma border and Wichita, making this facility a critical resource in this area. This regional medical center provides inpatient, outpatient, and emergency care to more than 15 communities in the surrounding area. By 2009, SRMC faced growing concerns that its aging cooling equipment would not survive another summer with numerous days of triple-digit temperatures. Facility improvements on a budget The original cooling tower from the 1960s had long surpassed its useful life. Although the original facility design had called for two chillers, only one undersized chiller was in operation. Without a backup, the hospital would have to...
