Home to 17 acute-care and specialty hospitals, Wichita is a comprehensive health-care destination for families in south central Kansas and northern Oklahoma.

As the largest health-care service provider in Kansas, Via Christi Health operates five Wichita hospitals and employs 5,000 people in Metro Wichita alone. In 2010, Via Christi provided a regional community benefit of $68 million. U.S. News & World Report recently recognized Via Christi as a top hospital for overall care and for excellence in ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; gynecology; nephrology; and pulmonology.

In 2010, the system welcomed Via Christi Hospital on St. Teresa. The west Wichita hospital includes 68 private patient suites, a NewLife Center with high-tech labor and delivery suites, emergency services, diagnostics and surgery.

In 2011, the 400-bed Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis celebrated the opening of the Via Christi Cancer Institute. The 40,000-square-foot center includes 40 private patient rooms, an ambulatory infusion center, radiation therapy, bone-marrow transplant and integrated therapies like yoga and massage.

The hospital also houses and manages grant funding for the Wichita Clinical Community Oncology Program. The Wichita CCOP is one of 53 programs sponsored and funded by the National Cancer Institute.

"Through relationships with programs such as the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic, the Wichita CCOP offers patients the most current cancer research," says Claudio Ferraro, executive leader of oncology services for Via Christi Health Wichita hospitals.

Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center

For 75 years, veterans from 59 Kansas counties have turned to the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita. The 41-bed center offers programs for mental health, primary care, women's health and spinal-cord injuries. As veterans age, Dole's Transitional Living Center and Medical Foster Home provide alternatives to senior care. Dole's 1,000 employees help treat more than 30,000 veterans each year.

Wesley Medical Center

In 2012, Wichita's Wesley Medical Center celebrates 100 years of service. A Hospital Corporation of America facility, WMC is licensed for 760 beds and 102 bassinets, and employs 3,000. In 2011, WMC announced acquisition of Wichita's Galichia Heart Hospital, a regional leader in cardiac care. Still, it's Wesley's obstetrics department that garners the hospital nationwide recognition.

"We're known as the baby hospital," says Paul Petitte, vice president of marketing and public relations at Wesley Medical Center. "We came into being as a maternity hospital and have never let go of that."

WMC delivers 6,000-plus babies a year – more than any other hospital in a 13-state region. An off-site birthing center provides a private, home-like environment away from a hospital setting. Wesley also is home to the state's only pediatric emergency room, along with pediatric intensive care and neonatal intensive care units, a Ronald McDonald House and maternal-fetal medicine specialists. The center also has partnered with the University of Kansas School of Medicine and KU-Wichita Pediatrics to open the Pediatric Center of Kansas, the region's only subspecialty clinic for kids. 

Wichita's medical community also includes the KU School of Medicine-Wichita and specialty facilities Kansas Heart Hospital, Kansas Spine Hospital and Kansas Surgery & Recovery Center, among others.