In the next year, Aspirus will pour $14 million into a major expansion of its Rhinelander clinic.
The healthcare provider broke ground on the project on Friday morning.
“We’re out of space,” Aspirus Regional Clinic Director Robb Fabich said of the current facility.
But by next October, the clinic will be ready to open an additional 21,000 square feet of space.
Planning for the expansion has been in the works for months, according to Fabich.
“Ultimately, you get together, and you program out a building that’s going to work, and it takes about a year and a half,” he said.
The project will add 36 new exam rooms for patients. Fabich also hopes the extended facility will help attract health professionals to serve them.
“When you expand your facilities and services within a market, it’s attractive to recruit physicians and APCs [advanced practice clinicians], which is a struggle for everybody in healthcare right now,” he said.
The expansion will create 20 jobs.
Fabich said, despite suggestions in the community, Aspirus has no plans to build a hospital in Rhinelander at this time.
