Aurora plans to expand clinic

Oconomowoc Focus, Feb. 9 2006

Jonna Clark
Staff writer

City of Oconomowoc - Aurora Wilkinson Medical Clinic announced this week plans to establish an interim center for women's health services in Oconomowoc.

Aurora plans to build at Summit Center Market Place on Highway 67 across from Olympia Resort and Conference Center and open in late summer or early fall this year.

"This new clinic will allow us to consolidate a range of women's services at one location, offering greater comfort and convenience for our patients," said Dr. Patrick Sims.

Sims and four other physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology will move their offices from the existing Oconomowoc clinic to the new location.

In a news release, Sims said that the new women's clinic in Oconomowoc is a temporary step in anticipation of the opening of a new hospital in the Town of Summit.

"We expect to move virtually all of our women's services to the new hospital when it opens," Sims said.

The new clinic will occupy 14,100 square feet of leased space in a facility to be built in Summit Center Market Place.

The new clinic will have exam rooms and diagnostic services, including mammography, stereotactic biopsy, ultrasound and bone densitometry.

When the obstetrician-gynecologists move to the new building, Aurora will remodel parts of the existing clinic on Summit Avenue to provide more space for other services.

Aurora officials have said they remain committed to building a hospital in Pabst Farms in the Town of Summit and that the new building for women's health services is a temporary fix to overcrowding.

Officials anticipate a new hospital would offer a complete range of women's health services, including suites for labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum.

Opponents of the new hospital, namely ProHealth Care and its Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital (OMH), have maintained that building another hospital within three miles of OMH is excessive in local health services and will contribute to rising healthcare costs.

ProHealth spokeswoman Sandra Peterson pointed out that ProHealth officials have never been opposed to clinic expansion or other new medical clinics in general in the area.