Partner in Excellence Award: Unified Government of Wyandotte County

Bob Page: We couldn't be where we are if the Unified Government wasn't right with us all along the way.

Tammy Peterman: When we think about the partner in excellence, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County clearly has been that partner with us.

Kathy Wolfe-Moore: Both organizations were in Topeka asking the legislature for help in the late '90's and it's so striking that they both were going through similar challenges at almost the same time.

Carol Marinovich: We did have those types of commonalities. And so, a strong partnership together just made sense. There was always opportunity to work together, but you need the right leadership in place to make it happen.

Joe Reardon: After unification and after the hospital really was able to be on its own through the authority, these two institutions that were coming from a place where they weren't excellent and they hadn't had that reputation, really recreating themselves into something that really defied all the odds.

Mark Holland: As I've shared with Bob Page many times, he's working to build a health system, we're working to build a community, and we wanted to work together in that. And he was 100% on board and wanted to do that as well.

Steve Stites: Wyandotte County and the Unified Government has done so many great things to improve the health of the county. And of course, that's what we want to do. We want to improve the health of Kansas, so really our missions are aligned.

Tyrone Garner: To have good health, really that's what you build up on, to have all the other things like economic development and jobs. You all have really done a good job of really improving the quality of life of people here in Wyandotte County and abroad.

David Alvey: Beyond the institution, beyond the buildings, beyond the economic development. The folks I've met at The University of Kansas Health System are genuine. They care and they have a vision for the future. And it's important for us in Kansas City, Kansas, to have that relationship because your vision then inspires us to see what's possible for us as well.

Bob Page: There's just something magical about how we can come together and do things with the ultimate benefit for our community. We just put a stake in the ground, downtown, Kansas city, Kansas. We put Strawberry Hill there and that was purposeful that we picked that location because we are partnered with Wyandotte County and the Unified Government.

Tammy Peterman: They have truly been a partner over many, many years. And whether it's the work we've done around campus or at Strawberry Hill, which has been so very important or the work we've done during COVID.

Steve Stites: Some of those things included doing contact tracing, being on daily calls. How do we reopen businesses? How do we keep people safe? That's how it should be when government and an academic health center worked together to improve the health of a community.

Kathy Wolfe-Moore: COVID was so very difficult that it hit Wyandotte County, especially hard. And so, to already have that working relationship with the health department was fabulous and they did such wonderful work.

Mark Holland: If you think about the number of partnerships it takes to grow community health in a positive direction, we can't dump all of it on the hospitals, we can't dump all of it on the health system. It takes a community to create a healthy community.

Speaker 10: I always like to tell people that the prestige of the health system, the quality care that people provide, the great story of the health system's growth and development over the past 20 years, The University of Kansas Health System brings strength to us and we want to bring strength to the health system.

Speaker 12: When you're excellent at what you do but you know part of the mark of excellence is how you are impacting the community around you, I think that's really a path of excellence and we've, I've witnessed that personally here and it continues today within the institution.

Speaker 13: The Unified Government getting this award was very appropriate because a strong partnership between The University of Kansas hospital and the Unified Government is a very necessary one. And I think that the Unified Government approached it as a partnership.

Steve Stites: What better thing can you want from your government than that? As a healthcare provider what better relationship do you want?

Kathy Wolfe-Moore: I do believe the Unified Government is really proud of The University of Kansas Health System being right here in Kansas city, Kansas, but we're also really proud to be connected to the Unified Government.

Tyrone Garner: On behalf of Wyandotte County, we say, thank you. Thank you for being a good neighbor and a good partner.

Bob Page: I've learned a lot in my career that government can get in the way of progress or they can totally support progress. At the end of the day, they all had a legacy in helping this community move forward. We're part of that legacy. We wanted to honor them and thank them.