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ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Neenah
ThedaCare–Froedtert Health
Hospital as seen from the G Bryan Bridge
Geography
Location	Neenah, Wisconsin, United States
Coordinates	44°11′13″N 88°27′14″W / 44.187°N 88.454°W / 44.187; -88.454
Organization
Funding	Non-profit hospital
Network	Mayo Clinic Care Network
Services
Emergency department	Level II trauma center
Helipads
Helipad	(FAA LID: WS35)
Number Length Surface ft m H1 40 12 Concrete H2 40 12 Concrete H3 45 14 Concrete
Public transit access	Valley Transit
History
Former name(s)	Theda Clark Medical Center
Opened	1909, 115 years ago
Links
Website	www.thedacare.org
Lists	Hospitals in Wisconsin

ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Neenah, formerly Theda Clark Medical Center, is a hospital in the north central United States, located on the south end of Doty Island in Neenah, Wisconsin. It is part of the ThedaCare–Froedtert Health care system and a member of the Mayo Clinic 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 (1844–1891), a philanthropist and one of the founders of Kimberly-Clark 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. They would have then built a brand new mega-hospital to serve the Fox Cities. 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 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 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. 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 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 in Outagamie County 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.

See also

• ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Appleton

References

1. "AirNav: WS35 - Theda Clark Regional Medical Center Heliport". airnav.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
2. "ThedaCare Announces Two More New Hospital Names as Part of Systemwide Rebranding Effort". Thedacare.org. ThedaCare. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
3. "Hospitals in Wisconsin". American Hospital Directory. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
4. "Hospital Directory" (PDF). Wisconsin Department of Health Services. June 30, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
5. "Fox Valley Hospital-Children's Wisconsin". childrenswi.org. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
6. "Kimberly-Clark Foundation celebrates 60 years of giving back to our communities". Kimberly-Clark. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015.
7. "Our Community". ThedaClark. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014.
8. Behnke, Duke (February 17, 2016). "ThedaCare explores building new hospital". The Post-Crescent. Appleton, Wisconsin: Gannett Company. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
9. "ThedaCare will make improvements, not merge hospitals". Archived from the original on October 25, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
10. "ThedaCare completes $100 million expansion of Neenah hospital: New emergency department, more care areas". The Post-Crescent. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
11. ^ Zimmerman, Jason (January 20, 2022). "Judge grants ThedaCare temporary injunction in stroke team case". WBAY-TV. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
12. Mills, Shamane (January 24, 2022). "ThedaCare loses court fight to keep health care staff who resigned". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
13. Heim, Madeline (January 28, 2022). "ThedaCare drops lawsuit against Ascension over hiring of former employees, which had gained national spotlight". Appleton Post-Crescent. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
14. "ThedaCare files lawsuit to keep employees from leaving for Ascension". WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Theda Clark Memorial Hospital From A History of Neenah
• "Theda Clark Hospital". If Neenah's Walls could Talk. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.

• Hospitals in Wisconsin
• Buildings and structures in Winnebago County, Wisconsin
• Hospitals established in 1909
• Trauma centers