ThedaCare has broken ground on a $16 million emergency department expansion at its Waupaca hospital, where administrators say seasonal crowding has left patients being treated in waiting areas and other spaces. The project will expand the department to 10,000 square feet, add four treatment rooms and build an ambulance bay; completion is expected in early 2028.
The health system broke ground this week at ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca, according to fox11online.com. The new emergency room will be 30% larger than the current space, increasing treatment rooms from eight to 12. The rooms will offer more space for patients, families and caregivers. The project also includes an ambulance bay designed for larger emergency vehicles and to shield patients from the weather during transport.
Summer Crowding Pushed Patients Into Waiting Rooms
Lynn Detterman, North Region president of Froedtert ThedaCare, said the department reaches its space limits during summer, when Waupaca’s population swells. “We max out in space in the summer,” she said, according to the station’s report. Detterman also said staff sometimes see patients in waiting areas and other spaces. ThedaCare cites community growth, seasonal visitors and an aging population as sources of added demand.
Waupaca County's population is aging
The county’s 2025-2027 aging plan projects that residents aged 60 and older will make up 41-51% of Waupaca County’s population by 2035, compared with 29.1% today, according to the Waupaca County Aging and Disability Resource Center.
Jenny Derks, vice president of ThedaCare Medical Centers-New London and Waupaca, said the added capacity is intended to accommodate patient volume and improve how care moves through the department, according to the same account. ThedaCare has also added robotic surgery options, behavioral health facilities and primary care physicians in Waupaca in recent years, the outlet reports.
A Broader Fight Over Rural Hospital Survival
The Waupaca project comes amid financial pressure on rural hospitals nationally. A report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform says more than 100 rural hospitals closed between 2015 and 2026. The organization estimates nearly 700 rural hospitals—about one-third of the national total—are at risk of closing, including 260 it considers at immediate risk.
The report also says more than 40% of rural hospitals lose money on patient services and more than a quarter lost money overall in 2025. Against that backdrop, ThedaCare’s $16 million investment is a notable expansion while rural hospitals elsewhere face closures and cutbacks.
Why Rural Emergency Rooms Are Busier Than Ever
Rural emergency departments have also seen rising use over time. WBAY, citing the National Institutes of Health, reported that rural emergency department visits increased by more than 50% from 2005 to 2016, amid factors including an aging population and limited access to alternative care. Those wider trends provide context for the demand ThedaCare officials describe in Waupaca.
An employer listing from PracticeMatch describes ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca as a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital serving Waupaca and surrounding communities, with an emergency department averaging 12,000 visits a year. The expansion is intended to give those patients more room and privacy and help care move through the department when the project opens in early 2028.
