MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WDLB) — The Marshfield Medical Center has taken the next step in building a new facility in Neillsville, after acquiring the former Memorial Medical Center.
A ground-breaking ceremony was held Monday at the site of the new 100-thousand-square-foot medical facility, on what is now an empty field just off River Avenue on Neillsville’s west side.
Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Neville tells WDLB Radio the 45-million dollar project is about connecting the dots between Neillsville and the many available services at the main Clinic and Hospital facilities in Marshfield.
“We’ll be sharing staff with Marshfield Medical Center Marshfield and this staff will be going back and forth. So one day we might focus on neurology and the next day oncology. You’ll see more of a transient staff but we’ll still have about 200 local employment. And with that a lot more patients that won’t have to drive to Marshfield.”
Melissa Breen, Marshfield Clinic Health Systems Administrative Chief of Staff, said the new facility shows the Clinic’s commitment to Neillsville, at a time when many rural communities are struggling with a lack of health care services.
“Most of the communities that we serve are similar to Neillsville with populations under 2,000. The commitment to rural health care is why we are so thrilled to welcome Neillsville into our health care system family.
“Our providers have cared for patients in this community for more than three decades. And we are eager to take our partnership with Neillsville to a new level.”
Neillsville Mayor Chuck Glassbrenner was thankful for the Marshfield Medical Center’s new investment in his community and the standard of care established by the Memorial Medical Center.
“Thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of people over the last 65 years that have taken care of us. I don’t care what your job description was, what you did at MMC. You were a part of our health care and our well being.”
The former Memorial Medical Center first began in 1950, continuing the tradition of a hospital which had served the Neillsville area since 1943. Neville said the new hospital and clinic will replace the current facility, which opened October 3, 1954.
Neville says his staff will start seeing patients in the new Neillsville facility in February of 2021. The new center will feature 16 in-patient beds, two operating rooms, an infusion center, multi-specialty clinic with 29 exam rooms, a wellness center with YMCA oversight, a retail pharmacy, and expanded lab and radiology facilities.
