Construction for new Gundersen Tri-County Hospital underway

WHITEHALL, Wis. (WEAU) - Construction for the new Gundersen Tri-County Hospital in Whitehall is expected to be completed this year.

The hospital received a $1 million dollar grant through federal funding to add solar panels to the hospital.

“We are going to have a solar panel array that will help us maintain some clean energy and reduce our energy output costs, and really be able to pay for these panels,” Deb Frye, Gunderson Tri-County Hospital In-patient Director said. “They are projected to pay for themselves within 12 years.”

The panels will help the hospital work to be energy conscious.

“We’re going to be able to lower our energy output and we have the sun available to us to be able to grab onto that and help with our costs, which we can then translate back to patients and be able to give them a better experience,” Frye said.

On top of reducing energy costs, Kevin Burright, Gundersen Tri-County Hospital Facility Ops Manager Kevin Burright said it will also save money for the patients.

“We’re putting our solar array in so that we can help alleviate the costs of health care in our community,” Burright said. “It is part of our goal to save money for our patients, for ourselves, and to pass that off onto our patients as well.”

With new state-of-the-art technologies in Whitehall, Frye said the hospital staff looks forward to serving the community.

“Our future is looking really bright. We are so excited to be in this brand-new hospital. We can’t wait,” Frye said. “There’s a lot of work to be done until we get to that point, but we are going to be able to offer some brand new, beautiful facilities, better health and better connection with our patients.”

The new hospital is expected to be completed and open to the public in August.

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