ASHWAUBENON (NBC 26) — Northeast Wisconsinites and Upper Peninsula residents visit Milwaukee and Madison for more than 50,000 children's medical visits annually, according to Bellin Health. The new Bellin Children & Adolescent Center aims to keep families in the region for care.
- Bellin held a groundbreaking ceremony for the facility Friday, though construction began in January
- The provider hopes to open the center in August of 2025
- The collaboration between Bellin, ThedaCare, and Children's Wisconsin will unify primary care and specialty care for children and adolescents under one roof
- Video shows children painting their hand- and footprints on the new building's frame
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
More than two years after it was announced, construction on a new children's health center is under way. Here's a look at the Bellin Children's Center.
Jazi Phillips had to drive down to Milwaukee regularly after her son had open-heart surgery.
"We would make that drive probably once a week to go down there, especially right after his surgery, when we had gone home," Phillips said.
She hopes that changes with this new facility, near Highway 172 and Ashland Avenue.
"To have something this close to home, I can't even tell you how amazing this is," she said.
Bellin and its partners say the center will have specialty services like diabetic education, cardiology, therapy, and EOS imaging.
"You could, in essence, have up to nine visits, in one day, in one location, and not have to move throughout the entire city, and maybe down to Madison [or] Milwaukee," said Jamie Hagenow Sekora, Bellin's pediatric specialties team leader.
"Think about what's going to be in here — we are going to put pediatric primary care and pediatric specialty care all under one roof," pediatrician Dr. Sherri Hoyman said.
The providers also say this is an expansion — so no sites are closing, and no jobs are being eliminated.
"We know that kids do so much better when they can get care closer to home, and that's really why Children's is committed to the partnership with Bellin and ThedaCare, to provide those services closer to home," pediatric cardiologist Dr. Matthew Buelow said.
Construction officially started in January, and the building is now starting to take shape.
"If you look off to the front here, kind of where the awning is, that is the front pull-up," Hagenow Sekora said.
And parents and kids are ready for its arrival.
Bellin says it hopes to open the doors of the Children's Center in August of 2025.
