Aspirus Health, a nonprofit medical system based in Wausau, wants to build a new hospital in Chippewa Falls. (Submitted image)

As 2024 nears an end, the biggest Chippewa Valley news story of the year – the closure of two local hospitals – continues to reverberate. As of late November, two new hospital projects are on the drawing board even as Valley residents continue to reel from death of Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls.

Wausau-based Aspirus Health announced Nov. 15 that it is pursuing plans to build a new hospital in Chippewa Falls. In a media release, Aspirus – a nonprofit health system that operates 18 hospitals and 130 outpatient locations across parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan — said it was “collaborating with Chippewa Falls officials to advance plans for the construction of a new local hospital.” 

“Since the March 2024 closure of HSHS hospitals in the Chippewa Valley, there has been an unmet need for emergency and inpatient hospital services,” said Matt Heywood, Aspirus Health president and chief executive officer. “After months of investigation and productive conversations with local officials, we have created a plan to build a facility where residents could access emergency care, inpatient hospital services and primary care.” According to Aspirus, “Initially, the facility would provide primary, emergency and inpatient hospital care, as well as basic lab and imaging services.” The health system said it was working closely with the City of Chippewa Falls and expects to do so with state officials as well.

Meanwhile, the Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative – created earlier this year – says it continues to move ahead with “plans to offer a locally governed, independent community hospital with a broad range of services that we know the community needs to thrive.”

“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 co-op. “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.”

OakLeaf Medical Network, the largest network of independent physicians in western Wisconsin, has pledged to care for its patients in the new hospital. One of the medical network’s components, OakLeaf Clinics, announced Nov. 12 that it has opened an Urgent Care practice inside its clinic on Eau Claire’s south side. The new practice, 3802 W. Oakwood Mall Drive, is the third Urgent Care facility that OakLeaf has opened this year (the others are in Menomonie and Chippewa Falls).