Winona Health will no longer have to shutter the hospital chain’s dialysis program thanks to a $3 million gift from donors.
Winona hospital’s dialysis program saved with last-minute $3 million gift
Anonymous donors subsidize the hospital’s dialysis procedures for the next three years.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 29, 2024 at 5:01PM
Hospital officials announced Friday donors had stepped up to cover the programs deficit, only two days after Winona Health said it would shutter the program.
“This is an amazing gift that clearly demonstrates our mission of inspiring, recognizing, and empowering the caregiver in all of us,” Winona Health CEO Rachelle Schultz said in a statement.
The anonymous donors came forward in part to honor Ben and Rudy Miller, the local plastics entrepreneurs who founded the Fiberite Corporation in the 1940s. Fiberite has since become RTP Company.
The hospital has been steadily losing money on dialysis procedures due to reduced need over the past five years. Hospital officials said Winona Health lost about $1 million annually subsidizing the program. The donation will allow the program to continue for the next three years.
Winona Health serves about 32 patients with dialysis needs who would have gone to Rochester, La Crosse or elsewhere if the hospital program ended.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
