La Crosse-based nonprofit reproductive health care provider Essential Health Clinic will join Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, the organizations announced.
Essential Health Clinic has clinic locations in Blair, La Crosse, Sparta and Viroqua. Under the acquisition, Essential Health’s La Crosse, Sparta and Blair health centers and staff will join Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s 21 health centers, effective Aug. 19.
The acquisition will expand Milwaukee-based Planned Parenthood’s footprint in western Wisconsin. It currently serves about 60,000 patients annually, providing well woman exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, birth control and abortion services.
“We are excited to welcome Essential Health Clinic into the Planned Parenthood family,” said Tanya Atkinson, president and chief executive officer of PPWI. “Both Essential and PPWI have worked together to provide high quality, nonjudgmental and confidential reproductive health care to keep our communities safe, healthy and strong.”
Atkinson said the joining of the two nonprofit organizations makes them a “stronger, more sustainable health care provider.” It will also allow them to enhance care by providing online appointments, expanded center hours and a growing menu of service options, Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
“Essential Health Clinic is pleased to join forces with PPWI to continue to serve the health care needs of patients in western Wisconsin,” said Carol Kratz, board president of Essential Health Clinic. “Like Essential Health, Planned Parenthood is a trusted reproductive health provider with a long history of providing affordable health care and education services. For more than 40 years we have provided excellent care to those in our communities, and we welcome Planned Parenthood to meet our patients’ needs together.”
