Gov. Evers administration visits clinic and fire station under construction

Gov. Tony Evers and members of his administration on Tuesday visited two ongoing construction projects for healthcare and first responders in Park Falls and Oconto Falls to highlight health infrastructure project funding awards.

The governor visited the ongoing $35 million Marshfield Medical Center – Park Falls project to maintain the facility’s aging infrastructure. Clinic improvements received the help of a $20 million grant from the state’s Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Investment Program, Marshfield Clinic Health System officials said.

The clinic system named Miron Construction Co. as the general contractor and BWBR as the primary architect. Clinic officials first announced the project in 2021, and the governor’s grant kicked in during 2022.

“We’ve made progress over the last four years in expanding access to healthcare across our state, especially in our rural communities, to help address barriers to folks getting the care they need,” Evers said in a statement. “In Park Falls, where the next closest hospital is nearly an hour away, we were proud to invest $20 million to upgrade this facility and better serve the residents of Park Falls and the surrounding area. We must keep working to expand healthcare access in rural communities across the state—making sure every Wisconsinite has access to high-quality, affordable healthcare is not only good for our economy and our workforce, it’s also the right thing to do.”

Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary-designee Kathy Blumenfeld attended a groundbreaking for a $7 million fire station in Oconto Falls. The state awarded funding through a grant under the Neighborhood Investment Fund Grant Program and Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Investment Grant Program, governor’s office officials said. The former stems from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

The fire station project calls for a 19,250-square-foot, single-store public safety building, according to city plans.

Evers first announced the Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Investment Grant Program in August of 2021, part of a $285 million investment allotted by the governor for community capital projects statewide, governor’s office officials said.

Park Falls also received more than $5.6 million through the Neighborhood Investment Fund Grant Program for the construction of a new YMCA facility, officials added.

The healthcare capital grant program is administered by DOA and funded through ARPA and carries grants ranging from $158,000 to a maximum of $20 million, officials said. Applications were open for a month in fall of 2021.

Residents can see pandemic-related assistance for families, farmers, businesses, organizations and communities at BadgerBounceback.wi.gov, according to state officials.