FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2014
CONTACT:
Fiona Libsack, vice president of marketing and communications
libsackf@gphealth.org l Cell: 308.660.6658 l Office: 308.696.7498
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A New Name for Great Plains Regional Medical Center
North Platte, Neb. Today, Great Plains Regional Medical Center officials publically announced the health
system’s name change to Great Plains Health. The name change is the result of a three-year process
that involved extensive discussion, research and development.
“The name Great Plains Health fits the direction and vision we’ve been moving toward for some time
now,” said Mel McNea, Great Plains Health interim CEO. “With the help of our primary care providers,
other physician partners and the community, our hospital has grown into much more than an acute care
facility, as the name ‘Regional Medical Center’ denotes,” he said.
Answering the community’s call for local access to advanced care that is safe, high quality and cost
efficient has resulted in remarkable growth in the past five years, he said, including:
• Expansion of the medical staff from 70 physicians to 90
• New bariatrics, cardiology, endocrinology, hospitalist, infectious disease, PET imaging,
pulmonology, sleep medicine, spine surgery, stroke and wound care programs — nearly 30
medical specialties in all
• A new patient tower, scheduled to open in August 2015
• Twelve Great Plains Physician Network clinics in North Platte
• Fifteen outreach clinics in communities throughout west central Nebraska
“Our growth has created greater access for those in need of healthcare and also helped build our
reputation as a health system of choice throughout the region,” said Fiona Libsack, Great Plains Health
vice president of marketing and communications. “But helping individuals in our region when they are sick
or hurt is only part of the equation,” said Libsack. “We believe that the quality of one’s health has a
profound impact on one’s quality of life.”
To this end, the health system has included the word “health” in its new name. “The inclusion of the word
‘health’ speaks to our new mission to inspire health and healing by putting patients first — always,” said
McNea.
To continue its journey of inspiring health, Great Plains developed many free-of-charge, open-to-thepublic community programs last year including a Couch to 5k training, the Great Plains Get Moving Club,
smoking cessation classes and partnerships with nonprofit groups to create wellness opportunities for all
ages. Libsack refers to these wellness efforts as “just the beginning.”
“Great Plains Health is a name that we believe will boldly carry our health system into the future,” said
McNea. “It is nice to say that we will always be Great Plains, where we inspire health and put our patients
first, always.”
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About Great Plains Health
Based in North Platte, Neb., Great Plains Health is a fully accredited, 116-bed acute care regional
medical center serving west central Nebraska, northern Kansas and southern South Dakota. With 90
physicians representing nearly 30 medical specialties, the Great Plains Health system offers advanced
healthcare including heart and vascular, cancer and orthopedic surgery services. Great Plains Health is a
level III trauma center with all of its emergency room physicians board certified in emergency medicine.
The system employs more than 930 employees and serves a geographic area spanning approximately
16,000 square miles.
Great Plains Health is the only hospital in Nebraska to receive an A rating for patient safety from The
Leapfrog Group in the fall 2013 surveys. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and is home
to an American College of Surgeons’ accredited cancer center and level 2 bariatric surgery program. For
more information, visit gphealth.org.