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New hospital website design has pluses, minuses

Posted: Mon, Dec 17, 2012 6:26 PM

You don't normally expect a website design to be the topic of controversy.  But it seems everything related to Winneshiek Medical Center has provoked controversy in the past—and the hospital's former website design has been no exception.
 
Previously the hospital board has been questioned by members of the public about not having Gundersen Clinic physicians who practice at the hospital listed on the hospital's website.  The new website design corrects this situation.  Website visitors who click on the "About WMC" tab at the top right of the hospital home page, then visit "Medical Staff" will get information about all doctors practicing at the hospital.  After the section titled "Your Mayo Clinic Health System doctors with Active Medical Staff privileges at Winneshiek Medical Center" the section titled "Gundersen Lutheran – Decorah doctors with Active Medical Staff privileges at Winneshiek Medical Center" lists the Gundersen physicians who practice at the hospital.  Congratulations to the hospital administration for making this change.
 
A second complaint voiced the members of the public about the previous website design was the lack of ease of accessibility in contacting the hospital administration—and on this count, the new website format takes a step backwards.  Yes, the pictures of members of the WMC Board are still there, but they have no e-mail addresses for a member of the public to use.  And information about the administrators at the hospital has vanished.  Want to send a comment to the people running the hospital?  You have to contact webmaster@winmedical.org--and hope your e-mail gets passed along.
 
Hospital officials have promised the new website design "was built to expand."  Here's hoping future changes will make it friendlier to members of the public.