Surgical hospital shows off new facility at open house

Saturday, October 4, 2014
Josh Spreiter, WEAU.COM

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU)- A major addition in Altoona is open for business. OakLeaf Surgical hospital welcomed its first patients back in August.

Saturday the $38-million facility hospital opened its doors to the public at an open house.

OakLeaf Surgical Hospital has relocated to a newly-constructed, state-of-the-art facility. Governing board chair Dr. John Drawbert said it was time to move on from the old location.

"We realized in 2006-2007 that we overfilled our stay there. We were dealing with capacity, and we started making plans and in 2008 we went with the plan to go ahead with a new replacement hospital," Drawbert said.

Back in 2006, Chief of staff Dr. Brent Wogahn was asked to evaluate the old facility. What he found eventually led to the decision to move to Altoona.

"Everything was small, trying to create extra space move some walls, moving everything around was very difficult," Dr, Wogahn said.

The new surgical hospital was created from the vision of its 52 physician owners, and covers more than 100,000 square feet on two floors.

"There is so much in this hospital that really makes is a gem in the community," CEO Anne Hargrave-Thomas told us.

OakLeaf Surgical Hospital says it reflects the values of its physicians, patients, and the community.

"Before we moved out here, this was Altoona's land that had sat dormant for a while. It was amazing to see once we decided to move here, you'll see how this whole intersection just started to blossom," Dr. Drawbert said.

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