Southwest Health this week announced plans to construct a new outpatient building near its Platteville hospital. The building is expected to house several services currently offered at the hospital to free up space in the hospital for a planned internal remodel.
“We’ve been blessed with some pretty aggressive growth, and the result is that we’re simply out of space at the hospital,” said Southwest Health Chief Ancillary Services Officer Corey Schmidt. “Moving some of those services (to the new building) clears up a ton of that space for other uses.”
Preliminary costs for the entire project range from $20 million to $25 million. The design of the outpatient building is not yet finalized, but early estimates put it at roughly 20,000 square feet.
The new outpatient building on Eastside Road will hold Southwest Health Behavioral Services, the eye center and several other services currently housed in the main hospital. The move is expected to take place in 2026 once the building is complete.
Southwest Health CEO Dan Rohrbach said the move will be particularly beneficial for the behavioral services department, which offers outpatient mental health care.
Demand for such services has surged in recent years, Rohrbach said, and the department is “maxed out” in its current space.
“Mental health is a growing need,” he said. “We see that here locally, but it’s true nationwide. If we want to continue to offer additional services to the community, we have to expand that space, which causes kind of a domino effect.”
Rohrbach added that no service disruptions are expected during construction.
Article by Grace Nieland, Telegraph Herald.
Comments