A leader in rural health care in south central Wisconsin, St. Clare Hospital is certified for a total of one hundred beds. The hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and participates with Medicare and Medicaid programs. It is a winner of the 2000 Wisconsin Forward Award - Governor's Award of Excellence. The hospital has the benefit of more than 100 physicians who serve on its active and consulting medical staff. A member of SSM Health Care, a St. Louis based health care system, St. Clare offers acute care services as well as a wide range of other services including chemical dependency treatment, mental health services for older adults, and hemodialysis.
St. Clare Hospital began in 1922, when a 25 bedroom mansion was offered to Father O?Reilly to be used as a home for boys. But Father had a different idea and assigned the Franciscan Sisters of St. Mary to the future hospital. After raising the funds necessary and remodeling was done, the facility opened as St. Marys Ringling Hospital in 1922. By the early 1960s however, the Wisconsin Board of Health determined it was no longer feasible to continually remodel or add on to the turn-of-the-century-Ringling home. St. Clare Hospital was built on donated land in June, 1963 and has continually developed and provided services in response to the health care needs of residents in the Baraboo and surrounding areas.
Today, St. Clare Hospital provides acute care services as well as chemical dependency treatment, mental health services for older adults, occupational health, Behavioral Health Services, Child Birth Center, home health and hospice care; ambulatory care services including day surgery and hemodialysis; and a radiation oncology center. The hospital has the busiest emergency department outside of Madison, WI and offers urgent care services in the Baraboo and Lake Delton communities.