Van Orden meets with hospital leaders, legislators about health care concerns

EAU CLAIRE — U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, met with area legislators and hospital leaders on Friday to discuss how the Chippewa Valley is handling the closures of HSHS St. Joseph’s and Sacred Heart hospitals.

Officials from Mayo, Marshfield and OakLeaf were present for the meeting at the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Things are not all well here,” Van Orden told area media after the meeting concluded. “Can we cover our bases right now? We’re barely holding our heads above water.”

Van Orden said he is introducing federal legislation that he hopes will help the area hospitals.

“Rural America is America; people around here deserve health care,” Van Orden said.

Van Orden was critical of Gov. Tony Evers for using a line-item veto on a $15 million measure that is meant to provide state funding specifically for hospitals in western Wisconsin. The funding is currently sitting in limbo, as the state’s Joint Finance Committee hasn’t released the funding so it can be spent. Van Orden contends it was a mistake for Evers to use the line-item veto power to alter that legislation.

“We have to put politics aside,” Van Orden said. “This should not be a hot-button issue. All three (area health care systems) said it would be very helpful to have that (funding).”

Michael Smith with the OakLeaf Medical Network noted that Sacred Heart Hospital was expected to have 900 births delivered there this year. Marshfield Medical Center-Rice Lake announced last month that labor and delivery services will be temporarily paused due to staffing limitations that support the service. Smith said about 300 babies were estimated to be born there this year. That means there are potentially 1,200 births displaced to other hospitals this year alone.

“We have people right now driving to New Richmond for OB services,” Smith said. “It’s just inadequate.”

Van Orden said hearing about those concerns over delivering births is why politics need to be removed from this discussion.

“I cannot see an OB doctor asking a lady her political affiliation while she’s having her baby,” Van Orden said.

Smith told Van Orden he would like to see closer cooperation between the three health care systems.

State Rep. Rob Summerfield, R-Bloomer, was among the legislators who attended the forum.

“We have to do better on the critical access, especially for Chippewa County,” Summerfield said. “Not one (single) thing is going to fix this.”