Waseca to benefit from Mayo's local ER upgrade

At a time when much of Greater Minnesota is struggling to maintain access to critically important health care services, Waseca is set to benefit for years to come from a historic investment by one of the world’s most prestigious health care institutions.

Mayo Clinic recently announced that it has completed $4.2 million in upgrades, expansions and renovations to its Emergency Department in Waseca, funded in part by a generous donation from Paul and the late Susan Rosenau, Waseca residents who won the Powerball in 2008.

Improvements to the Emergency Department have been ongoing over the last two years. They include a new wing of exam and treatment rooms, enhanced layout, a new multifunctional ambulance garage, improved vehicle entry points and other cutting edge design improvements.

Because of the unique location, which is open at full capacity 24/7/365 to serve any needs Waseca area residents may have at a moment’s notice, the construction process took plenty of extra time, and staff aren’t able to show all of the work to local VIPs.

Dr. Martin Herrmann, Medical Director of Mayo Clinic’s Waseca campus, said the goal of the improvements is to ensure that the Waseca facility is a fully “state of the art” facility providing both the highest quality of care and a comfortable and welcoming environment for patients.

“This investment in the Waseca campus represents Mayo’s commitment to continue to make access to emergency services available in the Waseca area,” Hermann said. “It also fulfills the expectations of Mayo Clinic quality and safety.”

The additional space will help Mayo Clinic to better accommodate patients now and into the future, but Hermann said that the renovation is also expected to help the facility much better utilize its existing spaces, as well as protect patient privacy.

While not quite on the same scale as the roughly $155 million expansion and modernization project at Mayo’s Mankato Hospital, the Waseca expansion and renovation project was still one of the most notable recent improvements to Mayo’s system of local hospitals and clinics.

Even as it stayed laser focused on competing with the most cutting edge hospitals in the world, Mayo has invested over the last three decades in building a strong network of local clinics and hospitals across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Work on the improvement project began not only as the Mayo Clinic Health System, which now numbers more than 60 clinics, was celebrating 30 years of service, but as Waseca was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the building of its first hospital.

The current Waseca Hospital was built in 1975. Today, it provides not only emergency and basic family medicine care, but also a wide variety of specialized care across roughly 30 fields, offering much of the same support and expertise as in Rochester but without the drive.