Children's Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Honored with a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant

Affinity Health System, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley and ThedaCare join forces to open behavioral health clinic for kids and teens  

NEENAH (1/15/2008) - Affinity Health System, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley and ThedaCare today signed an agreement to join forces to offer pediatric behavioral health services. The agreement is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between competing health care organizations in the Fox Valley.

In a press conference at J. J. Keller & Associates Inc., Daniel Neufelder, president and CEO of Affinity Health System; John Toussaint, MD, president and CEO of ThedaCare; and Jon Vice, president and CEO of Children's Hospital and Health System, pledged to work together to address a shortage of pediatric behavioral health services in the Fox Valley. According to the Fox Cities 2006 LIFE (Leading Indicators for Excellence) study, the region has more demand for pediatric behavioral services than current systems can accommodate.

According to the agreement, Children's Hospital-Fox Valley will recruit at least two more child and adolescent psychiatrists to the area, which will complement services already offered by Affinity, ThedaCare and Children's Service Society of Wisconsin (like Children's Hospital-Fox Valley, a member of Children's Hospital and Health System). At the same time, Affinity and ThedaCare agree to create a seamless insurance environment to help eliminate financial barriers to receiving care. The agreement also will establish a new behavioral health clinic, which will be located at the Goodwill Industries building near Hwy. 47 and Hwy. 441 in Appleton. It is expected to open in summer 2008.

"ThedaCare has a long history of collaborating with other providers when it makes sense for the community," said Toussaint. "Over the years, we have worked with Affinity Health System to co-sponsor Gold Cross Ambulance and the Fox Cities Community Clinic, and with Children's Hospital and Health System to bring Children's Hospital of Wisconsin - Fox Valley to the Theda Clark Campus and to the people of the Fox Valley. This collaboration is especially important, because it engages our entire community in assuring that our children will have access to comprehensive behavioral health care in a way that none of us – ThedaCare, Affinity or Children's Hospital – could have accomplished independently."

"Fox Valley residents are fortunate that there are so many quality health care organizations here that are willing to work together to solve community issues," Neufelder added. "We're committed to working with Children's Hospital-Fox Valley and ThedaCare to bring additional behavioral health services that will promote the care of our children."

The clinic is likely to generate a $2.5 million operating loss over the next five years. Fundraising efforts have secured $2.25 million thanks to a $625,000 matching grant from the John J. & Ethel D. Keller Donor Advised Fund in the Community Foundation, and a $500,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. "The Fox Valley community has offered overwhelming financial support, for which we are very grateful," Vice said. "This positions the program to raise additional funds and expand the reach and scope of services in coming years."

Other major donors include Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Kimberly-Clark, U.S. Oil/Schmidt Family Foundation, United Way Fox Cities, the Frank C. Shattuck Community Fund and several other donors from within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Bassett Mechanical, Crystal Print Foundation and Applebee's.

Affinity Health System, a Catholic mission-oriented regional health care network, is a partnership of Ministry Health Care and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. Affinity Health System is the Fox Valley's third largest employer, according to the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and is ranked 29th among the top 100 integrated health care networks nationwide (Verispan 2007). Network Health Plan has achieved Excellent accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the highest possible level. It is ranked 37th among the 250 rated health plans in the nation in terms of customer satisfaction and clinical performance, according to the U.S. News and World Report/NCQA Best Health Plans in America listing. Members of Affinity include Mercy Medical Center and Mercy Health Foundation, Oshkosh; Franciscan Care & Rehabilitation Center, St. Elizabeth Hospital and the St. Elizabeth Hospital Community Foundation, Appleton; Affinity Medical Group, a regional network of 23 family practice and specialty clinics in 13 communities; Calumet Medical Center, Chilton; Network Health Plan, Menasha; and Affinity Occupational Health.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin-Fox Valley operates an inpatient Pediatric Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital, which opened in 2001, is located at 130 Second Street in Neenah, Wis. Outpatient services are offered at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Clinics-Fox Valley, and child protection services are provided at the Child Advocacy Center. Children's Hospital-Fox Valley is affiliated with Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, which is recognized by Child magazine as one of the 10 Best Children's Hospitals and is named by U.S. News and World Report as one of America's Best Children's Hospitals. Children's Hospital-Fox Valley and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin are members of Children's Hospital and Health System.

ThedaCare™ is a community health system consisting of four hospitals: Appleton Medical Center, Theda Clark Medical Center, New London Family Medical Center and Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca. Both Appleton Medical Center and Theda Clark Medical Center have been named "Consumer Choice® hospitals by the National Research Corporation for six consecutive years. Additionally, ThedaCare has been named one of the "100 Most Wired" health systems for the sixth consecutive year by Hospital and Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association, for its use of information technology in caring for patients. ThedaCare also includes ThedaCare Physicians, ThedaCare Behavioral Health, ThedaCare Laboratories, and Ingenuity First™. ThedaCare also has a Home Care and Senior Services Division that includes ThedaCare at Home, The Heritage Residential Living Community, Heritage Woods Assisted Living, and Peabody Manor skilled nursing facility. Joint ventures include Gold Cross Ambulance, the Appleton Heart Institute and Quality Health Solutions. ThedaCare is the third largest healthcare employer in the state and is the largest employer in Wisconsin's second largest economic market, Northeast Wisconsin, with nearly 5,300 employees.