Area residents should value the tremendous contribution Lawrence Memorial Hospital makes to our community.

The availability of health care services is a huge factor in a community’s quality of life, and Lawrence should be proud of the services being provided by its community hospital.

This week, Lawrence Memorial Hospital reported it had a record financial year in 2003. The hospital’s financial health is a credit to both the management and planning of the LMH administrative team.

Hospital revenues were up 10 percent from the previous year, in large part because of new services being offered at LMH. Those services included the addition of radiation therapy in the hospital’s Oncology Center, a new Wound Healing Center and a sleep lab. Those services helped add to the hospital’s bottom line, but, even more important, they made additional care more accessible for residents of Lawrence and Douglas County.

The success of these services, both in terms of dollars and patients, also speaks well for the planning acumen of the LMH administration and, particularly, LMH president and chief executive Gene Meyer. The services that have been added clearly have tapped into a community need and prevented many patients from having to go out of town to receive the care now offered at LMH.

The hospital continues to look to the future and is negotiating a deal with St. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Mo., to begin offering angioplasty and other cardiovascular treatments at LMH. Such services would be a plus, although some residents and doctors continue to believe it would be wiser to negotiate with the Kansas University Medical Center to offer them.

It’s also significant to note that while posting record operating revenues of $94.2 million in 2003, LMH also provided more than $3 million in care for people who couldn’t afford to pay. That’s an increase of almost 28 percent over the previous year and, according to Meyer, is a sign that more people are unable, because of finances or other factors, to obtain health insurance.

In light of the many successes at LMH, it is unfortunate hospital officials have decided to close the hospital’s mental health unit. Those services will continue to be needed and more patients will be forced to go out of town to obtain them.

The numbers presented this week offer ample evidence of why Lawrence should be proud of LMH. Because it is a nonprofit hospital, all of the additional revenue earned this year can be plowed back into the facility to offer more and better service. Rather than retreating in the face of competition from larger hospitals in neighboring cities, LMH is pushing ahead to offer new services in Lawrence. And it is maintaining its dynamic, financially stable operation while providing millions of dollars worth of charity care for people who are uninsured and can’t afford to pay.

What more could anyone ask of a community hospital? Congratulations to the LMH staff, administration and board for another banner year.