More than just clean laundry, it’s a way of giving back
80 years, five generations, two families, same recipes
March 24, 2025
GREEN BAY – With the legacies of St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center (founded in 1900) and St. Vincent Hospital (founded in 1888), Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) has been dedicated to Green Bay’s health for a combination of more than a quarter-millennium.
Per hshs.org, St. Mary’s and St. Vincent are among the system’s 13 hospitals across Wisconsin and Illinois.
Legacy and territory notwithstanding, HSHS recently announced unprecedented investment for the two hospitals.
“I’m pleased to announce that HSHS is embarking on its largest investment in history, and it’ll be right here in Green Bay,” HSHS Wisconsin Market President and CEO Bob Erickson said. “An estimated $270 million of capital will be spent and invested over the next three to five years to expand and transform HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center and enhance HSHS St. Vincent Hospital.”
Erickson said the financial commitment is “much more than an investment in buildings, bricks and mortar.”
“This is really an investment in our community,” he said. “For our patients, for our neighbors, for those that trust us with their care, with our physicians, with all of our colleagues who each and every day count on us – this is an investment for them and for our future.”
Just what the community ordered
Citing the Wisconsin Department of Administration, Erickson said Brown County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state, with a population expected to increase by 12% over the next 25 years – “a good problem for all of us to have.”
“To put that into real numbers, about 11,000 more people in the next four years will call Brown, Oconto, Kewaunee, Door and Marinette counties their home,” he said.
Erickson said this growth evinces the quality of life the region offers.
Simultaneously, life expectancies are increasing, he said – evidence of the ever-improving quality of health care available.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said he corroborates this forecast.
“We’ve got an aging population, a growing population, but also a growing aging population,” Genrich said. “I think there are more severe instances where people are needing health care in emergent situations or critical situations, and clearly (HSHS) is making those investments (at St. Mary’s) and also at St. Vincent, which is obviously a community need.”
Erickson said the investments in the hospitals will serve to provide a higher level of care for the anticipated increase of chronic disease treatment associated with this demographic change.
Another trend HSHS must consider, he said, is the higher demand of care for patients from the city’s neighboring communities.
“And that’s not atypical – our bigger hospitals are more prepared for specialty care,” he said. “And again, these dynamics of growth and an aging population – we’re seeing patients generate from just a wider and wider geography, and we’re seeing that each and every day (with) people coming into Green Bay for care.”
This growing demand, Erickson said, amounts to a need for growing facilities.
“We need more space that can handle higher acute care, sicker patients, more procedural-type care,” he said, “and that’s what we’re going to be investing in going forward.”
The plans
The largest portion of HSHS’ $270 million investment, Erickson said, will focus on the St. Mary’s campus, and the “transformative, exciting” work will commence this spring/summer.
HSHS Wisconsin Market COO John Wagner said being the only hospital on Green Bay’s west side and having close proximity to Interstate-41 positions St. Mary’s well to serve the community, as well as those traveling for care.
“Key services, such as 24/7 emergency care, are going to remain at St. Mary’s, (while the vision for the investment seeks to) dramatically change and transform (the hospital) into a facility to meet the healthcare needs of the future,” he said.
The process and the improvements, Wagner said, include:
- A “more spacious, more welcoming environment,” with more natural light
- Easier navigation of the campus, with prominent entryways and parking spaces
- A new medical tower to increase work space and patient access, while providing better workflow, procedural areas, wider corridors and more procedural and operating rooms
The new tower, Erickson said, will house 100 medical beds, compared to St. Mary’s current, typical service of 60-65 patients.
The space, he said, will also allow for more ICU beds – supporting care for 36 beds compared to the hospital’s current eight.
Wagner said patient care will not be interrupted amid the construction.
He also said local contractors will be hired for as much of the project as possible, while upholding environmental and green considerations throughout.
“We know that our founding Sisters had a great reverence for the earth, and those values are deeply instilled in us as we embark on this major project,” he said. “It’s also important to us that we remain good corporate citizens and neighbors throughout the project. We will be, and have been working closely with the city each step of the way, following all city ordinances.”
Wagner said HSHS is hopeful the construction will be completed within three years, during which updates to the project – including plans, progress and construction traffic alerts – will be posted at hshs.org.
He said the website will also provide the yet unannounced details on the forthcoming work at St. Vincent, which is “home to our level II trauma, our women and infant care and our children’s hospital.”
“We’re still assessing how we can best enhance the public and clinical spaces on that campus,” he said.
