ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Neenah, formerly ''Theda Clark Medical Center'', is a hospital in the north central

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located on the south end of

Doty Island Doty Island is an island in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Its northern part is in the city of Menasha and its southern part is in the city of Neenah. Doty Island is surrounded by two branches of the Fox River on the north and south, flowing from ...

Neenah, Wisconsin Neenah ( ) is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River (Green Bay tributary), Fox River approximately northeast of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, O ...

. It is part of the ThedaCare–Froedtert Health care system and a member of the

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

Care Network. Children's Wisconsin also operates a hospital on the property focusing on pediatric care. The medical center is dedicated to Theda Clark Peters, daughter of

Charles B. Clark Charles Benjamin Clark (August 24, 1844 – September 10, 1891) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin and one of the founders of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in Neenah, Wisconsin, Neenah with John A. K ...

, a philanthropist and one of the founders of

Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...

Corporation. A renowned community activist herself, she died at age 32 at her home while giving birth in 1903. Recognizing the need for an area hospital, her family donated $96,000 to build a hospital in 1909 in her memory, and later donated another $50,000 to establish a fund to pay for care for those who couldn't afford it.

Replacement plan

ThedaCare was in the process of seeking the closure of the hospital along with

ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Appleton ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Appleton, formerly ''Appleton Medical Center'' (1984–2015), and ''Appleton Memorial Hospital'' (1958–1984), serves the northern side of the city of Appleton, Wisconsin. The hospital was chartered by the Sta ...

. They would have then built a brand new mega-hospital to serve the

Fox Cities The Fox Cities of Northeastern Wisconsin are the cities, towns and villages along the Fox River as it flows from Lake Winnebago northward into Green Bay. The Fox Cities communities, as defined by its Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visit ...

. A representative of the company stated that investing in a new hospital would make more sense than investing in the remodeling of both hospitals. The representative also said that newer medical procedures, bring the need for different facilities. ThedaCare cited the need for a larger

Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

to cope with the increased demand for beds in the unit as another reason to build another hospital. On October 25, 2017, it was announced that the plan was abandoned and instead they would focus on remodeling the two hospitals.

History

The hospital, called Theda Clark Hospital back then, was completed in October 1909. Over the years, the hospital had many major renovations and additions. The hospital gained an Intensive Care Unit, a NICU, a pain clinic, and a transport helicopter. In 2015, the name Theda Clark was changed to Theda Care. Between 2022 and 2024, the hospital completed a major remodel project which saw the expansion/enhancement of the helipads, emergency/trauma units, outpatient services, food court, and robotic surgical equipment. A new Women`s center and North East Wisconsin's first Obstetrical Emergency Department were also created.

Theda Star

The hospital's heliport is home to Theda Care's Air Medical Helicopter service known as Theda Star. The service uses a single 2008 built

Eurocopter EC135 The Airbus Helicopters H135, formerly Eurocopter EC135, is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic flig ...

painted in the Theda Star livery (N391PH) but other helicopters are substituted in when the main helicopter goes in for maintenance. Theda Star is utilized to pick up trauma patients from accident scenes to the trauma center and to transfer patients between area hospitals.

2022 lawsuit against Ascension

In December 2021, a radiological technician on the hospital's stroke care team applied for a similar job at St. Elizabeth Hospital across town. St. Elizabeth Hospital is owned and operated by

Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

. They accepted the position after being offered much higher pay and better terms of employment than at ThedaCare. Seven of the other ten ThedaCare team members then also applied for Ascension positions and were hired. The workers who left said that before they did, they asked ThedaCare if it could match the offers they had received, and the company declined. All the employees were on an

at-will In United States labor law, at-will employment is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason (that is, without having to establish " just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. f ...

employment status with ThedaCare and therefore had no contractual obligation to remain employed with the company. Instead, a month later, ThedaCare filed for a

temporary injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable remed ...

Outagamie County Outagamie County ( ) is a county in the Fox Cities region of the U.S. state of Wisconsin, in the northeast of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 190,705. Its county seat is Appleton. Outagamie County is part of the Appleton ...

Court, seeking to prevent Ascension from fully employing those workers for 90 days, or until it could replace them. It argued that if they left when they did, it would be unable to provide the stroke care that had made it the only Level II stroke care unit in the Fox Valley and residents would be forced to go farther. On January 22, the injunction was granted, but the judge encouraged the hospitals to resolve their differences quickly. On January 24, Thedacare lost its court battle to keep health care staff who wanted to work for Ascension. Later that week Thedacare dropped their lawsuit against Ascension.

References

External links