First nurses excited for opening of Mondovi Clinic

Two nursing staff who felt the sting of the HSHS Sacred Heart and Prevea Clinic closures in the Chippewa Valley now have a new place to call home—in a community they’re already familiar with for an organization expanding to meet patient needs.

Kendra Edwards, RN, and Emilee Pfaffe, MA, were the first two staff hired at the new Emplify Health Mondovi Clinic, part of Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics. The health system purchased the seven-year-old building earlier this year following Prevea’s exit from western Wisconsin. The clinic will open its doors on Dec. 16, with an open house planned for Dec. 11.

The pull toward healthcare

Edwards, a nurse for the past five years and an LPN and CNA for four years before that, has always had jobs that worked with people. She grew up working for her dad’s pizza restaurant in Mondovi. Then, she eventually gravitated toward cosmetology and owned and operated her own salon in town for 15 years. She also owned the local gym with her husband.

During that busy time of life, she recognized her ability to help people through the work she was doing.

“I’m a people person; I always knew I wanted to help people,” she says. “Even though it may sound strange when you’re doing hair, you’re making somebody feel good about themselves, and that might be the only time they get to talk about their lives or feel like they’re special.”

Eventually, once her children were old enough, Edwards went back to school to get her nursing degree—something she always knew she wanted to do. But she had to wait until the timing was right, which she knew would be later in life. Eventually, once her children were old enough, she went back to obtain her nursing degree and achieved her goal of graduating with honors.

“In high school, I wanted to be a nurse. I took all the AP courses in high school to go to nursing,” she says. “Then my parents moved right out of high school, and I just felt like I needed to work first.”

Pfaffe has been a medical assistant for 11 years, seven of them at the very same clinic she’s returning to in Mondovi. Her mother has dealt with health issues like Crohn’s disease throughout her life, and she watched her go in and out of the hospital on a regular basis. Seeing the providers who helped her mom, Pfaffe knew she wanted to be someone on that helping end someday.

As an MA, she’s getting to do just that, and with already having worked in Mondovi, she’s gotten to know many of the patients.

“I was in urgent care for 3½ years. It was nice, but you treat them, and they leave, and you might not ever see them again,” Praffe says. “Working in family medicine, you get to know people and build relationships. I like getting to help people, especially in your own community.”

But for both women, that desire to help people in a medical setting hit a huge roadblock.

It came as a shock

In January 2024, HSHS and Prevea announced they were making a complete exit from western Wisconsin, which included the closure of two hospitals and multiple clinics throughout the Chippewa Valley. Left in the wake were 1,082 HSHS and 325 Prevea employees without jobs.

That included Edwards, who worked at Sacred Heart Hospital and the Prevea clinics in Eau Claire and Altoona, and Pfaffe, who was at Prevea in Mondovi.

For both, the closure of their respective facilities came as a shock, which was quickly followed by fear of the unknown.

“It was like, what are we going to do now? We have families to take care of,” Pfaffe says. “Along with 1,800 people who were looking for jobs. Now we have to compete with our friends, our coworkers.”

“It got real, real fast,” Edwards adds. “We had to cancel all the cardiothoracic patients because they had surgeries scheduled and there would be no one to do post-op appointments. So literally, their heart surgeries were canceled. It was so depressing – for the community, the patients, the employees. It affected so many people.”

But for the next three months, both women had to remain focused on their patients, all while trying to plan, as best they could, for the future. It wasn’t easy.

“You’re still trying to take care of your patients and be strong for them because they’re panicking, trying to figure out what they’re going to do next, too,” Pfaffe says.

A new home, closer to home

Immediately after the closures, Edwards took a job at an ENT clinic, while Pfaffe got a position with another healthcare system in Eau Claire. It was a job to pay the bills, they say. It was a job to pay the bills and provide for their families, but they knew it wasn't their forever work home.

“A lot of people had to just kind of take what they could,” Edwards says.

That’s why both women were excited to hear that the clinic in Mondovi was reopening under the Emplify Health banner, and they know how fortunate they are to have found a job near their homes that, so far, they’re loving.

“I’m very excited to hopefully see some of the patients,” Pfaffe says. “I do think there are some who’ve been waiting just to see what happens.”

Adds Edwards, “It’s new and exciting, and I think that makes the community excited, too. Since we are local with familiar faces, we hope patients are comfortable putting their trust in us with their healthcare needs.”

Being that they’re the first nurse and first medical assistant hired for the new clinic, Edwards and Pfaffe say it feels like their baby.

“I opened that clinic seven years ago,” Pfaffe says. “And then I had to pack it up and close it, so that was really sad. But now I get to open it again, so it’s kind of exciting. A new name. A new beginning.”

Hours at the clinic will be 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. To schedule an appointment, use MyChart or call (715) 926-1113.