About Us
Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics is a progressive rural medical center in Trempealeau County in beautiful west-central Wisconsin.
We serve patients in three primary care clinics, a 24-bed critical-access hospital and in an Urgent Care and Emergency Department. We offer a choice of long-term-care options, including a traditional Care Center, shorter-term Transitions Center and nearby Senior Living complex.
Gundersen Tri-County offers a full range of rehabilitation services including physical, occupational, cardiac, speech-language and respiratory therapies. We also are a community health leader, offering health and wellness outreach services in our communities.
As part of the three-state Gundersen Health System, Gundersen Tri-County partners with outreach physicians and specialists to provide advanced diagnosis, treatment and recovery locally. Those include general and specialized surgeries; cardiology; oncology; OB/GYN; sleep studies; and more.
Our Whitehall Campus is halfway between La Crosse and Eau Claire, Wis., and we are 2 hours from the Twin Cities, three hours from Madison, Wis., and five hours from Chicago, Ill.
Administration & Leadership
Executive Leaders
- Joni Olson - Administrator
- Kim Breidenbach, Medical Director, Vice Chief Medical Officer, Regional Family Medicine Departmental Chair
Directors
- Wanda Peters - Director of Outpatient Services
- Deb Frye - Director of Inpatient Services
- Kristy Millering - Financial Administrator
Human Resources
- Niki Dunn - HR Generalist
Managers
- Dana Halderson - Rehabilitation Services
- Tiffany Theisen - Long Term Care
- Janet Skroch - Resident Experience/Sunrise Assisted Living
- Kris Benusa - Dietary
- Stacy Sokup - Billing/HIM/Payment Posting
- Erin Herber - Clinic
- Darcy Goplin - Laboratory
- Lindsey Schlesser - Imaging
- Terri Barth - Nursing Inpatient and Emergency Department
- Kate Cain - Pharmacy
- Deb Slaby - Arcadia Ambulance
- Susan Zimmerman - Public Relations/Marketing/GTC Foundation Director
Individual Contributors
- Beth Rohde - Social Worker
- Rosemary Dichraff - Social Worker
- Denise Doerr - Infection Control
- Stephanie Kopp - Quality/Safety
- Linette Ford - Utilization Management/Education
- Amy Kulig - Activities Coordinator
Supervisors
- Sue Halama - Housekeeping
- Barb Schank - Surgery
- Bri Rotering - GTC Ambulance and EMS
- Jenny Kokke - Supervisor Patient Liaison
- Justin Waldvogel - Facility Operations Supervisor
Assistants
- Jill Berg - Executive Administrative Assistant
- Kassie Ballentine - Human Resources Assistant
Board of Directors
Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics is governed by an 9-member Board of Directors made up of local community members and health-system representatives.
The directors are elected to their positions, and are responsible for setting the broad policies, objectives and strategies for the Hospital, Clinics and Transition Care options. The Board of Directors meets monthly in Whitehall.
Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics is your local and community owned Hospital. We encourage your participation, and you are welcome to speak to any of our directors. We want to know your ideas, your concerns and your criticisms about community healthcare and our role in improving the overall health of the communities we serve.
Board of Directors
Kathy Klock
Gundersen Health System
Beth Lisowski
Whitehall Community
Kimberly Breidenbach, MD
Gundersen Health System
Terri Binfet
Gundersen Health System
Marilu Bintz, MD
Gundersen Health System
Dennis Stephenson, Chairman
Blair Community
Ron Guza
Independence Community
Vicky Bakalars
Gundersen Health System
Marlys Kolstad
Arcadia Community
Joni Olson, Administrator
Serves at the behest of the Board of Directors, providing strategic and operational information as requested.
Jill Berg
Executive Administrative Assistant
Mike Warner
Independence Community
Shirley Miller
Blair Community
Dohn Galstad
Blair Community
History
Our Century of Care
Doctor N.S. Simons and Dr. E.A. MacCornack were the Whitehall Community Hospital's first doctors. Dr. Simons purchased a local doctor's practice in 1914 and invited Dr. MacCornack to move to Whitehall from Keokuk, Iowa. The pair did surgery in the Parker House, a residence on Whitehall's Dewey Street and even did surgery at patients' homes before the hospital was built.
The original Whitehall Community Hospital was built in 1917 for $10,000. The hospital could hold 16 patients. A $20,000 addition in 1924 made space for a total of 35 beds.
The same year the hospital was built, Dr. MacCornack's wife established a nurses' training school. It operated until 1931 in conjunction with the hospital and graduated 52 nurses, several of whom returned for the February 1965 opening of Tri-County Memorial.
In 1961, State of Wisconsin officials urged Whitehall Community Hospital officials consider building a new, more-modern facility. A 1962 fund drive netted an eventual $250,000 and ground was broken in July 1963. It was completed in early 1965, and renamed Tri-County Memorial Hospital.
Tri-County Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home in Whitehall entered the third phase of its history in 1998 as the community celebrated a $5.5 million building and renovation project that year.
That project came more than three decades after the 1963-65 construction. The "Renewed Beginning" theme for the 1998 open house focused on how the mid-1990s project made Tri-County a better healthcare facility yet one that still embraced its heritage. Key improvements included:
- New Rehabilitation Services department
- New Hospital lobby
- Nursing Home all located on the third floor
- New Emergency Department with Urgent Care
- An expanded Laboratory
- Expanded Imaging Services department
Tri-County began its $500,000 "Building For The Future" building campaign in the fall of 1993 after then-CEO Ronald Fields, department managers and employees evaluated their space needs and realized they needed a larger Laboratory, Emergency Room and Rehab Services, among other areas. Staff also knew that having the nursing home on the second and third floors wasn't conducive to the best-possible care.
Nearly 700 area residents, Tri-County employees, former patients and friends pledged more than $550,000 to the building campaign. Nearly 95 percent of Tri-County employees also pledged to make their facility better; their pledges alone tallied about $80,000.
Construction began in the early fall of 1995. R.J. Jurowski Construction, Inc., of Whitehall was the general contractor. The work progressed in two phases: First was new construction of the third-floor nursing home; Emergency Room; Laboratory; and Rehab Services. As those departments vacated their former spaces, builders began the second phase of renovating the rest of the building. The projected added 28,715 square feet of new construction. More than 29,800 square feet of existing space was remodeled.
As our century mark appears on the horizon, Tri-County has taken another significant step forward as it strengthens its affiliation with the Gundersen Health System and becomes Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics. We now are a comprehensive rural healthcare network serving Trempealeau County, eastern Buffalo County and western Jackson County.