NEENAH (NBC 26) — The historic campus of ThedaCare Regional Medical Center has stood in Neenah since 1909. Originally built after Theda Clark's premonition of her own death, it has gone on to serve countless thousands of people in need of trauma care.
Now, it is redesigning its trauma center, adding a new hallway, and has installed a second helipad, among other big changes coming soon.
The Neenah campus for ThedaCare is benefitting from these renovations for the cost of about $100 million — $40 million of which was funded through donors within the community who support ThedaCare Foundation-Neenah.
ThedaCare South Region Senior Vice President Lynn Detterman said that the changes will make a big difference for the hospital's patients.
For example, the new hallway allows some privacy for trauma victims who are coming in for emergency treatments.
“Now we're able to maintain human dignity and also have some life-saving minutes shaved off of the patients' transport,” Detterman said.
She also said that minutes can make all the difference in a traumatic incident.
There will also be 3 new trauma bays that Detterman describes as "state-of-the-art."
“And then also our CT is now adjacent to one of our trauma bays, so there is the ability to do that diagnostic testing right from the patient's room. So, we just wheel them over into that CT,” Detterman said.
Before these changes, doctors' line of sight with their patients was broken up by the old layout.
“Now, line of sight by physicians is maintained throughout the entire patient's testing process,” said Detterman.
In Northeast Wisconsin, the highest rank for a trauma center is Level II, according to the Wisconsin Trauma Care System Map provided by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Only a Level I would be higher.
The Neenah campus of ThedaCare is ranked at Level II. The next nearest trauma center of that level in the region is in Green Bay.
Next, the center has plans to:
- develop a new women's center
- redesign its behavioral health services inpatient space
- create a "Main Street" for outpatient services
- add a dining area
- update its family birth center
These updates are expected to be completed in early 2024.
