Higher demand seen in Eau Claire emergency departments

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - For more than a month, healthcare workers in the area have been working to maintain the same level of care in the Chippewa Valley as there are now only two emergency departments. Now, care is still being provided in the region, with some adjustments.

“We have to work together so they get us back on the road,” Jon Schultz, the Eau Claire Fire Rescue Deputy Chief, said.

First responders and healthcare staff are pulling together in the wake of hospital closures in the Chippewa Valley.

“The hospitals have been doing a great job of getting us in and out as ambulances,” Jason Thom, the Fire Chief for Chippewa Falls Fire and Emergency Services, said. “Our wait time is minimal.”

Thom said transport times have gone up, but that was expected with emergency departments based in Eau Claire.

“They get us in, triage the patients and get the ambulances back out the door and back to those communities,” Schultz said.

EMS staff aren’t the ones seeing the direct impact, Thom and Schultz said it’s the emergency rooms that are hit the hardest.

“We need another hospital. We really do,” Schultz said. “We’re just too big. There’s too many patients in the area.”

Schultz said before the hospital closures, they had around 200-250 transports to Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire. He said they had around 75-100 to Marshfield Medical Center-Eau Claire but last month that went up.

“Mayo had over 400 transports from us. Marshfield had a little over 150 transports from us,” Schultz said.

We reached out to Mayo and Marshfield to talk about their emergency departments in Eau Claire. They weren’t available for an interview but Mayo Clinic sent the following statement:

Marshfield Clinic also sent the following statement:

In the meantime, first responders said they will continue to provide care to anyone who needs it.

“We’re all working together and and we have to to get this,” Thom said.

Thom and Schultz said there haven’t been situations where they can’t keep up with the call volume but if that happens, there is mutual aid with neighboring departments they could call if needed.