FAIRBURY - Hiring two new healthcare providers, investing in robot surgery technologies, and breaking ground on a physical expansion: Fairbury’s hospital has a lot in store for 2026. 

As she approaches her one-year anniversary in her new role, Holly Wolff, CEO of Fairbury’s Jefferson Community Health and Life, stopped by the NCN/Ol’ Red studios Wednesday to share a status report and a forecast for the future of the hospital.  

 

After an at times trying year in which the hospital lost two of its primary providers – one who moved on to a different job and another who passed away after battling an illness – they will be adding two new MDs with rural health experience – one full-time and another part-time – to fill out their ranks early next year.  

“They both have different interests. And knowing we have these physicians who like gerontology and want to work with the aging population, we’re really looking at how do we bring the families and kids back into the practice,” Wolff said. “Those are all positives and the staff are just anxious and excited to get them here.” 

Fairbury’s clinic will be a standard bearer for what’s become a medical industry expectation: surgeries enhanced by robotics. JCH&L will be one of just two rural hospitals in the state that offer this particular piece of technology, designed to make certain procedures faster and safer. It’s called the da vinci 5, and will be utilized by trained specialists mostly for general or gynecological operations. The device is being transported and installed this month and should be fully operational very early next year. 

“This has become really the standard of care for training new physicians. All the new physicians that are coming out, this is what they know. They know robotic surgery,” Wolff said. “We're really just trying to very much stay ahead of the trend that we want to be the gold standard for surgery care.” 

And something that’s been in the works for a few years will begin to become a reality before too long: the hospital is unveiling plans to widen their slate of offerings by increasing the space of the facility itself. A three-part expansion plan is in the works, and construction is expected to begin sometime next year.  

“We want to be ahead of the curve to make sure that we are reflecting those needs we're hearing,” Wolff said. “And so that was one conversation we had recently within the board was, what else do we need to be doing? We're starting to shore up the staffing needs that we have. We're feeling confident in our providers and who we're going to have access to. It’s just aligning ourselves so that two years from now when all of this is open and ready, then we can already be kind of planning the next steps.” 

Our complete Wednesday morning conversation with JCH&L CEO Holly Wolff has been reprinted in full below.  

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Summarizing 2025 so far:

[There were] things that weren't planned that really did bring us all together, and that thankfulness really is the support that each other gave to staff in the community that really rallied around our needs, and being patient and understanding. And so with that, a lot of efforts in the background trying to find new providers, trying to make sure that we were shoring up all the service lines that people need access to here. So we're thankful that we have two new physicians that'll be coming on in the beginning of the year. And very, very grateful that we found two that love rural medicine, that practice rural medicine, that will really be able to know how to treat the needs of the community that we serve. 

On the two new providers joining the hospital:

Dr. Abby Hanzlicek will be here mid-January, and she is a Kansas native and has been practicing rural medicine and really was looking for a new home. And so being able to kind of give her that space to start her practice and start seeing people will be wonderful. Dr. Syed Akbar, who will be coming out of rural Texas, again, somebody who loves rural and wants to practice that way. They both have different interests. And so knowing we have these physicians who like gerontology and want to work with the aging population, really looking at how do we bring the families and kids back into the practice. Those are all positives and the staff are just anxious and excited to get them here. 

So they are both MDs by training, so medical doctors, and they very much can practice full scope. And so we will have both of them in practice. Dr. Akbar will be across both service lines, so through clinic into the hospital and the emergency room. And Dr. Hanzlicek will be just clinic-based and will be there full-time. 

On the addition of robotic surgeries:

This was one of those opportunities where the board felt very strongly to move forward on something that had been discussed for more than a year. And so having our general surgeon, Dr. Brad Olberding, he had some time open up where he could give us more availability. And in that same space, we had been talking about the need to go to the surgical robot, which is becoming the standard of care. And so the Da Vinci 5 is actually the latest version, and we will be getting our hands on it...we'll be the only one in Southeast Nebraska that will have this Da Vinci 5. So having him really excited about being able to do more surgeries, this gives us the opportunity to bring in new surgeries that we haven't done before. And we'll really be able to offer that local care that people can have, less pain, quicker recovery right at home. 

