Azzy Reckess, president of PAZ Health Care Management, established a business presence in Kansas by purchasing the former Halstead Hospital/Halstead Hospital campus last September. The purchase of this 275,000-square-foot health care facility presented several business opportunities primarily related to the health care industry.

The challenge was to quickly turn this investment into a revenue-producing facility while growing it for mid and long term profitably in the health care industry. An immediate opportunity was to convert part of the former Halstead Hospital into a call center. The plan was to employ local residents to provide a diversified employment base for non-health care workers in the community.

Initiatives, Inc. was retained to establish the Halstead Hospital as the location for the Kansas Child Support Enforcement Program Call Center. Initiatives ’primary responsibility was to sell the merits of Halstead and the former Halstead Hospital as the best location for the State. Challenged with a late start in the process and the task of identifying the proper resources in a new and unfamiliar market, it was necessary to explore ways to accelerate the networking and qualification process. Initiatives was given the task to develop and implement a successful strategy for PAZ Health Care Management in a short period of time.

Research was conducted on a national basis. Several qualified vendors were identified and approached. The most prominent national vendors specializing in child support collections call centers had already chosen communities in other areas of the State. After exploring numerous possible options, Initiatives identified USA-800 as a highly-qualified vendor and sold them on the merits of bidding on the call center in an extremely competitive environment. USA-800 agreed to partner with PAZ Health Care and use the Halstead Hospital as its call center location.

Initiatives worked with USA-800, PAZ Health Care Management, the Halstead Community and the Harvey County Economic Development Council to identify the proper resources and strategy necessary to sell the State of Kansas. Together, they successfully landed the Kansas Child Support Enforcement Program Call Center.