WAUTOMA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — ThedaCare’s Wautoma physician’s office sees plenty of patients — but not all of them are at the office.
The goal of ThedaCare’s Rural Health Initiative isn’t about bringing patients to them.
“We are going to the patient’s home. We are taking care of them in their home,” said Outreach Health Specialist April Landwehr. “The reasons that we are doing that is because maybe there’s a transportation issue, or maybe that patient can’t get to their provider’s office because of some kind of a health issue.”
The closest emergency medical center to Wautoma is ThedaCare’s Wild Rose Hospital. Depending on where you live, that’s at least a 15 minute drive. To get complex specialty care, patients must travel 45 minutes to the Fox Valley. That’s something ThedaCare is working to avoid.
“We want to get those chronic disease management visits in. We want the patient to be seen sooner rather than later,” Landwehr explained. “Our goal is that if we get into the home, we see that patient soon. Then they don’t have to worry about going to the Valley for those 45-minute runs.”
ThedaCare also provides tele-heath calls through its rural health care initiative, allowing patients to have digital check-ups with their providers and eliminating the need for a potentially costly in-person visit.
As for expanding the initiative, ThedaCare said it’s ready to take on new patients.
“Reach out to us and we’ll get you on our schedule and try to get you taken care of the best that we can,” said Landwehr.
ThedaCare says their overall goal is to meet people where they are to provide aid to those who can’t otherwise get chronic disease care.