This will be mostly just for the general surgery space, and we will be able to do some OB-GYN procedures. And there are some other options that we're exploring right now that we don't have providers for. So specialists that could potentially come down and offer new services. But it really shortens the surgery time, it shortens the time that you're actually in OR. And then it does provide less pain, quicker recovery time. And that's the point, is getting people home and healed. 

Dr. Olberding has a lot of experience with robotic surgery. This has become really the standard of care for the training new physicians - all the new physicians that are coming out, this is what they know. They know robotic surgery. So we're really just trying to very much stay ahead of the trend that we want to be the gold standard for surgery care. 

I think the big thing is any of these smaller communities that surround us, they will have access to this kind of service. We really are looking at, do we need to be adding more days? Our current nursing staff, all of them are getting trained up to be prepped and ready. And so we have all local nurses who will be assisting and be able to have that capacity to assist the surgeons. And so I think the big thing is people will have an option to come this way and maybe be a little bit closer to home than having to go up to one of the more urban areas. 

On the upcoming expansion plans:

This has been in the works for years, and so I'm just going to be the one that gets to take it across the finish line. But the board has supported a large expansion project... In addition to the building, it's going to be for our therapy services. So all of our PT, OT, speech, all of those therapy services, we've had concerns in the past about their very limited space that they have to work with patients in the building right now. They also are kind of far away, so getting through the building to that service line has always been a concern. So this addition will be just next to the fitness center. So we'll have direct access to this new part of the building so people can park and walk in, and be able to access all the therapies all together. So that larger space will be phenomenal for patient care access, potentially growing any of those services a little bit more.

And with that moving in the building, we are going to be expanding our behavioral health space, giving them an opportunity to bring more therapists on board. And then we will also be expanding the cafeteria. And so knowing the community access, that they love coming to the cafeteria, they love eating the wonderful food that we make, we're going to have a bigger space, more space to gather and enjoy company and food.

It's been in conversation with my board over the last months, even since I got here, that we really always want to be forward thinking. We want to be ahead of the curve to make sure that we are reflecting those needs we're hearing. And so that was one conversation we had recently within the board was what else do we need to be doing? we're starting to shore up the staffing needs that we have. We're feeling confident in our providers and who we're going to have access to. Then it was what is next? And so that timing with the robot was a big one. We have the financial stability to do this. And so it's also really just aligning ourselves so that two years from now when all of this is open and ready, then we can already be kind of planning the next steps. 

On Rural Health Day and the value of rural medicine:

Rural health is significant to me because it really does reflect the needs of the community. It's never about anything other than, are we giving the care we need? Are we keeping people at home? Are we having good jobs that people can stay in their communities for? And I love what I do. It's being able to see all these things to come to fruition that is all about giving back to the community. And that's the fun part of my job is when we get to be in growth phase that we get to move these things forward and we have agility to make decisions and then start them right away. That's the being responsive and reflective of those needs we have. 

It's always done with a lot of thoughtful processes, making sure that we're making the right decisions, but then also following through with them. It's the timing is right. And so we are going to be in the background just kind of prepping and getting ready for all those things. 

Summarizing her first year as CEO:

It definitely has been a little bit of a blur. In year one, you always are hoping to really establish just those relationships with your staff, with the community. But being able to have the faith that people did in me to make decisions to lead us through complications...That's really important to me. We've had nothing but support, I would say, internally with my staff and externally with the community, them really understanding what we were dealing with and having patience with us and really understanding that we're building this back up to be better than ever. And so in the first year, it's been wonderful. And I'm looking forward to what the goal setting will be for year two.