PLATTEVILLE — Southwest Health Center is upgrading its emergency services by hiring four board-certified physicians to serve emergency and Urgent Care patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Our board of directors made the decision to employ a full-time team of highly experienced physicians in our Emergency Department because they believe the people of southwest Wisconsin deserve local access to the same high level of care as people in Dubuque and Madison,” said SHC CEO Dan Rohrbach. “In making this commitment to hire a team that is second to none, we have made a powerful advance in emergency medicine on behalf of local citizens.”
Rural hospitals in small towns do not typically employ their own emergency physicians. Instead, they rely on part-time contracted physicians who often work at multiple locations. Rural emergency rooms are characteristically staffed at a given time by one of dozens of physicians, each doctor working a number of shifts over a given period. Such a structure leads to a lack of continuity in patient care.
According to Rohrbach, the new team of doctors represents a monumental change in how SHC provides care in the Emergency Department.
“Our physician team now has a 100 percent commitment to Southwest Health Center and to the communities we serve, and each one of them is a highly skilled and highly-experienced emergency physician with impeccable credentials,” he said. “My philosophy is to hire the best of the best, and we now have an All-Star line up.”
Leading the new team is Mark Bogner, M.D., who is the medical director of the SHC Emergency Department. A board-certified physician in Emergency Medicine, Bogner earned his M.D. from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1993. He completed his internship in general surgery at Loyola University and a residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Bogner was Emergency Chief Resident at the University of Chicago from 1997 to 1998, a UW Health Med Flight Physician from 1998 to 2008, and Associate Director of the UW Health Emergency Department from 2006 through 2009.
Also in the Emergency Department:
Raymond Sloan, M.D., is a household name to many families in southwest Wisconsin through his longstanding local practice in family medicine, a position he maintained for nearly two decades.
Board certified in Family Medicine, Sloan brings more than 30 years experience in the ER. He earned his M.D. at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee in 1974 and has served area health care in many ways over the years, including as SHC’s Chief of Staff and as a member of its Board of Directors. In addition to his experience, he holds a reputation as an outstanding clinician and leader.
Mitch Lewis, M.D., is also board certified in emergency medicine and brings SHC patients more than 15 years experience. He earned his M.D. at the University of Nebraska, performed his internship at East Carolina University School of Medicine in 1995, and completed his residency in emergency medicine at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C., in 1997. Lewis worked ERs in Colorado hospitals before moving to Wisconsin in 2007, where he joined the ER staff at Meriter Hospital in Madison. He also worked at Mercy Hospital in Janesville before coming to SHC.
Bruce Lindsay, M.D., is board-certified in emergency medicine, and brings SHC patients two decades of ER experience, including 16 years as a member of the Emergency Medicine Academic Staff at the UW School of Medicine. He earned his M.D. at Chicago Medical School in 1992, performed his internship at St. Francis Hospital in Chicago, and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago. Lindsay served as a Med Flight Physician from 1996 to 2008, and he has long been a distinguished member of the core Academic Residency Faculty at UW–Madison.
The team of four physicians will see patients in SHC’s Emergency Department open 24 hours a day as well as seeing patients who present for urgent care services weekday evenings and weekends.
“Our new team of four will cover virtually all shifts and all hours,” said Rohrbach. “It will be a rare occasion when we will schedule a physician other than these four.
“People rely on Southwest Health Center for life-saving care. When seconds count, our new team will be here to make the critical difference.”
