Dear Editor,

I write today with gratitude for the skilled and compassionate physicians, nurses and other team members of Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital and Lutheran Health Network who support the health and well-being of our patients. Last year, patients received the medical care they needed through more than 336,000 interactions with our local hospital and clinics.

Our team delivered quality care during more than 16,000 emergency department visits, more than 3,000 inpatient stays and 5,600 surgeries. More than 311,000 patients received care through outpatient facilities, including Lutheran Health Physicians primary and specialty care offices and MedStat locations in our area. We also delivered joy to more than 400 families whose babies were born at our hospital.

In the summer of 2022, we announced a $30 million investment toward the expansion and modernization of our hospital to meet the growing demand for services, modern facilities and technologies important to our patients. We recently completed the enhancement and renovation of all hospital patient rooms. And after breaking ground last week on the expansion portion of the project, we are looking forward to our community watching the progress of even more improvements this year.

Beyond clinical care, Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital, and all of Lutheran Health Network, is a cornerstone of the economic health of Warsaw, Kosciusko County and northeast Indiana as a major employer, tax payer and through the resources used to strengthen medical services close to home.

Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital provided more than $19 million in charity and uncompensated care for our community’s most vulnerable, and the more than $7.7 million paid in property, sales and gross receipt taxes helped support civic resources and services.

We are also pleased to provide donations and work with local charitable and community organizations including Joe’s Kids, Combined Community Services and Kosciusko Senior Services.

The hospital’s payroll of more than $73 million ripples across the community as our employees purchase goods and services, making our economy healthier as well. Enhanced benefits help team members achieve their personal and professional goals, including assistance with student loan repayments as well as tuition reimbursement. We appreciate our team and are creating pathways for their success.

Each of these initiatives and investments helps make Warsaw, Kosciusko County and all of northeast Indiana healthier for us all. We are honored to help and extremely proud of our hospital’s more than $112 million community impact in 2022, contributing to Lutheran Health Network’s overall regional impact of more than $925 million.

Learn more about Lutheran Health Network’s Community Benefits at LutheranHealth.net/community-benefits.

Lynn Mergen
CEO of Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital,
a member of Lutheran Health Network