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Gundersen and Bellin clinics to be renamed “Emplify”

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After a recent merger, the Gundersen name will soon be replaced on hospitals and clinics in the region with a new title, “Emplify Health.”

That’s an invented name, which resulted from months of market research and discussions with people in and out of the Gundersen Health System.

Gundersen merged a year ago with Bellin Health, a familiar corporate name in eastern Wisconsin. The combined corporation includes 11 hospitals and 100 clinics in four states.

The name combines “empathy” and “amplify,” and Gundersen Region president Heather Schimmers said Tuesday the idea of change did not come easily.

“It was a decision that resulted in a lot of thoughtful deliberation, evaluation, ” Schimmers said. “We had to re-prioritize. We took the time to really figure out if this made sense.”

Schimmers added that the combination name describes the company’s dedication to medical service.

“It spoke to so many of our hearts, because that is truly who we are and what we do, every day,” Schimmers said.

The name was selected from about 300 proposed names, resulting from discussions with employees, patients, and others, and the screening process involving a consulting firm lasted about nine months.

7 Comments

  1. Bob N.

    May 1, 2024 at 7:22 am

    Marketing mumbo-jumbo. “Emplify”. It means nothing. A group of touchy-feely liberals bouncing made-up names off each other, trying to come up with a name that describes a hospital/clinic in a way that will increase business.

    We’ve always been proud of the Gunderson family pioneering work in the La Crosse area. The Gunderson name was well-respected as was it’s predecessor, Lutheran Hospital.

    Carrying those names into the Green Bay area as part of the merger is not a radical idea.

    Carrying the Mayo name far and wide has worked out well for that organization.

  2. Lucenut

    May 1, 2024 at 9:15 am

    Sounds like some woke kindergartener came up with this.

  3. Kevin

    May 2, 2024 at 7:33 am

    it’s a stupid name – means nothing, generates an imagery of wtf does that mean. good job

  4. Walden

    May 2, 2024 at 7:25 pm

    It took 9 months to come up with the new name (like giving birth apparently) and consultants and focus groups and intellectual property lawyers were involved and all that and more, the entire production required a cast of thousands.

  5. Paul

    May 3, 2024 at 10:35 am

    I guess marketing intellectuals who can make up words in the English language by combining two other words trump‘s decades long tradition and supersedes the name of the founding real actual medical doctor’s name for a fake name. The new name means nothing to no one and is very disappointing.

  6. Lily

    June 11, 2024 at 10:26 pm

    I am an advanced degreed health care professional having worked in acute and trauma care 40+ plus years in many U.S. states and overseas. I am now retired and am a Bellin patient. Emplify is a extraordinarily poor choice to rename Bellin Healthcare. Even when researching the word “emplify”, browser results range from ” did you mean envelope? or exemplify” for starters. Lots of returned suggested results that have no association with what”Emplify” is supposed to conjure. As others have already commented, “emplify” means nothing, at least to most. Bearing in mind, that patients come from all sorts of cultural, socio-economic, educational backgrounds; “emplify” will be confusing to most. It confuses me as a retired career health care professional. Maybe just call it Bellin-Gunderson; or “BG Healthcare”; something to that effect. And for those who are Bellin employees, now they get to explain to every patient what “Emplify” means? For patients with cognitive issues, the explanation may have to be repeated; and the name change may never be understood, processed. Why not a renaming that is simple and obviously practical, rational, descriptive? Patients have enough health issues, worries, concerns, without renaming their health care system with a confusing, difficult to pronounce/easy to mispronounce name. And to spell it correctly?

  7. Thelma Wilson

    September 9, 2024 at 7:19 pm

    So sad to use a name that does not have have a meaning that instills confidence. Gundersen is a strong & highly respected name similar to Mayo Clinic. There is huge importance in a name that reflects High Standard of Medical care. Emplify is sorely Lacking. Former employee of Gundersen for 40 years & proud to have worked there

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