Holistic care beyond the exam room
At Ascension All Saints Family Health Center in Milwaukee, care for patients extends well beyond the exam room. With supplemental services and access to fresh, locally grown food at the clinic’s farm, patients can put their doctor’s recommendations into practice. They can walk the free track, share fresh vegetables from the on-site farm, join weekly exercise classes open to the community, learn about nutrition at free cooking classes and more.
“What makes the Family Health Center really unique is its actual holistic care,” said Jenny Ovide, Resident Community Clinical Coordinator.
“We have a track outside, so there's a place that people can exercise for free, and there's my free exercise class every week for people, and then we have a teaching kitchen, and then we have an on-site farm, where we're not only employing high school kids for wages, but it's part of their schooling.”
Caring for the whole person
The Family Health Center is located in an underserved area of Milwaukee and a food desert. It serves patients of all ages, many of whom face challenges accessing affordable food, transportation and other resources that support good health and well-being.
The center considers these challenges when caring for patients. Alongside primary care, patients can access mental health services, group visits for anxiety, depression and high blood pressure, and programs focused on nutrition and physical activity.
Jenny leads a free, weekly exercise class open to patients and community members. Some participants have attended for nearly 20 years.
These resources help patients prioritize their health in a local, central location. Many of these opportunities, including the walking track, the greenhouse and the orchard, have been made possible through donor generosity to Ascension Wisconsin Foundation.
Growing healthy food and new opportunities
Just outside the clinic, a farm, a greenhouse and an orchard are helping address another significant community need: access to fresh, healthy food. The farm began about a decade ago through a partnership with Pastor Dan Czaplewski of Mount Calvary Community Development Corporation (MCCDC) & Lutheran Church and Ascension Wisconsin.
Today, high school interns earn wages and school credit while learning to plant, grow, harvest and distribute fresh produce.
“There’s empowerment in a paycheck,” Pastor Dan said, describing one of the program’s guiding principles. “There's also healing from trauma in the ground, and there's a lot of low-grade trauma in under-resourced neighborhoods.”
The benefits extend well beyond the students. Over the past three years, the farm has donated approximately 13,000 pounds of fresh produce to local organizations, schools and health care facilities, including Ascension Wisconsin oncology patients experiencing food insecurity.
In a neighborhood where grocery store closures have made fresh food harder to access, the garden offers a practical way to help.
“This is my first main job and source of income. I love working here. It’s really shaped me and taught me a lot,” said Nicholas, lead intern at MCCDC. “I want it to be just as beneficial to everyone else as it has been to me. […] Having actual access to food that’s close by and that’s fresh, it’s really beneficial to the community.”
Building a healthier community together
The Family Health Center is also training the next generation of family medicine physicians. Through its residency program, doctors learn to understand the communities they serve, including the circumstances that can affect their patients’ health.
That connection is central to the clinic's work.
“It’s just that basic human understanding of what your fellow human is going through and teaching the young doctors how to connect without any sort of judgment,” Jenny said.
The Family Health Center also makes sure the people it serves have a voice in the care and programs available to them. Through a patient advisory board, patients share their experiences, identify challenges and offer feedback on how the center can better meet the community’s needs. That input helps guide everything from improvements in patient care to new programs and resources. By listening to patients, the Family Health Center can focus its efforts on the services and support that matter most to the people who rely on them.
Donor generosity to Ascension Wisconsin Foundation helps make much of the work at the Health Center possible.
“A lot of what we do would not be here without the Foundation,” Jenny said. “We want this to be a hub for people, even if they don't get their healthcare here. Even if somebody is [receiving care] somewhere else, they're still a part of this community.”
