Primary care clinic to be built off of North Shore Drive

BY KEVIN BONESKE

REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER

The Rhinelander City Council held a special meeting Monday night to approve a site plan for the Marshfield Clinic to construct a nearly 4,000-square-foot primary care clinic off of North Shore Drive, just west of the Marshfield Clinic’s Rhinelander Dental Center.

Rather than the Marshfield Clinic waiting until the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting Nov. 13, city building inspector/fire chief Terry Williams said the special meeting was held so that work on the right of way and sewer and water connections could take place before the winter freeze-up.

Marshfield Clinic physician Jessica Marshall speaks with the media following Monday’s special Rhinelander City Council meeting.

“They’re also hoping to get the sewer and water laterals up into the building site itself, so that they can do some base asphalt (work),” said Williams, who also noted the Marshfield Clinic is planning to open the primary care clinic next spring and would be sharing a driveway entrance with the dental center.

Representatives from Marshfield Clinic were on hand for the council’s vote. Physician Jessica Marshall, who noted she will be assisted by a half-dozen staff members when the primary care clinic is scheduled to open next April, said there currently is a shortage of physicians in the Rhinelander area.

“I’m hoping to fill that gap and decrease travel time for the Marshfield Clinic patients who are now having to travel to the Eagle River and Minocqua facilities to see their physician,” Marshall said.

Marshall said she is an internal medicine and pediatric provider, so she would be able to see patients of any age except those needing obstetric services. She also noted the primary care clinic in Rhinelander will be providing lab and radiology services.

“We are hoping to have the mobile mammography unit coming as well,” she said.

Marshall said she expects the primary care clinic in Rhinelander to be open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.