Southwest Health Continues Growth, Adding New Providers

[Platteville, WI] —- Southwest Health continues the expansion of its regional health network with the recent addition of several new primary medical care providers. Family physician Ann Lucas, MD; nurse practitioner Carrie Strompolis-Galle, APNP, DNP; and physician assistant Michelle Hauser, PA-C have all joined the medical staff and are now serving patients at the Platteville Clinic, located on the health network’s hospital campus. Also set to arrive in 2016 after completing her residency is family practice physician Jess Schmid, MD.

“Our patients are the focus of everything we do.” says Southwest Health CEO Dan Rohrbach. “We are growing in order to better serve the people of southwest Wisconsin. Primary care providers are the mainstays in helping families live healthy and thrive, and our growing team of providers, backed by every other member of our team, is dedicated to making that happen.”

In recent years, Southwest Health has made sizeable investments in technology, facilities, and people, including a $7 million, 20,000 square foot addition to house a new Women’s Center and Orthopedic Institute. In that time, Southwest Health has also increased its employed medical staff from two providers to 27. “We are, indeed, very proud to bring our communities the area’s strongest team of doctors and other health care providers,” says Rohrbach. “They make an enormous impact on the quality of life in our area.”

Family medicine specialist Ann Lucas, MD, earned her medical degree in 1992 from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kansas, and performed her Family Practice Residency at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Lucas comes to Southwest Health with a wealth of experience in providing primary care for the whole family through her longstanding practice at the Family Health Clinic in Argyle, Wisconsin, and the Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County in Darlington, Wisconsin.

Doctor of Nursing Practice Carrie Strompolis-Galle, DNP, also comes to Southwest Health from Darlington, Wisconsin and brings with her a wealth of experience and education. Dr. Galle performed her undergraduate nursing training at MATC in Madison and at Viterbo University School of Nursing in LaCrosse before earning her Master’s Degree of Nursing (Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner) at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa in 2012. She also earned her Doctorate Degree in Nursing at Clarke in 2015. She has lengthy experience as a Registered Nurse at Meriter Hospital and UW Hospital and Clinics in Madison and Advanced Nurse Practitioner experience from the Mineral Point Medical Center clinic as well as from Family Health Clinic in Darlington, Wisconsin.

Physician assistant Michelle Hauser, PA-C, MPAS, also brings a wealth of clinical experience, treating patients of all ages for a wide range of conditions. After performing her undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Ms. Hauser earned her Master of Physician Assistant Studies Degree from the School of Allied Health at the University of Nebraska in Omaha and gained additional training and experience at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in the Department of Family Medicine. Since 1991, she has gained extensive primary care experience at the Family Health Clinic in Darlington, Wisconsin as well as satellite clinics in Argyle and Shullsburg, Wisconsin.

Family medicine physician Jess Schmid, MD, isn’t due to begin seeing patients at the Platteville Clinic at Southwest Health until the fall of next year. But, she has also signed on to join the team in Platteville after completing her residency at the Aurora St. Luke’s Family Practice Clinic in Milwaukee.

Says Rohrbach, “We are delighted to now offer the services of these three excellent providers, and we look forward to Dr. Schmid’s arrival next year. They are all highly qualified professionals with extensive credentials, and they will make great contributions to the care of our patients here at Southwest Health.”

With a remarkable 43 percent growth over the last two years, Southwest Health is a high performing regional health care network, providing high quality, personal patient care. The organization is southwest Wisconsin’s second largest employer. On their hospital campus in Platteville, Southwest Health provides a full range of quality acute care services, including medical and surgical care, emergency and urgent care, orthopedics, women’s health, specialists clinics, a new eye center, the area’s largest family medical clinic, and later this month, a retail pharmacy. Also in Platteville, they operate an inpatient and outpatient behavioral health facility, providing a wide range of counseling and other mental health services. In Cuba City, their Epione Pavilion offers long-term skilled nursing care, outpatient rehabilitation, memory care, and a family medical care clinic all under one roof.

###