Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers announced plans to open a new clinic near its existing flagship location on Milwaukee’s side, backed by a $6 million commitment from Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The 13,000-square-foot facility is planned for the ground level of a four-story mixed-use building planned at 1135 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, the site of a former medical clinic and its parking lot. The building will include three floors of apartments, which are being developed by Madison-based Cardinal Capital Management Inc.
The clinic is expected to open in late 2020.
Sixteenth Street will offer primary medical care, rotating specialty care, a full-service pharmacy, and dental hygiene services at the clinic.
Four primary medical provider will be based at the new clinic, which will allow Sixteenth Street to serve an additional 8,000 primary care patients. The new clinic will also be a site for clinical learners.
Planning for the new location has been underway for several years and is based on a 2012 study, along with subsequent studies, showing the gaps in health care access on Milwaukee’s near south side and south side communities.
“We’ve been aware of gaps in access to care for many years,” said Julie Schuller, president and chief executive officer of Sixteenth Street. “The gaps are in many areas, including medical, dental and mental health. So we are really excited to expand services on the medical side. To fill those gaps, we’ll be adding some medical clinical space, and what is super exciting is we’ll be able to add dental space … For lots of folks in underserved areas, dental care access is at a crisis level, especially for those with no insurance or on Medicaid.”
As a community health center, Sixteenth Street’s model allows it to be flexible and responsive to a community’s specific needs, Schuller said.
“This clinic is really a representation of that,” she said.
In 2018, Sixteenth Street announced a proposal to open a clinic in West Milwaukee, supported by Froedtert & MCW, but later dropped the plans after the village board denied the organization’s rezoning request.
Schuller applauded the Froedtert & MCW health network’s commitment to the project.
“They’re recognizing that the best way to provide access to the community is through partnership,” Schuller said. “Their partnership with us on this project has been key. We couldn’t do it without them.”
Sixteenth Street serves about 40,000 individuals across its locations, which include three clinics in Milwaukee County and one in Waukesha, several school based-clinics and a satellite geriatric clinic at the United Community Center as well as a Women, Infant and Children clinic.
