GEARY COUNTY (KSNT) — The Geary Community Hospital announced that its Intensive Care Unit will be closing down indefinitely on February 1st, 2022.

Interim CEO Wade Weis said the hospital has been facing setbacks with funding and that the ICU has held out for as long as it can. He said that this is not only an issue in Geary County, but also at the regional, state and national level.

“We are not able to; one, staff the unit appropriately and two, afford the nursing that it requires nor find it, so that has what really lead to this decision,” Weis said.

Even though the ICU is shutting down soon, the hospital as a whole will continue to remain open and serve the community. Any patients after Feb. 1 that need ICU care will be sent to their regional partners in Manhattan, Salina and Topeka. But if there is not space at any of those places, Weis said that there are plans in place to provide care to patients.

“If there’s not, than we still will care for those patients to the best of the extent that we have we just won’t have an ICU department at that point,” Weis said. “So, we will work with our regional partners and identify areas where we can send those patients.”

If a patient has to be transported to a different facility outside of Geary County, Weis said it will fall on the patient and their insurance to cover that transportation cost.

The Geary Community Hospital is still accommodating ICU patients until the Feb. 1 cut-off.