Regarding the three-year construction timeline, Erickson said “that seems like a long time – it’s not.”
He said St. Mary’s has already begun its search for additional qualified ICU-trained nurses, respiratory therapists, intensivists and other staff to meet the requirements of the expansion.
“Recruitment starts today, (with) retention, recruitment (and) investing in our workforce,” he said. “We’d like to come up with and continue to work on ways of growing our own talent, collaborating with universities, technical colleges… to really start to get people early into the workforce.”
Erickson said he’s hopeful the updated facility will itself be a recruitment tool, and as such, the hospital is seeking suggestions directly from St. Mary’s current staff.
At this time, the goal of the investment, he said, is not to add new services to the hospitals so much as enhancing and optimizing the current services.
Still, Erickson said “we continue to evolve our services as we go.”
A healthy history
Per the HSHS website, since St. Mary’s founding in 1900, the hospital – originally located on Green Bay’s east side at the corner of Webster Avenue and Crooks Street – underwent numerous expansions in its first 60 years.
In 1960, the entire campus was moved to its current location (1726 Shawano Ave.), in response to “the request of the Bishop of Green Bay for a Catholic hospital on Green Bay’s growing west side.”
St. Mary’s was originally sponsored by the Misericorde Sisters of Montreal, Canada, before sponsorship was assumed by the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis in 1974.
The last five decades, according to the website, have seen numerous expansions, renovations and additions of service, though none of the magnitude of the new investment, per HSHS.
Chief Administrative Officer Leah Bergstrom said she’s witnessed upgrades to St. Mary’s, but nothing quite like what’s in store.
“Over the last few decades, we’ve built the ER, early on in my career here with HSHS we’ve definitely added on this beautiful atrium space (and) our one-day services area (underwent a) large expansion there,” Bergstrom said. “We continue to evolve to meet the needs of the community – growing our orthopedics center right here, as that population has grown – and just continue to evolve with Green Bay Oncology and part of this space as well.”
Bonny Bobka – manager of mission integration and spiritual care – said the hospital’s history of evolution is emblematic of its dedication to the community.
“Whatever is needed is what we try to provide,” Bobka said, “and that is really the standard of our business model.”
Bergstrom said over time, health care has become “more ambulatory.”
With an aging population, she said “the patients that we see in the inpatient setting are more acute and much, much sicker” – thereby driving the demand for increased ICU capacity.
Whatever changes in trends and treatment may arise, Bobka said though the Sisters themselves are no longer carrying the mission of Catholic health care forward, their mission lives on, and continually guides the hospital’s actions.
“Now, there are professional people and organizations that are here just to make sure the mission is really being integrated well, and that we’re staying true to our heritage and our values and actually acting them out at every level of the organization,” she said.
While acknowledging St. Mary’s is still essentially a business, Bergstrom said “obviously our mission is top priority.”
“Being strategic with our investment is important,” she said, “while also obviously wanting to know that the Sisters would be so proud that what they started here 125 years ago is continuing on.”
A mission for the future
Bobka said the holistic care offered at St. Mary’s is foundational for what they do – “we’re never just treating a body – we’re treating a whole person when they come in.”
This HSHS investment, she said, will enable such care on an “awesome” scale.
“The accessibility over here and the location are wonderful,” Bobka said. “To be able to provide more care in this area – it’s just exciting.”
Bergstrom said the commitment speaks to the faith and trust HSHS has in St. Mary’s, and is as honored as she is enthusiastic about this investment in her hometown.
“I am most excited – as a lifelong resident of Green Bay – for this addition to the community and for all the people that we serve,” she said. “Not only locally within the City of Green Bay, but also the people that come down to Green Bay for tertiary care, specialty care, etc. (I’m) excited to bring that care to neighbors, friends, family, and (to) continue to serve our mission.”
Dennis Langenberg – chair of the HSHS St. Vincent and St. Mary’s board of directors – said the board “couldn’t be more excited for the hospitals and our community who will benefit in the end.”
“These hospitals are part of the very fabric of the community,” Langenberg said, “and with these investments and plans to expand and modernize, they will be able to care for many more generations.”
Erickson said he was grateful and humbled to announce the investment, “knowing that we stand on (the founding Sisters’) shoulders.”
“As we’re growing, our aim is to be here for another 125 years, and that’s what we’re setting up to do – because the mission is so important to our community and to those that came before us…,” he said. “We’re here because we have such good roots.”
