From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— ThedaCare says it’s on track to complete its $84 million Oshkosh medical campus later this year as it begins recruiting for positions.
After breaking ground on the project in March 2024, the health system this week announced “significant progress” has been made on the 114,000-square-foot medical center.
Construction on concrete curbs has wrapped up while sidewalks at the site are nearly complete, and flooring installation and initial painting has begun, according to the update. Meanwhile, exterior glass features have been installed and contractors have started landscaping and asphalt paving.
Once complete, ThedaCare Medical Center-Oshkosh will include an emergency department, radiology and lab services, an ambulatory surgery center, a drive through retail pharmacy, a medical office building and more.
Jenny Nikolai, vice president of ThedaCare’s medical centers in Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, says the new campus “rounds out clinical care we have been providing the Oshkosh community for years, including cancer care, behavioral health, urgent care, orthopedics, physical therapy, primary care, pediatrics and more.”
As the project moves toward completion by year’s end, the health system has started recruiting for the 60 new jobs that are expected to be created at the campus, the announcement notes.
See the release below and see pictures of the project site here.
— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Steve Goldberg, executive director of the WEA Member Benefits Foundation.
The foundation is linked to the company, which provides insurance and retirement services for about 90,000 educators in Wisconsin across more than 400 school districts. In recent years, the foundation has put a focus on student mental health in the state, aimed at addressing this rising challenge.
“We went to school districts all over the state and asked them what keeps them up at night, and the superintendents told us that student mental health was one of their top concerns and one of the top challenges that they were facing,” he said.
Goldberg discusses the foundation’s efforts to help raise funds for these school districts from the private sector, coordinating philanthropic donations from across the state.
He also highlights a statewide K-12 student art contest the foundation, underlining the importance of the arts for fostering better self-esteem, mental health and wellbeing. The contest gets between 200 and 300 entries every year through art teachers, and 11 awards are given out to recognize the winners.
The podcast explores the trend of students feeling increasing levels of stress, depression and anxiety, as Goldberg notes social media and political divisiveness are playing a role. He also references more recent developments around immigration enforcement and deportation threats.
“Those factors are relatively recent, but they just have added to the stress that young people are feeling historically,” he said. “That spiked during COVID, and some of that has diminished, but there are still a high percentage, about 23% of all students in Wisconsin schools, are diagnosed with mental health or behavioral health conditions.”
Of that number, only half received treatment last year, Goldberg said. He also noted a shortage of mental health practitioners both in Wisconsin and across the country, as well as “shrinking” budgets for mental health at school districts in the state.
“We’ve been providing them with starter grants to help strengthen their approach to student mental health, and then we’ve been helping them tell their story in their local community by opening doors for them to meet with funders,” he said. “And those funders are coming through with additional funding to supplement what we provide.”
Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.
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Press Releases
– ThedaCare: Construction continues at medical center-Oshkosh
