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Mercy expanding in Walworth County

A “deficit of medical manpower,” meaning a shortage doctors, nurses and receptionists, is driving Mercy Health System to expand in Walworth County.

“The deficit is not due to losing medical personnel, it’s a function of a growing population in Walworth County generally and in the Delavan and Elkhorn areas specifically,” said Jeni Hallatt, Mercy Health vice president. “New facilities in those two communities will be built while no Mercy facilities will be closed. This is a true expansion.”

The existing Mercy clinic in Delavan at 1038 E. Geneva St. is being razed. A new $3 million, 82,000 square-foot facility will be built on the same site.

The new Delavan clinic is expected to open in late summer or early fall of 2013. In the meantime, the clinic will operate out of temporary modular buildings also on the existing site.

Five physicians will be practicing in the Delavan facility. There are currently two doctors there.

“We have a need for more primary care physicians at both locations,” Hallatt said. “By primary care, we mean family practice and internal medicine. We will also have specialists rotating into both clinics while the primary care physicians will be there on a full-time basis.”

The additional positions in Delavan and Elkhorn will be new hires, Hallatt said.

“We are currently recruiting new physicians, nurses and receptionists for both locations,” she said.

The Elkhorn site at 839 N. Wisconsin St. is nearing completion. The 83,000 square-foot clinic is scheduled for completion in late spring.

Both new clinics will offer radiology and X-ray services.

“We saw a need in Walworth County, and when we drilled down into those numbers, we saw a need specifically in these two communities,” Hallatt said. “Our expansion is simply meeting the needs of those populations.”