HSHS and Prevea Closures Prompt Roadside Rallies

Employees of HSHS and Prevea and community supporters rallied outside Sacred Heart Hospital on Friday following the closure announcements.

Earlier this week, Hospital Sisters Health System and Prevea Health announced that HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls would be closing permanently, as well as all of their health clinics in the Chippewa Valley. The news caught most, including employees and patients, by surprise.

As cars and trucks drove by the W Clairemont Avenue rally on Friday morning honking their horns in support, some employees described the last week of their lives. They used words like depressing, chaotic, and hopeless. One employee told Civic Media they found out on Facebook after taking a nap before a night shift.

“We thought for sure that we were going to get bought out,” another employee said. “They had a town hall meeting on Monday and we knew something was probably going on, but never did we think that they were just going to close, especially everything.”

HSHS and Prevea cited financial stress from the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation, and local market challenges in a press release announcing the closures on Monday. The press release also said the organizations would do their best to help their employees find other opportunities, but some who spoke with Civic Media were not hopeful.

“You think of the area we live in, this is housing for so many jobs in the area,” said one at the rally. “How many nurses, housekeepers, providers, nurse practitioners are out of a job now. I mean Mayo can’t absorb it all, Marshfield has had rumors, I’m not really sure where to go.”

Above everything else however, the employees at the rally expressed how dire the situation is for their patients. “It’s strokes, it’s simple procedures like appendectomies where people could die if they aren’t treated,” said one employee. “People are going to die and nobody cares.”

HSHS and Prevea plan to close a majority of their facilities in the Chippewa Valley by April 21st, and expect to close all of their locations by June 30th.