Eau Claire Hospital, Chippewa Falls Hospital, and all Prevea Health locations in the Chippewa Valley have been forced to permanently close.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – There was a send-off for heroes across the border Thursday in western Wisconsin.
The public gathered Friday to show support for the hundreds of employees who lost their jobs at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls, both of which will permanently close.
The announcement shocked not only the local community but also those working at the hospital. Some employees told KARE 11 they learned of the change in January, when the hospital originally announced it would close on April 21st.
In a subsequent updated news release, the owners wrote: “Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), a faith-based health care system with operations in Illinois and Wisconsin, completed its wind-down operations on March 22, 2024, and will continue to operate HSHS Sacred Health System in Eau Claire. We plan to permanently close Hart Hospital. This is the same day HSHS announced it will permanently close HSHS St. Joseph Hospital in Chippewa Falls. Both closures are a result of HSHS' withdrawal from the western Wisconsin region.”
“I just didn't know what to think,” said Robin Schultz, the hospital's emergency room director. “As a leader, you want to protect and take care of your family, and for me that was my primary concern, and my second immediate concern was the community.”
HSHS said this decision was made following prolonged operational and financial stress related to the lingering effects of the pandemic, inflation, workforce constraints, local market challenges, and other industry-wide trends. He said that.
Schultz said both hospitals, which are about a 25-minute drive apart, stopped accepting patients several weeks ago. The closure will more than double drive times and put a strain on Eau Claire's other two hospitals, which are already at capacity.
“It just keeps escalating, and as the problems come to light, they get bigger,” said Schultz, whose husband is also the city's deputy chief of emergency medicine. And even though he's been in the job for nearly 30 years, he never saw this news coming.
“What was dropped was a bomb,” John Schultz said. “The biggest impact right now is going to be turnaround time.”
The move required John to find another hospital to provide training, medications, and supplies for his department. He has seven ambulances and handles about 11,000 calls a year.
“The closest thing from here is you can go to Menomonie, or you can go to Osseo if you want, and that adds an hour, an hour and a half to your trip,” John said. .
This is a deep-rooted problem that continues across the country. According to the American Hospital Association, there were 136 closures in rural hospitals from 2010 to 2021, with a record 19 closures in 2020 alone. According to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, more than 600 rural hospitals in the country, or 30% of all rural hospitals, are at risk of closing because they don't have enough revenue to cover the cost of the care they provide. It is said that they are doing so.
In western Wisconsin, communities are losing more than just emergency rooms. The closure will mean that labor and delivery, surgery, drug and alcohol treatment, and even chemotherapy will not be available on-site. Robin said 400 cancer patients are currently undergoing active treatment, sometimes having to find clinics two to three hours away.
The closure will affect approximately 1,082 HSHS employees, including Robin, all of whom will lose their jobs. Her husband was scheduled to retire this summer, but she said she plans to reconsider what she will do next.
“I think it's one of the hardest things to come out of, but we'll be okay because we know he's still doing what he loves,” Robin said.
HSHS said all affected colleagues have previously received legally required notice related to the facility's final closure and will be provided with severance pay and career transition assistance.
“We'll make it, the hospital will make it, there's no other choice,” John said.
Prevea Health, a physician network providing primary and specialty care, will also close all locations across western Wisconsin. However, HSHS and Prevea say their locations outside the region are unaffected and are operating as usual.
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