Healthcare Providers Expand Services and Infrastructure After Merging

The Lakes Community Health Center and the North Woods Community Health Center were both small healthcare providers serving low-income, rural communities across several Wisconsin counties. With overlapping patient and donor bases as well as complementary programs, the two organizations decided to merge to improve staffing efficiencies. The merger of two health centers improved staff-to-patient ratios, eliminated the competition among the two entities for highly-qualified medical professionals, and filled a leadership void created by North Woods Community Health Center’s executive director’s retirement. The merged entity, the Northlakes Community Clinic, has also been able to expand services to its sites and invest more in its infrastructure. The SeaChange-Lodestar Fund provided a challenge grant to support one-time expenses related to the merger.

Grant Information

Grant Amount: $20,000

Year Granted: 2013

Grantee: Northlakes Community Clinic

Location: WI - Wisconsin

Grantee Website: Northlakes Community Clinic