Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative Announces Timeline for New Hospital

The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative has announced its planned timeline to open a new full service hospital in Chippewa Falls in August of 2027.

According to a press release, the organization has secured the funding required to open the Chippewa Valley Cooperative Hospital at the former HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital site. That hospital closed over two years ago along with HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, leaving Chippewa Valley residents with inadequate access to emergency care and straining the remaining healthcare facilities in the region. Chippewa Falls residents faced an especially difficult time following those closures, being left without a hospital at all in the city.

The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative purchased the HSHS St. Joseph's site in the months following its closure, intending to partially reopen it and use it as a stopgap to address the healthcare access crisis as they worked to construct an entirely new independent, community hospital in Lake Hallie. They've opened a Wound Care Center and Cancer Center at the site since then, restoring a portion of the healthcare services lost in the wake of the HSHS and Prevea closures.

When completed, the new Chippewa Valley Cooperative Hospital will feature an emergency department, 10 inpatient beds, and a surgery department as well as diagnostic and imaging services. Organization officials also plan to open additional services like labor and delivery in the coming years.

The announcement also comes just weeks after the official opening of the new Aspirus Health Hospital in Chippewa Falls, restoring critical emergency healthcare access to local residents after years of having no hospital at all.