Following the abrupt closure of City on a Hill on April 3, Health Connections Inc. has taken the lead role in organizing providers, agencies and community members to respond to the growing health care gap affecting hundreds of patients and families across Milwaukee.
The healthcare nonprofit’s leaders emphasized during a meeting on April 30 that the work is far from over.
“We will continue to create space so that persons in our community can understand what’s happening with the 525 clinical patients,” said Quinton Cotton, co-founder of MKE Black Grassroots Network for Health Equity, which works in partnership with Health Connections. “What’s happening with these 1,200 families? How is Milwaukee coming together, stepping up, ensuring that those people have access to the care and services that they need?”
Immediate needs
Ericka Sinclair is a co-founder of MKE Black Grassroots Network for Health Equity and founder and CEO of Health Connections Inc. She’s urging former City on a Hill patients to call her organization directly for assistance, while also directing general inquiries to 211.
The organization is working with Impact 211 and other partners to expand outreach, including organizing a text campaign to reach affected residents.
“The good thing about what’s happening here is that we are also still in contact with some of the City on a Hill staff,” Sinclair said. “So we can connect people to services that they still need.”
Gaps in care
As Health Connections works to relocate patients and services, significant gaps remain. The largest being dental care.
Meeting participants described the loss of City on a Hill’s newly renovated dental suite, a $1.5 million investment, as particularly painful given the already limited access to care.
“Dental services in general are just hard to find,” one speaker said. “But dental services for people that are uninsured or underinsured are even harder to find.”
Some providers have stepped forward offering capacity, though leaders acknowledged it will not fully meet demand.
Bread of Healing Clinic stepped in to fill the gap left in optometry.
“We haven’t seen any extreme impact from the closure of City on a Hill yet,” said Erica Wright, executive director of the clinic. “But we are doing everything we can to be prepared when people come to our doors.”
A broader systems challenge
While immediate patient placement is the priority, Health Connections leaders say the closure has exposed deeper systemic issues.
Discussions during the meeting highlighted the need to:
- Better coordinate providers across the city
- Connect patients to specialty care more effectively
- Support independent clinics that lack larger organizational backing
- Track where displaced patients and staff ultimately land
“We’re kind of doing a forensic documentation of what happens when a safety net clinic closes,” Cotton said. “This is really important work so we can prevent it from happening again, or at least respond responsibly if it does.”
Concerns were also shared about future pressures, including potential Medicaid changes and increased demand from vulnerable populations, including non-English-speaking residents and refugees.
Call for community involvement
Health Connections is encouraging health professionals, community organizations and residents to get involved, whether through direct service, partnerships or resource sharing.
Outside of medical services, City on a Hill provided youth and family services to about 1,200 families.
“If you’re interested in helping, please call us,” Sinclair said. “Oftentimes people have resources that we can’t necessarily articulate on a call, but it may be exactly what we need.”
If you are in need of services or have services you can help provide, you can call Health Connections at 414-999-1099.
The organization is also exploring the possibility of reopening or repurposing the former City on a Hill space, potentially as a coordinated clinic serving multiple providers.
“There is no way that one small clinic can do this alone,” Sinclair said. “But what we can do is sound the alarm, get people together and figure out, as a community, how we’re going to respond.”
As the situation continues to evolve, Health Connections leaders say future meetings will focus on both immediate patient needs and long-term system solutions.
“We have to do more than one thing at a time,” Cotton said. “We can’t wait.”
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