Great Bend ? The Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend has notified 130 employees that they will lose their jobs May 1, when the hospital becomes a same-day surgery center.

Mark Mingenback, director of business strategy for the center, says the employees will get a severance package but must remain with the hospital until May 1 to collect it.

The conversion to a surgery center will create 10 new jobs, and current employees will be given first consideration for those jobs.

Mingenback says the changes to a surgery center will cause about a 40 percent staff reduction, leaving about 200 employees.

The Hutchinson News reported Tuesday that the hospital’s name will change to St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center on May 1.