OPINION: ‘The hospital is not closing’: We are invested in our Ascension St. Joseph campus | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Reggie Newson
August 6, 2019
St. Joseph Hospital was acquired by Ascension when it merged with Wheaton Franciscan in 2015. (Photo by Sue Vliet)
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In an exclusive for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, Reggie Newson, vice president of Government and Community Services and chief advocacy officer for Ascension Wisconsin, discusses the future of Ascension St. Joseph.
Ascension Wisconsin is invested in our Ascension St. Joseph campus as an anchor for healthcare and community in the Sherman Park Neighborhood and the greater Milwaukee community.
In fact, we are excited to announce that we are actively exploring ways to develop and implement new programs at Ascension St. Joseph Hospital that addresses the health needs of our community.
Throughout 2019, we will continue to expand and advance these new and expanded programs at Ascension St. Joseph:
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We also want you to be aware of our Ascension Community Health Services on the St. Joseph campus:
In addition to these services, we’re exploring ideas to partner with others to provide additional services, such as long-term care, multigenerational and multi-income housing, education, job training, transportation and healthy foods. We understand healthcare is important, but it’s just one part of making this neighborhood as healthy as it can be.
Some studies show that healthcare accounts for only 20 percent of a person’s overall health. The remaining 80 percent is dependent on their socioeconomic, physical environment and health behaviors such as diet, tobacco and alcohol use. Innovative health systems across the country are finding ways to address these broader issues to improve the overall health of their communities.
That is why Ascension Wisconsin is committed to developing and delivering a new model of health care aligned to our Mission and rooted our Christian values to serve the Ascension St. Joseph community.
We also want to be a catalyst to support neighborhood redevelopment and improvement plans, economic development strategies and investment near Sherman Park and West Burleigh Street.
Ascension St. Joseph will continue to hold focus groups to check back in with the community to offer details on what programs have been updated or newly offered on the campus since their last community conversations. These focus groups will help identify continued services that could be added to help Ascension St. Joseph become the model for a strong healthcare advocate in communities.
In addition, Ascension will host our first Milwaukee Medical Mission at Home event at North Division High School on Sept. 14. This is a unique opportunity to build community as Ascension clinical team members and volunteers provide a one-day event that offers free medical screenings, access to dental care and medications. While providing compassionate, personalized care, our goal is to ensure that patients can follow up with an Ascension provider and access primary care.  For more information, visit: www.medicalmissionathome.org
To view highlights of our Medical Mission at Home at Park High School in Racine from May 2019, click here to watch a video showing nearly 300 individuals received a free medical screening that day: https://youtu.be/dpXENLOvUsc
We want to be your trusted partner for the health and well-being and we are privileged to serve you for life. Our promise is to continue listening; and together, we can make our community healthy and well.
How to reach Reggie Newson
Postal: Reggie Newson
Vice President of Government and Community Services and Chief Advocacy Officer
Ascension Wisconsin
400 West River Woods Parkway
Glendale, WI 53212
Website: Ascension.org/Wisconsin
Phone: (414) 465.3435
Email: Reginald.Newson@ascension.org
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