Hospital Unveils $20.5 Million Addition

As Auxiliary Bishop Robert Morneau led a group of Door County dignitaries into the new wing of Ministry Door County Hospital, he was followed by a cascade of oohs, ahhs, and wows. The first look, to put it mildly, impressed.

Sylvi Zigler, a volunteer who helped usher people through the new facility, called it “amazing.”

“This was very well-planned and well thought-out,” she said. “The staff has had an extreme amount of input, right down to the paint color. It doesn’t feel intimidating.”

The $20.5 million addition to the Sturgeon Bay facility essentially creates a new hospital that emphasizes patient privacy and comfort throughout. The new wing features 28 private inpatient rooms and 8 private emergency rooms. Each room includes a sofa and reclining sleep-chair for family members, a private bathroom with shower, wireless Internet, and flat-screen televisions. The new registration area is also enclosed to provide privacy to patients. Electronic access to medical records is available throughout the building.

Bishop Robert Morneau blesses the new wing at the dedication Aug. 6.

“This is all about privacy,” said Jody Boes, vice president of patient care services.

More than 150 people attended the dedication and blessing, which also marked the renaming of the hospital as Ministry Door County Medical Center. The hospital says the new name (replacing Door County Memorial Hospital) is a reflection of its evolution into a complete health care provider offering sports medicine, orthopedics and podiatry, sleep disorder analysis, and arthritis care.

The emergency wing is the fourth major project the hospital has taken on since joining the Ministry Health Care system in 1999. The surgery wing was built in 2003, the Door County Cancer Center added in 2005, and the Women’s and Children’s Health Center in 2007.

While Pat O’Hern, president of the hospital’s board of directors, lauded the new facility, he reminded the gathering that technology alone does not make for better service.

The family waiting room in the new wing of Ministry Door County Medical Center. Photo by Myles Dannhausen Jr.

“The buildings by themselves cannot put patients first,” he said, emphasizing the role of nurses, doctors, aids and other support staff.

The hospital’s board began the project, the largest in its history, in the midst of the most uncertain economic climate since World War II. Hospital officials did it with the goal not just of improving care, but of raising the facility’s reputation. With a new state-of-the-art facility, it’s hoped that that more patients choose to get their care in Sturgeon Bay, rather than heading to Green Bay area hospitals.

About $2.5 million in donations helped fund the project, while the rest was financed. Ministry Health Care said the hospital will not be raising prices as a result of the outlay. This was the final project of a 10-year, $40 million campaign to update and expand hospital facilities that began in 2000.