The Isaac Coggs Heritage Health Center plans to move from 2770 N. Fifth St. to 8200 W. Silver Spring Drive in Milwaukee.
The new location will enable the clinic to expand, adding 53 new jobs. The center currently has 157 employees.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle announced $3.5 million in new market tax credits to assist the relocation and expansion.
The project will be partially funded through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority’s (WHEDA) new market tax credit program.
The Isaac Coggs Heritage Health Center is part of Milwaukee Health Services Inc., which also operates a clinic at 2555 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. That clinic averages 72,000 visits per year.
Milwaukee Health Services Inc. is expecting more visits, due to the recent closure of most of St. Michael’s Hospital, 2400 W. Villard Ave.
The new clinic on Silver Spring Drive will be able to serve about 60 patients per day at first, but will eventually serve 100 to 150 patients daily. The clinic has four family practitioners, one internal medicine physician and will have a full-time pediatrician.
It will also have a full-service pharmacy.
The newly expanded clinic will deliver more services than before because it will have more space, said Crystal Logan, community relations manager with Milwaukee Health Services Inc.
"There had not been pediatrics in (the Fifth Street building)," she said. "And we will have women’s health services that had not been part of that building before."
Additionally, the clinic will be able to serve patients who have little or no insurance, Logan said. Those clients will be charged on a sliding scale, based on household income.
Milwaukee Health Services Inc. is a federally qualified community health center that offers a range of primary health services. It serves people regardless of income or third party coverage.
"This infusion of New Market Tax Credits is a quality health care ‘booster shot’ for our community beset by hospital closings, higher health care costs and the shrinking value of the dollar," said State Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), chair of the board of Milwaukee Health Services Inc. "With the opening of this new clinic, we will have capacity to provide services to 20,000 clients per year in this medically underserved area."
