From Obstetrics to Robotics: WinnMed's Expansion Tackles Facility Gaps and Needs

DECORAH — Winneshiek Medical Center Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Steve Slessor sat down with DecorahNews.com to detail the hospital's "Transforming Tomorrow" expansion project. The expansion project includes significant upgrades to three major areas of the medical center: the birthing center, surgical facilities, and clinic space. Slessor also discussed WinnMed's significant changes in its relationship with Mayo Clinic Health System and the institution's plans for regional growth and community engagement. The Long Road to Transforming Tomorrow The development of the "Transforming Tomorrow" project traces back to 2017, when WinnMed created its master facility plan. However, the project encountered delays. "The master facility plan was originally done in 2017," Slessor said. "It was put on hold at one point in time, picked back up in 2019, and then COVID hit." After the pandemic's pause, the project resumed in late 2021. During this phase, leadership identified seven potential facility projects, prioritizing four for the initial phase. Yet, financial realities required some adjustments to the scope of the project. "We had hoped to do the totality of what we originally set out to do, but bids came in about $5 million over our last estimated budget," Slessor explained. As a result, the renovation of the existing clinic space was postponed, though Slessor remains hopeful that it can be revisited "sooner rather than later." One major aspect that remained is a full-scale renovation of the birthing center. "Our patient experience scores are great. Our facility... not so much," Slessor said, explaining the decision to modernize the obstetrics unit. The remodel will not only enlarge the bathrooms to include tubs but will also shift to LDRP (labor, delivery, recovery, and postpartum) rooms, allowing patients to remain in the same room throughout their stay. A critical safety feature is also being added to the unit: direct access to the operating rooms. Currently, patients needing C-sections must travel through public corridors, but the new layout will create a cut-through between the obstetrics unit and the OR. WinnMed's expansion will also include its surgical facilities. The plan features two new operating rooms, one approximately 700 square feet and another nearly 800 square feet, which are both significantly larger than the current 600-square-foot rooms. This expansion will better accommodate future medical technology, including the potential addition of a Da Vinci surgical robot. "Those robots are used for a wide variety of things," Slessor explained. "The three specialties that we would be looking at are urology, general surgery, and OB-GYN." The robot would be a significant investment, about $1.8 to $2 million, but Slessor emphasized its importance for recruitment, stating, "If you're going to recruit a new urologist... they're really being trained on this system now in residency." Mayo Clinic Health System Changes Concurrent with the expansion, WinnMed is undergoing a change in its long-standing relationship with Mayo Clinic Health System. "We were the only management services agreement that existed within the entirety of the Mayo enterprise," Slessor said. "Mayo Clinic Health System has about 70 some sites between hospitals and clinics. All those other sites are wholly owned by Mayo." WinnMed's unique management agreement will end in July 2025. While the professional services agreement (PSA) with Mayo Clinic will remain in place, it will no longer expand to include new physicians. Instead, any new doctors will be hired directly by WinnMed or through other healthcare partnerships. "The PSA won't continue to grow and add new physicians to it," Slessor noted in the interview. "Anybody new that we hire will need to be hired as a WinnMed physician or in a partnership with a different healthcare entity." Looking Ahead Slessor is focused on expanding WinnMed's regional outreach, particularly targeting communities like Charles City and New Hampton. With no other major healthcare facility within 70 miles of Decorah, 90,000 people live closer to Decorah than the next larger entity. The hospital aims to attract more patients from these surrounding areas. "If we can get more patients from our region or surrounding regions to come to us for specialty services, then it affords us the opportunity to bring in other specialties that you may not be able to support just with the patient population in Winneshiek County." Slessor also emphasized the importance of maintaining strong community connections amid the hospital's growth. WinnMed, which now employs over 600 people, actively supports local initiatives, from donating land for Sunflower Child Care to partnering with Luther College for healthcare services and backing the John Cline School project. "We have to be a great community partner," Slessor said, adding, "We have a lot of our leaders that are involved in a lot of community initiatives and groups." As WinnMed continues to expand, Slessor remains mindful of preserving the hospital's organizational culture. "Our goal is to provide both primary care and specialty services that, for the most part, are hopefully full-time offerings. As we continue to grow and get bigger, we have to be cognizant that we're keeping the culture that we want to keep here." Never a dull moment! Subscribe to the free DecorahNews.com newsletter and stay one step ahead with local news and information you just can't get anywhere else.