Category: General

HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital invites the community to take in the sights and sounds of a live nativity scene in downtown Oconto Falls on Thursday, Dec. 5.

The live nativity scene, hosted by HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital, will take place in conjunction with other holiday-related community events happening along Main St. on Dec. 5, including Christmas Mouse Open House, wagon rides and pictures with Santa.

From 5 to 7 p.m., a group of HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital providers and colleagues will gather at the corner of Main St. and Caldwell Ave. to portray Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus, a shepherd, an angel and the Three Wise Men. Live animals will also be a part of the scene, including a donkey and sheep. At 7 p.m., a Scripture reading, featuring the story of the night Jesus was born, will be performed. Then, a collective singing of “Silent Night,” will close the special presentation.

Live Nativity Scene

• Thursday, Dec. 5
• 5 to 7 p.m.
  • Scripture reading and singing of “Silent Night” at 7 p.m.
• Corner of Main St. and Caldwell Ave. in Oconto Falls

All community members interested in attending the 7 p.m. presentation are encouraged to stop in to one of the Main Street businesses participating in the Christmas Mouse Open House event the night-of, to pick up a free candle they can hold for the Scripture reading and singing of “Silent Night.”

National Rural Health Day, founded by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH), will be celebrated on Thursday, Nov. 21.

“Small towns, farming communities and frontier areas are wonderful places to live and work; they are places where neighbors know each other and work together,” said Teryl Eisinger, CEO of the NOSORH. “The hospitals and providers serving these rural communities not only provide quality patient care, but they also help keep good jobs in rural America.”

To honor National Rural Health Day, HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital and Prevea Health offer its rural communities “Five Things to Know” about the importance of rural health care in Oconto County, and across the country:

1. An estimated 57 million people – nearly one in five Americans – live in rural and frontier communities throughout the United States.
2. In 1977, the Rural Health Clinic Services Act helped to establish Rural Health Clinics, or RHCs, to address the shortage of physicians serving patients in rural areas.
3. Today, there are more than 4,500 federally-designated RHCs nationwide providing health care services in underserved areas.
4. Together, HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital and Prevea Health offer five RHCs throughout Oconto County to provide not only health care, but jobs to local residents. Our RHCs can be found in Oconto Falls, Gillett, Lena, Mountain and Suring.
5. Founded as Community Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls in 1921, HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital has been providing rural health care for nearly 100 years. It is a federally-designated critical access hospital offering 24-hour emergency care, urgent care and a variety of other services.

The woods of Wisconsin will soon be filled with hunters for the annual gun-deer season. Prevea Health, along with HSHS St. Vincent, St. Mary’s, St. Nicholas and St. Clare Memorial Hospitals, want to remind all hunters the importance of protecting their hearing during this time.

The shot of a rifle or shotgun is approximately 140 decibels, which is the equivalent of standing next to a jet engine. Sounds at this noise level can cause instant and permanent hearing loss.

Symptoms of hearing loss include:

• Vague feelings of pressure or fullness in your ears
• Speech that seems muffled or far away
• A ringing sound in your ears when you are in quiet places
• Difficulty hearing when background noise is present

The only way to prevent hearing damage is to wear ear protection. Prevea Audiology offers consultations with hunters to determine the best way to protect their hearing while using their firearm. If needed, affordable, custom-fit hearing protection is available for adults and children. The devices are individually molded to each ear providing a more consistent seal for the control of incoming load sound as well as to relieve the discomfort caused by generic ear plugs.

Consultations and custom-fit hearing protection is available at Prevea health centers in Green Bay, Oconto Falls, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. Appointments can be made by calling (920) 496-4700.

Click here for more hunting-related safety tips.

HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital and Prevea Health will host “Meet the Doc,” featuring internal medicine physician, Dr. Alexa Gavaga, in Gillett on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

Dr. Gavaga joined Prevea Health in September and is now seeing patients at the HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital Prevea Oconto Falls Health Center, 835 S. Main St. in Oconto Falls, and at the Prevea Shawano Health Center, 1300 E. Green Bay St. in Shawano.

As an internal medicine physician, Dr. Gavaga specializes in routine health care for adults, including preventive medicine, medication management and chronic disease management. The “Meet the Doc” event will allow community members a chance to meet Dr. Gavaga, and learn more about why an internal medicine physician is an important part of your health care team.

Meet the Doc

• Tuesday, Nov. 12
• 6 p.m.
• Gillett High School, 208 W. Main St., Gillett
  • Event will be held in the Commons

A light meal will be served. To register, call (920) 846-8187 or visit: www.prevea.com/event

HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital and Prevea Health helped hundreds of community members and colleagues get a jump-start on Halloween festivities, with the annual Treat-and-Greet event held Tuesday, Oct. 29.

A free, family-friendly event, Treat-and-Greet offers trick-or-treating, food and refreshments, and opportunities to tour the hospital campus and learn about the diversity of services provided. Attendees were able to “trick-or-treat” throughout the hospital campus, including the Medical Services Building where Prevea Health offers a variety of specialty care.

“Treat-and-Greet showcases the true meaning of community,” said Amber Just, Volunteer Services Facilitator at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital, who also attended Tuesday’s event. “Residents and colleagues get the chance to come together to share smiles and yummy treats. Hosting this event gives the community the opportunity to see the large array of high-equality services that HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital is so proud to provide.”

More than 400 community members of all ages attended Tuesday’s event, while providers and colleagues handed out treats. There were costumes of all kinds including witches, a policeman, kitties, the tooth fairy and more.

“HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital is so appreciative of this community,” said Amanda Rice, Patient Financial Manager at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital. “Hosting Treat and Greet is a wonderful way to enhance the connection we have with our northern communities.”

This was the third year of Treat-and-Greet, hosted by HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital and Prevea Health.