By HFT Staff

Lafayette County and rural southwest Wisconsin residents gained access to a new healthcare facility at Lafayette Hospital + Clinics (LHC) in Darlington, Wisconsin. The ribbon cutting, attended by Governor Tony Evers, marked the completion of two years of construction on an 84,000-square-foot facility that doubles the space of the prior hospital, while leaving room for convenient parking and future expansions. 

Compared to 2024, the facility is already seeing a 61 percent increase in MRIs, 12 percent increase in lab services, 13 percent increase in Darlington Clinic visits, nine percent increase in radiology services and two percent increase in other hospital outpatient visits. 

Compeer Financial partnered with the regional Clare Bank and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to secure a $50.87 million financing package that included: 

• $5 million in USDA Community Facility Guarantee construction and permanent financing 
• $45.87 million in construction-only financing, which will now convert to a USDA Direct Loan with the project completion 

Congressional Direct Spend programs, the USDA and the State of Wisconsin contributed an additional $14 million in grants to LHC. The funding collaboration was vital to maintaining accessible, essential healthcare services and ensuring the long-term vitality of this rural community. Accessible rural healthcare has proven a challenge in recent years, as nearly 190 rural hospitals have closed since 2010. As a result, many rural residents are faced with increasingly longer travel distances to receive both routine and emergency medical services, which also increases their overall costs. 

Building upon its previous 70 years of care, the new LHC facility expands and improves services such as orthopedics, urology, wellness/prevention and mental health. It now houses 24 licensed inpatient beds, two operating rooms, a procedure room and advanced technologies that include: 

• Onsite 3T MRI. As the sole provider within a 60-mile radius, LHC is enabling patients to stay close to home, as well as providing other healthcare facilities with a closer referral location. 
• Robotic surgery. This advanced technology helps reduce patient pain and discomfort, speed healing and shorten hospital stays. 
• Electronic Intensive Care Unit (eICU). LHC can now take advantage of a partnership with physicians at University of Wisconsin Hospitals to offer onsite critical patient care so patients can remain close to home. 

Beyond infrastructure upgrades, the hospital features improved operational efficiencies, including centralized registration and clinic space to streamline patient flow.