We are in danger of losing our current medical director due to HSHS closing. We are in the works on trying to keep him for the future.”

Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson

Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s are closing, sending shock waves across the Chippewa Valley. With no exact date set as of yet, the closure could come by March 23, if not sooner. So how might it impact area services? Local fire, police, and EMS are hard at work to find solutions.
“They don’t have an exact date yet, but it is happening,” Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire and EMS Chief Ron Patten shared Monday regarding the closure of two HSHS hospitals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. “We’re still trying to come up with different ideas and remedies to make things work.”
With the Sacred Heart EMS Coordinator present for a regular ambulance meeting Monday, Patten said that patients in the eastern part of the county would likely go to Aspirus, while Mayo and Marshfield could take those in the west.
“I think right now they’re ok, but when these two other hospitals close it’s going to be limited to how much more they can take on,” he said of the Mayo and Marshfield.
St. Joseph’s closure, meanwhile, will leave Bloomer as the only hospital in Chippewa County. The closure of St. Joseph’s in Chippewa Falls will mean more people being transported to Aspirus as a result, technically located just across the border in Clark County.
With St. Joe’s slowly closing down and limited surgeries taking place at Sacred Heart, Patten said that, “everything is kind of in limbo at this point,” with offers by Oakleaf to purchase the two hospitals and closed Prevea clinics so far not seeing response.
Writing in his bimonthly report to the council, Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson shared more on the effects of the closures.
“We are in danger of losing our current medical director due to HSHS closing,” he said. “We are in the works on trying to keep him for the future.”
As to the police end, the hospital closure stands to impact mental health services, as related by Stanley Police Chief Lance Weiland.
“With the recent news of the closure of several local clinics and hospitals, this also has very devastating results as it relates to law enforcement and mental health related emergencies,” Weiland shared. “With the closure of Sacred Heart Hospital, that will mean that the closest facility that will accept a juvenile facing a mental health crisis would be either Green Bay or La Crosse. In addition, it all but guarantees all other mental health emergencies involving the adult population will result in admittance at Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh. What this means for services being tied to these calls for 6 - 8 hours minimum, with instances where we would have to dedicate 24+ straight hours for one incident. These closures are devastating for a variety of reasons, law enforcement and community services included.”
B-E-D Fire and EMS Chief Ron Patten summed the situation up.
“It will affect the whole healthcare system, which is strained already,” he said. “It will make it more difficult.”