New Children's Hospital Clinic to open on Milwaukee's Northwest Side

An old Office Depot at Midtown Center in Milwaukee will be transformed into a new Children's Hospital of Wisconsin clinic by the summer of 2016.  The hospital made the announcement Wednesday.  Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett joined leaders from Children's for the announcement. Barrett says it helps to put the new clinic in an under-served area of Milwaukee.

"Children, low-income children who need the healthcare," Barrett said.  "The fact that this includes behavioral health, that this includes dental health, makes it even more significant.  We think this location is an ideal location for them to not only serve children, but to serve children who can reach this location with their parents on a bus line."

Dr. Smriti Khare from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin said they followed population tracks to decide on this location. 

"We'll have pediatricians, pediatric care, we'll have dental care here. We'll actually be providing some behavioral health services as well, some mental health, an adolescent clinic for adolescents."

Here's more information from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin:

MILWAUKEE (December 9, 2015) – Continuing its commitment to bring care closer to home for children and families, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin announced today that it will open a new clinic in northwest Milwaukee. Called the Midtown Clinic, it will be located at 5433 W. Fond du Lac Avenue, in a neighborhood with few pediatric health care options and a large population of children.

The new, 20,000-square-foot Midtown Clinic will offer pediatric and adolescent primary care, behavioral medicine and dental care in an engaging space with state-of-the-art technology and amenities designed specifically for pediatric patients and their families, including access to bus lines and convenient on-site parking. By offering multiple services under one roof in a patient-centered medical home model, care is more efficient, coordinated and accessible. The Midtown Clinic will be built in space formerly occupied by Office Depot and is targeted to open in late summer 2016.

The new Midtown Clinic, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s presence at the new Sojourner Family Peace Center, and a donation announced today from The Harley-Davidson Foundation will expand Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s footprint in the City of Milwaukee. The gift from The Harley-Davidson Foundation will fund a Children’s school nurse at an elementary school and a community navigator in the neighborhood surrounding the company’s facilities.

“We looked at current demographics and projected population growth in the City of Milwaukee, and we found a real need for pediatric health care on the northwest side of the city. Our new Midtown Clinic will bring care closer to home for these families and provide access to dental and behavioral health services, which are two of Milwaukee’s greatest health needs,” said Dr. Smriti Khare, president of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Primary Care.

“I commend Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin for investing in a new, urban clinic on the northwest side, and for the health care services they deliver in the city through their primary care clinics and school nurses,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “By giving Milwaukee’s most vulnerable children access to nationally recognized pediatric health care, we are ensuring a brighter future for our city and our state.”

“I am thrilled that Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is opening a new clinic in my district to bring critical primary care, dental care and mental health services to kids and families in Milwaukee,” said Milwaukee Alderman Joe Davis, Sr. “The new Midtown Clinic will help ensure some of our most vulnerable children have access to the health care they need to grow into healthy, thriving adults. I applaud Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s expansion of services in Milwaukee and look forward to partnering with them to help achieve their vision that Wisconsin kids will be the healthiest in the nation.”

Dental services at the new Midtown Clinic will be provided by Children’s North Avenue Dental Clinic, which will move to the new Midtown Clinic to allow for state-of-the-art equipment and technology that cannot be retrofitted at its current location. The current North Avenue Dental Clinic location will close by September 2016.

Primary care and behavioral medicine services currently housed at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Downtown Health Center on the Aurora-Sinai campus will move to the new Midtown Clinic and will be co-located with other patient services to increase access for the growing number of children who live on the northwest side of the city.

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin will continue to manage some services on the Aurora-Sinai campus to serve children on the near west side and is participating in ongoing discussions with Avenues West partners to identify additional, collaborative health care services in that neighborhood.

As a foundational partner and supporter of the new Sojourner Family Peace Center facility on West Walnut Street, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin will manage a variety of services at that site when it opens to patients in January, including: the Child Protection Center and related psychiatry services currently housed at the Downtown Health Center, Project Ujima (an initiative to provide support for victims of violent crime) and child abuse prevention services.

In the City of Milwaukee, Children’s operates primary care clinics located at the Northside YMCA and COA Goldin Center, managed in partnership with Marquette University College of Nursing, a primary care clinic located at the Next Door Foundation site, urgent care services at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center on the south side and a school nurse program at Milwaukee schools. Children’s also provides 10 registered nurses who see students more than 9,000 times per year. For many children without regular access to a pediatrician, the school nurse becomes the most important health care provider in their lives.

More than 91 percent of patients seen at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee locations are insured by Medicaid. Across its statewide footprint, more than 54 percent of patients served by Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin are insured by Medicaid.

Additional new clinic locations in the Greater Milwaukee area
To better serve families in the Greater Milwaukee area, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin recently opened several new primary care clinics and is in the process of relocating existing services into upgraded facilities.

During the past month, Children’s Hospital opened new primary care clinics in Cedarburg, West Bend and Mount Pleasant. These clinics are all housed in retrofitted space previously occupied by other tenants:

Cedarburg Pediatrics offers primary care services at 7861 State Road 60 in Cedarburg, and opened December 7, 2015
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Pediatrics – West Bend offers primary care services at 500 Shepherds Drive in West Bend, and opened in late November 2015
Mount Pleasant Pediatrics offers primary care services at 8800 Washington Avenue in Mount Pleasant, and opened in late November 2015
In addition, a new, freestanding, 18,000-square-foot primary care clinic located at 12635 Bluemound Road in Brookfield is currently under construction and will open in March 2016. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Pediatric Consultants of Wisconsin, which will be renamed Bluemound Pediatrics, will move into this upgraded clinic space when it opens.

Construction is also underway on a new, 40,000-square-foot primary and specialty care clinic located at the southwest corner of Mequon Road and Market Street in Mequon. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s North Shore Pediatrics will move into this upgraded clinic space, along with specialty care and urgent care services currently located at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s Fox Point Clinic, which will close in summer 2016. The new two-story Mequon Clinic is expected to open in late summer 2016, and it will feature expanded specialty services, an on-site lab, imaging and pharmacy services.

Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is the region’s only independent health care system dedicated solely to the health and well-being of children. The hospital, with locations in Milwaukee and Neenah, Wisconsin, is recognized as one of the leading pediatric health care centers in the United States. It is ranked in nine specialty areas in U.S. News & World Report’s 2015-16 Best Children’s Hospitals report. Children’s provides primary care, specialty care, urgent care, emergency care, community health services, foster and adoption services, child and family counseling, child advocacy services and family resource centers. In 2014, Children’s invested more than $102 million in the community to improve the health status of children through medical care, advocacy, education and pediatric medical research. Children’s achieves its mission in part through donations from individuals, corporations and foundations and is proud to be a member of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. For more information, visit the website at chw.org.