Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative November Update

The expert third-party feasibility study we commissioned to help determine configuration, location, and sustainability factors for a new independent hospital is complete. This report examined many different variables and focused on the unique healthcare situation in the Chippewa Valley. The report identifies clear gaps and clearly supports the need for a new, full-service hospital here. 

We invite you to attend the Cooperative’s Community Information Meeting on Monday, December 9th at 6 PM at the Heyde Center, 3 South High Street in Chippewa Falls. Doors will open at 5:30 PM. We will share our plans for the new independent community hospital and answer questions from the audience.

We are happy to share that the Cooperative received its 501c3 designation from the Internal Revenue Service late last week. Thank you to Senator Tammy Baldwin’s office, which was instrumental in helping accelerate this process that has been significantly backlogged nationwide. For people who made a donation to the Cooperative, we will be sending charitable receipt letters out by mid-December.

Last week, Aspirus, a healthcare system that operates the Stanley Hospital, among others outside of our region, announced it was building a small, limited-scope acute care hospital in Chippewa Falls. What they have shared publicly is much different from the full-service hospital that the Cooperative plans to meet the wide range of critical healthcare gaps in the Chippewa Valley. Our plans include Labor & Delivery, full-service Cancer Care, comprehensive Surgical Services, emergency and elective Cardiac Care, Wound Care, and Emergency Room services. These are all services that we know many patients in our community are traveling long distances to receive.

In response to questions from the media about our plans, we issued the following statement: 

“The Chippewa Valley has been at the mercy of out-of-town hospital systems for decades, and our community has had little voice in what services and facilities exist here to care for our residents,” said Robert Krause, Board Chair of the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative. “The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative is moving forward to build an independent, locally governed nonprofit hospital to provide our community local, cost-effective access to the broad range of healthcare services it needs to thrive.”

In addition, Dr. Kyle Dettbarn, the Chair of the Board of OakLeaf Medical Network, issued a statement to questions from the media:

“The physicians and clinics of the OakLeaf Medical Network, the largest network of independent physicians in Western Wisconsin, which serves over 50,000 primary care patients throughout the greater Chippewa Valley, have committed to caring for their patients at the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative’s new hospital. We believe local control is key to the stability and sustainability of any new hospital in our region, and the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative’s plan provides the best solution to this healthcare crisis.”

We remain stalwart in our mission to address the full range of healthcare gaps in the greater Chippewa Valley and are moving forward as fast as possible.

If you have any questions or comments, please use this form, and we will do our best to address them as soon as possible.

Thank you for your support.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Robert Krause, Chair, Board of Organizers
Patti Darley, Vice Chair, Board of Organizers