MHCP Community Impact Bus Tour Fosters Awareness and Collaboration

Back by popular demand, the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP) hosted its third bi-annual Community Impact Bus Tour in August, attended by nearly 40 health care leaders, board members, and consortium partners.

The half-day tour is intended to build greater awareness of community health needs, increase understanding of MHCP members’ collective efforts, and strengthen connections among organizations.  

Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services (BHS) leader, Lauren Hubbard, also provided an overview of the other critical community-based mental health and crisis services sponsored or supported by BHS. Participants then boarded a motor coach to destinations on Milwaukee’s north side that showcased a variety of community clinics, as well as innovations in addressing socio-economic determinants of health and violence prevention.

Stephanie Harrison, CEO of the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, the state association for Wisconsin’s 17 Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHC), welcomed tour participants to Outreach Community Health Centers (OCHC) and provided a brief overview of the role FQHCs play in the Milwaukee delivery system. Angela Sanders, Interim President and CEO at OCHC, and colleagues then shared more about the center’s work as a health care for the homeless provider and as an essential provider of mental health and substance use disorder services.  Sanders also highlighted OCHC’s partnerships with Milwaukee County BHS to offer a new behavioral health walk-in clinic and with Ascension Wisconsin Seton Dental Clinic, who will provide mobile and on-site oral health services for patients.

The tour bus also made a stop at  Sojourner Family Peace Center, where Tristan Gross, Director of Partnerships and Community Engagement at Sojourner Family Peace Center, Reggie Moore, Director of Violence Prevention Policy and Engagement at the MCW Comprehensive Injury Center, Sharain Anderson, Vice President, Well Community at Advocate Aurora Health and Co-chair of the MHCP Forensic Nursing Network, and Bridget Clementi, Vice President Community Health at Children’s Wisconsin, elevated the important role health care providers play in violence prevention and the four violence intervention initiatives underway across MHCP member organizations.

‘Drive-byes’ and on-the-bus commentary between stops included highlights about the Housing is Health Program, ThriveOn Collaboration, and Progressive Community Health Centers’ (PCHC) Hillside and Lisbon Avenue health centers, with special recognition of PCHC’s re-entry clinic for individuals recently released from incarceration.

Participants reported that the tour afforded “a deeper appreciation for the services” in the community. It also fostered a renewed commitment to work collectively across programs and organizations, noting, “There were several touch points that prompted me to take notes for follow-up with my teams to either inform work or explore additional collaborative opportunities.”

Thank you to all hosts, presenters, and attendees. View additional photos from the bus tour: