Construction begins in fall 2026 on a 20,000-square-foot, two-story West Addition at Amberwell Atchison. The Building Hope campaign supports the launch of Amberwell Cancer Care — a purpose-built home for chemotherapy, infusion, and oncology pharmacy — and a modern home for rehabilitation services.
What your gift builds
Comprehensive cancer care. Close to home.
Comprehensive cancer care has long been one of the most significant gaps in healthcare close to home. A limited infusion service operates in Atchison today, but in space that was not designed for healthcare delivery and without the dedicated pharmaceutical infrastructure a full oncology program requires.
Amberwell Cancer Care changes that. The new program will be fully equipped and purpose-built for oncology infusion care: a dedicated infusion suite, onsite oncology pharmacy capability, and clinic rooms designed for cancer care. The first patients are planned to be welcomed by early 2028.
Renee Nugent was diagnosed with breast cancer just a few years after moving to Atchison, where she was serving as superintendent of USD 409. She moved alone — no family in town, no built-in support. As she took stock of what was ahead, one of her most pressing questions was not medical. It was practical.
If I need chemotherapy, how am I going to get there?
Renee's early detection and surgery results allowed her to avoid chemotherapy treatments. But the weight of trying to figure it out, in a community she had just arrived in along with a career that made time away from work difficult, never quite left her. Today, Renee serves on the Amberwell Atchison Board of Directors — the board that is making Building Hope possible.
"I think about that question often. What it would have meant for me. What it means for someone going through it right now. Being part of bringing this program to Atchison is one of the most meaningful things I get to do." — Renee Nugent, Deputy Commissioner, Kansas State Department of Education · Member, Amberwell Atchison Board of Directors
A quiet engine of recovery, finally given the home it deserves.
Amberwell Rehab Services has long been a quiet engine of recovery in this community. Physical therapy after injury or surgery. Occupational therapy that helps people relearn daily life. Cardiac rehab that walks alongside patients recovering from heart attacks, bypass surgeries, and heart failure.
The team is exceptional. The space is not. For years, rehab has operated in a footprint that is undersized and difficult for patients to access. The West Addition gives the team a modern, purpose-built home for the work they do every day.
Local artist Dan Bowen went through the cardiac rehab program, and the experience stayed with him. When he was planning an art show at the Cultural Center for the Arts in January 2026, he saw an opportunity to give back through his art.
Dan donated proceeds from opening-night sales from the show to cardiac rehab — a gift he and his wife Janean, a member of the Amberwell Atchison Auxiliary, offered to match. The community turned out. Dan's gift is one of the early contributions to Building Hope, given before the campaign was even public, by someone who knew what the program meant because he had lived it.
Conceptual rendering of Amberwell Atchison after the West Addition. All renderings are conceptual; final design elements will be available after July 2026.
What this means for our community.
Cancer care, close to home.
For families navigating a serious diagnosis, distance is hours that should have been spent at work, at home, at a granddaughter's ball game. It is a husband who can no longer drive his wife to treatment. It is a friend who quietly stops asking how things are going because the answer always comes back to the road. Building Hope closes that distance.
"Hours on the road to get treatment should not be part of the experience. Amberwell Cancer Care is how we change that." — Jared Abel, CEO, Amberwell Health
Excellent rehabilitation, in the space it deserves.
Amberwell's physical, occupational, and cardiac rehabilitation team has been quietly delivering exceptional care in a space that has long outgrown its purpose. The work is among the best in the region. The setting has not matched it. The West Addition gives this team the modern, purpose-built home that the people they serve — and the work they do — have earned.
Room for what comes next.
Atchison's healthcare needs are growing. So is our community. The West Addition is more than a response to today's gaps — it is an investment in the capacity to meet tomorrow's needs as well. Building Hope is not just about catching up. It is about building the foundation for what this community will need next.
$2 million.
Powered by a $1 million matching gift
A $100 gift becomes $200. A $25,000 gift becomes $50,000. The match applies to gifts of every size.
Ways to give
Building Hope welcomes outright gifts, multi-year pledges, and named spaces within the new addition. Some donors will give once. Others will pledge across several years. Both are essential — and every dollar stays in Atchison, supporting this campus and this community.
This matters.
"Nearly fifty years of practice has taught me that a hospital is more than its services. It is a relationship between a community and the people who care for it.
Some of my patients have been with me for decades. I've watched their children grow up. I've been in the room when they received the hardest news of their lives. And for too long, when that news has involved cancer, what came next has been a conversation about how far they would need to go to get the care they need.
Building Hope changes that. More than four decades of practice will tell you when something matters. This matters."
Together, we are not just expanding a building.
We are building hope for the community we serve. Amberwell Atchison has been part of this community for over a century. We are honored to be part of the next chapter — and we hope you will be too.