FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Advocate Aurora Health is breaking ground at its Fond du Lac clinic campus. The health system kicked off construction and is expanding its location.
The 70,000 square-foot expansion will create a new 185,000 square-foot hospital.
“What this means is choice in health care and access, and doing things better than we could’ve ever imagined here in Fond du Lac, and the surrounding community,” said North Wisconsin patient service area president for Advocate Aurora Health Jeff Bard.
The new facility, to be called Aurora Medical Center – Fond du Lac, will include a 10-patient bed and 8-bay emergency department.
“Health care facility design is very complex, so we’re balancing medical advancements and technology, along with patient care treatment, but also we are working with standards that Advocate Aurora has developed,” Victoria Navarro, regional director of planning, design and construction at Advocate Aurora Health said.
Advocate Aurora Health officials say Tuesday’s groundbreaking has been a long time coming.
“Team members, physicians, advanced practice clinicians who have worked at this facility for many, many, many years, I need not tell you what an exciting day this is,” said Bard. “We have, myself included, been waiting for this day for many years.”
Getting to this groundbreaking wasn’t without its hiccups, though. COVID did prolong the project and, like many industries, supply chain issues were a bit of an obstacle, as well.
“The construction industry is facing the workforce shortages for skilled labor,” Navarro said. “We’re also dealing with constraints with supply chain and material escalation, so we have done everything we could to mitigate those risks, so that we can begin this project.”
The hospital is slated to open in early 2024.
Advocate Aurora Health says this expansion will be creating about 100 jobs.
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