From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Gov. Tony Evers today joined a ribbon cutting for the new Marshfield Medical Center-Park Falls hospital after previously approving $20 million for the facility’s renovation.
The funding came in 2022 from the Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Grant Program, which Evers created with American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars. It was meant to address aging infrastructure for the hospital, improve inpatient rooms, and create a new urgent care space while adding retail pharmacy services and more.
The guv’s office says the $20 million award helped the facility stay open during the renovation project. The next closest medical facility of its kind is located nearly an hour away, according to today’s release.
“By investing in projects like this, we’re not only creating systems to set this region up for the next century of patient care, but we’re also creating a hub for community jobs, we’re creating a focal point to bring new residents and businesses to the area, and we’re giving those who have called this community home for years another reason to be proud of this great city,” Evers said in a statement.
See more in the release below.
— State health officials are distributing 131,000 drug checking test strips to community groups in the state to help cut fatal overdoses.
The Department of Health Services today announced the distribution of the test strips while also renewing the statewide standing order for the overdose reversal drug naloxone. That allows pharmacists to provide the drug without needing a prescription, according to the DHS release. Unlike previous standing orders, the latest one doesn’t expire.
The test strips can test if opioids contain xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that can be mixed into fentanyl and other drugs. DHS says the drug makes it more likely to die from overdose, while also causing serious skin infections.
Today’s announcement highlights various strategies DHS is pursuing to fight the opioid epidemic, including a rapid response system for overdoses, mobile response teams, fentanyl test strips and more. The agency says final data for 2024 is expected to “show a significant year-over-year decrease” in drug overdose deaths when it’s released later this year.
See the release below.
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Press Releases
– Gov. Evers: Celebrates grand opening of new critical access hospital in Park Falls
