Chippewa County says the area needs a psychiatric hospital now that Sacred Heart and St. Joe’s have closed.
The county board this week passed a resolution asking either the state legislature or Congress to provide more money to treat people who need to spend the night, or more than one night, in a psychiatric facility. Right now those people are usually taken to Winnebago, and the county is billed for their stay. But Chippewa County Human Services director Tim Easker says that’s expensive, and not always available. The resolution doesn’t say just how much Chippewa County needs, or just how many patients the county has seen. The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative has talked about reopening St, Joe’s this fall, but nothing has been decided.
