Area Healthcare Systems Urge Residents To Take Action

Joint Press Release

Barron County Public Health, Cumberland Healthcare, Marshfield Clinic Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System continue to be committed to providing high-quality health care right here in your community; today, we ask for your help. COVID-19 rates in our area are soaring to record highs. Though it is true that many people who get sick with COVID-19 have mild to moderate illness and recover, not everyone is so lucky.

When numbers spike in our area not only do the health systems see more emergency room and clinic patients, there are also more ambulance runs, more tests being conducted and more staff exposed and positive. The surge in our area threatens the health care you are accustomed to receiving. If our healthcare workers become ill, the services health care systems are able to provide may be limited. The rapid increase in cases in our state is actively having a negative effect on all hospitals and clinics in the state.

Healthcare is an integral part of every community. Everyone needs healthcare. We can all agree that we need to do what we can to make sure that if someone has a heart attack or a loved one gets into an accident on winter roads that our hospitals will be able to help. Our communities need to treat this pandemic as a health emergency. The reality of the current situation is, if we don’t take action now, we are at risk of overwhelming our health care systems.

Everyone has the ability to help. Every time you choose to stay home, every time you decline an invitation, every time you get take-out instead of dining in and every time you make another sacrifice after months of sacrifices you help slow the spread and protect our community. The choices you make every day can help keep our schools open, prevent a hospitalization and even save a life.

We are asking everyone to do everything they can to help slow the spread in our community. Stay home as much as possible, wear your masks when you must go out, wash your hands, do not go out when you are ill, do not gather with people who live outside of your home and follow isolation and quarantine recommendations. Help us limit the spread to your loved ones and ours. We want to be able to care for your family and ours. Help us help you, together we will make a difference.