Skip to main content

Add to your back-to-school list: 1) Get vaccinated 2) Wear a mask

Add to your back-to-school list: 1) Get vaccinated 2) Wear a mask
Monday, August 23, 2021

As families and students prepare back-to-school to-do lists, two important items should be added: COVID-19 vaccination and masking. These two important actions, layered with distancing and cleaning hands, will reduce the spread of the virus and protect against the severe illness that requires hospitalization.

Gundersen is preparing for an increase in COVID-19 cases, especially for kids who are returning to classrooms soon. The community should be, too. Vaccinated kids age 12 and older can protect their peers and school staff; parents and other adults can protect their kids and other peoples’ kids. Adding a mask to indoor, public locations, like schools, adds an important layer of protection against the virus.

Gundersen is seeing young, more sick patients in its hospitals than ever before. The rapid increase over the last two weeks, driven almost entirely by unvaccinated people and the highly contagious Delta variant, is concerning.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services data shows the unvaccinated population is more than three times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 and nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized if infected. CDC data also shows risk of severe illness or death is decreased 10-fold among those who are vaccinated.

How to get the vaccine

Anyone age 12 and older, patients or non-patients, can get the free, safe COVID-19 vaccine at Gundersen.

All three approved COVID-19 vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson – are available this week during walk-in appointments at the Gundersen Onalaska Clinic 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Also this week, Gundersen Health System is providing COVID-19 third doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine to high-risk individuals.

COVID-19 vaccine is available during Onalaska Family Medicine and Pediatrics appointments for those with scheduled appointments, along with primary care appointments at Gundersen regional clinic locations. Please talk to your healthcare provider to get questions answered.

Adult Gundersen patients can walk-in, schedule their appointment through MyChart, or call the scheduling line at (608) 775-6829. Adult non-patients can walk-in or call the scheduling line at (608) 775-6829, option 2, for a vaccine appointment.

Patients under age 18 need parent or guardian consent in person or by calling the Gundersen scheduling line at (608) 775-6829.

News
kent-klocke
Grateful patient
Decorah man grateful for what he has despite losing finger

June 01, 2023

Kent Klocke works with his hands, so the contractor from Decorah is used to the occasional cuts and bruises. That’s why, when he cut his left ring finger one Tuesday
ottmar-boebel
News
Movin’ & More with Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics

May 31, 2023

On Tuesday and Thursday, the Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics’ Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Department is buzzing with activity as residents engage in the popular Movin’ & More program.  
neil-kinder-survival
Grateful patient
Man thankful for care team following life-altering accident

May 24, 2023

Neil “Moose” Kinder remembers grabbing his cellphone to answer his wife’s call shortly after colliding with three trees along a rural stretch of road near Merrillan, Wis.
project-search-graduate
News
Project SEARCH students celebrate graduation and new jobs

May 24, 2023

On May 25, seven interns graduated from a program called Project SEARCH – and all seven have job offers. In her six years as a Project SEARCH instructor, this is

1900 South Ave.
La Crosse, WI 54601

(608) 782-7300

Language Support:
Jump back to top