Froedtert ThedaCare Health opens Fond du Lac hospital, as construction continues in Oshkosh

Froedtert ThedaCare Health’s new hospital in Fond du Lac began seeing patients in mid-April. The health system invested $35 million into the 25,000-square-foot campus, which has an emergency department, inpatient care, imaging and specialty services.

The health system plans to finish an $84 million, 114,000-square-foot health campus in Oshkosh late this year too. It’ll have a hospital, retail pharmacy, ambulatory surgical center and medical office building.

Both projects were announced in fall 2022, before ThedaCare and Froedtert Health said they were merging. They began joint operations last year and broke ground on the initiatives in spring 2024.

“A lot of our efforts have been taking the time to understand the needs of these communities, what the needs are today as well as the needs in the future, and really to ensure that we’re working to meet our patients where they are,” Jenny Nikolai, vice president of ThedaCare Medical Centers-Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, told Wisconsin Health News.

Edited excerpts from the interview are below.

WHN: What is the need for the Fond du Lac campus? 

Nikolai: It’s a great example of how we are striving to improve the delivery of healthcare in the state of Wisconsin, as a Wisconsin-led organization. That is through access, clinical excellence, health equity and more. We, within Froedtert ThedaCare Health, certainly believe it’s our responsibility to prioritize the needs of the communities that we serve and to ensure that local decisions remain local. This campus will help expand convenient access to care for those living in this region, and is really part of our broader vision of providing better and more seamless local access to care.

WHN: The campus has the ability to expand to provide other services. Is there anything you’re considering? 

Nikolai: We will continue to assess that over time. We are most excited to open our doors to serve the community right now. Based on what the needs are within the Fond du Lac community, that will drive what any additional services might look like.

WHN: How is your Oshkosh facility meeting the community’s needs? 

Nikolai: In Oshkosh, nearly 73 percent of residents live east of I-41. Most of the healthcare services are located west of I-41, meaning that our east side residents are potentially more than 15 minutes away from a hospital or emergency room. In an emergency situation, we know that time matters and minutes count.

We were focused on identifying a location that best met the needs of the community. Our health center complements the community development efforts that are underway in the downtown area. There’s major redevelopment, including new condominiums and restaurants, located in close proximity to our Oshkosh health campus.

WHN: Did the merger interfere with the timeline for these projects? 

Nikolai: Our mission and our vision to improve the health and well-being of our communities is at the forefront. It consistently has been and will be as we go forward. It really has been a seamless partnership and collaboration, as we have continued in our plans for both Oshkosh and Fond du Lac. Our teams are working very closely together on a daily basis, and our focus continues to be on how we best serve these communities.