Frontenac, Kan. -- With a burst of confetti and smoke-filled fireworks, Freeman Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Paula Baker proudly showed off the future site of the Freeman newest, full-service hospital.

She also unveiled the hospital’s official name: Freeman Southeast Kansas Hospital.

“This day marks an historical first for Freeman Health System and the entire Southeast Kansas region,” she said, her words punctuated by horn blasts from passing vehicles on nearby Highway 69. “Those of you in attendance today are among the very first to stand at the site of our new hospital.”

The site she’s referring to – now a soybean field located adjacent to E. 600th Avenue just minutes from downtown Pittsburg – will soon transform into a 170,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art hospital.

Engineers are completing the Phase 1 environmental assessment of this site and are now in the process of the geotechnical investigation of the subterranean condition. Drilling equipment is currently onsite at various points throughout the 55-acre site.

“This geo-technical data and analysis are necessary to precisely design and construct the site-specific foundations and structural system required to support the new hospital as we bring the structures out of the ground,” Baker said.

During a time when rural hospitals are closing across the nation – 58 percent of rural Kansas hospitals were at risk of closing in 2023 alone – Freeman is constructing a new facility that will serve the healthcare needs of Crawford County and the outlying Southeast Kansas communities.

“The residents of Pittsburg and Southeast Kansas deserve the best and we at Freeman Health System are committed to providing just that – quality, innovative healthcare in your own backyard,” Baker said.

She was joined at the podium during the morning celebration by Frontenac Mayor Steve Morrison, Frontenac City Administrator John Zafuta and Crawford County Commissioners Carl Wood and Tom Moody. At the ceremony’s conclusion, an airplane flying a brightly colored Freeman banner circled the hospital site.

The $168 million, 50-bed hospital will offer a full array of comprehensive care, including an emergency department, cardiac services and catheterization lab, an intensive care unit, maternity, pediatrics, outpatient/inpatient surgery – including robotic procedures – as well as medical and radiation oncology, pulmonary and radiology, among other key services. Overall, the hospital will create at least 500 to 1,000 new jobs in Pittsburg.

Freeman already has a sizable footprint in Pittsburg, with several primary care clinics, an outpatient surgery center and a comprehensive medical oncology program. And earlier this year, Freeman announced that it will take over operations of the Ft. Scott-based emergency department and open a 10-bed acute hospital there.