first on decorahnews.com: Winneshiek Medical Center looks to the future through a facility master plan

What's the future of health care look like in five or ten years?  That's a big question, but a Twin Cities company has been hired by Winneshiek Medical Center to come up with some answers.

Wold Architects--formerly Horty Elving--will put together a master facility plan for WMC that will seek to figure out what the best uses for the hospital's spaces are.

Decorah Clinic Manager Dave Rooney has been in charge of the project, getting bids on the work.  The WMC Board has approved hiring Wold Architects.

Rooney says the master facility plan is not necessarily a prelude to a construction project at the hospital.  "We want to look long term and make sure we're doing the right things," he tells decorahnews.com.  The master facility plan will tell the hospital what the best uses for its spaces are--which is where the future of health care five or ten years down the road comes in.

Wold Architects will be speaking with hospital staff members and medical providers, as well as doing a market study to determine the wishes and needs of the public.

The project has a deadline of the end of June of this year.