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September 8, 2025
ASHWAUBENON – After five years of planning and construction, Emplify Health by Bellin opened its Children & Adolescent Center late last month in Ashwaubenon.
Jamie Hagenow-Sekora, team leader of pediatric specialties/primary care for pediatrics and adolescents with Emplify Health by Bellin, said the new facility is designed to meet the healthcare needs of children throughout Northeast and Central Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
“The unique-to-our-region building will house many of Emplify Health by Bellin’s pediatric primary care and behavioral health services and adolescent team, along with specialty services provided by Children’s Wisconsin and Emplify Health by Bellin experts,” she said.
Hagenow-Sekora said the Children’s Wisconsin Ashwaubenon Clinic – located within the center (2550 S. Ashland Ave.) – will provide additional specialty care closer to home for area kids and teens.
Some of those specialty services, she said, include cardiology, endocrinology, GI, hematology, nephrology, urology, therapies, surgery and complex care.
Hagenow-Sekora said the adolescent center and Children’s Wisconsin Ashwaubenon Clinic are part of the Connected for Kids partnership between Emplify Health by Bellin, Children’s Wisconsin and ThedaCare.
All in one
As the operational lead for the entire design and implementation of the children and adolescent center – “I have seen this project from the blueprint design all the way to the opening of the building” – Hagenow-Sekora said the building is “truly comprehensive.”
“That’s the best thing about it – it truly is a 1,000% comprehensive building,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you want typical primary care for a well-child appointment, to get vaccines, a sports physical, labs once a month, have specialty needs, need therapy, have ENT needs, want X-rays or mental health [care], you can be serviced at this one center – most times, all in one day.”
Hagenow-Sekora said there are “obviously” other places in Northeast Wisconsin that provide these needed services, but the difference is that other healthcare facilities don’t have all the services under one roof.
“You don’t have to worry about driving all over Green Bay from the east side to the west side, or even to Madison or Milwaukee,” she said. “It truly is a comprehensive approach to adolescent health care.”
Hagenow-Sekora said having services entirely in one facility can help ease the minds of parents and children.
“For example, if your child is somewhere getting a blood draw and they can’t do the draw anymore, there is stress in packing your child up and taking them to another location,” she said. “There is now more time for your child to develop anxiety and more time for parents to overanalyze. We’re aiming to make adolescent health care comprehensive at a one-stop shop.”
Hagenow-Sekora said keeping healthcare options local means happier and healthier kids, too.
“We want to do our part in not interrupting their routine as much as we possibly can,” she said. “Every time a child has to get into a car and go long distances [for care], it can put physical strain on them and their families.”
Tiffany Born, a pediatric psychologist for Emplify Health by Bellin, said the COVID-19 pandemic amplified mental health needs – something the center can help with.
“Obviously, we know there are significant mental health [care] needs for everyone, but especially for kids and adolescents,” she said. “That need was there before COVID, but it has gotten worse since then. The new center will allow us to have more providers to better serve the community and get kids seen more quickly.”
Matthew Buelow, medical director of the Northeast Region of Children’s Wisconsin, said they want Wisconsin kids to be the healthiest in the nation.
“We know we can’t do it alone,” he said. “By working alongside our Connected for Kids partner, Emplify Health by Bellin, we can further improve the health and well-being of our children.”
Well received so far
Even before the adolescent center officially opened its doors Aug. 26, Hagenow-Sekora said the community embraced the facility.
At a grand opening event held earlier in August, she said almost 1,000 people came through the building.
“That was just to see the building and experience what it is,” she said. “Normally, it’s unheard of at an open house to have a thousand people come in just to see a building – especially at a healthcare open house.”
Hagenow-Sekora said the staff at Emplify Health by Bellin take a “tremendous amount of pride in the new center.”
“It’s not just a building to us – we are here for a reason,” she said. “Many of us who were on the project know exactly what these families go through.”
Though the reward of opening the center is great and the community has been nothing but supportive, Hagenow-Sekora said it goes deeper than that.
“Ultimately, we know what we can achieve by bringing this local and bringing children and adolescents comprehensive care through the lens of a child,” she said.
Specifics of the center
Hagenow-Sekora said the center was specifically designed for adolescents, citing the pediatric bathroom as a clear example.
“It might not seem like much to most people, but it might be a big deal to a small child,” she said. “In the pediatric bathroom, we have an adult sink and a child sink. We also have an adult toilet and a child toilet. Something like this can ease their minds and give children independence. The care in our building is all about the children.”
Another popular component of the center, Hagenow-Sekora said, is the bubble wall.
“The bubble wall is probably the biggest hit of the entire building right now,” she said. “It’s a giant wall that has some bubbles in it – kind of like the modern-day lava lamp. It’s very soothing and helps relax kiddos.”
Though the bubble wall might seem unusual for some, Hagenow-Sekora said it serves a big purpose.
“A simple way to answer that is, ‘Why does everyone stand around the wall then?’” she laughed. “Upon seeing it, we feel it puts kids and their parents more at ease.”
Building on the calming effect of the bubble wall, Hagenow-Sekora said in every lab room, there are things in place to help with the anxiety that might come with getting blood drawn.
“In every draw room, there is a bubble tube that is on one side, and then on the other side, there is a magnification of a different image,” she said. “Kids can look at the ocean, they can look at the jungle or they can look at the desert – do you want to look left or look right? You don’t have to necessarily look [at the blood draw being performed] and think about what’s going on.”
Born said the center also features a lot of sensory spaces, which “help regulate the nervous system of our kids and adolescents while we’re seeing them for mental health therapy or for their specialty care.”
Additionally, Born said the center has an EOS machine – a medical imaging system designed to provide frontal and lateral radiography images, while limiting the X-ray dose absorbed by the patient.
She said this technology not only enhances patient safety but also improves diagnostic accuracy – making EOS particularly valuable in monitoring musculoskeletal conditions and guiding orthopedic treatments.
“It is this really large machine that takes up a whole room, and it can take 3D images of the spine in about two minutes, compared to 45 minutes,” she said. “It reduces radiation by 70%, so for kids with early onset scoliosis or with other concerns about the spine, they can get care closer to home and in a much safer way for their future development.”
Born said she’s also “very excited” about the mock apartment in the center.
“The mock apartment will be used to teach life skills, because a lot of our patients with developmental disabilities, autism or intellectual disability don’t have those same skills when it comes to things like making a bed, cooking or finances,” she said. “We can teach those skills right in a place that looks like their apartment will look like going forward.”
And soon, Born said the center will introduce a Kitten Scanner to help children better understand medical procedures.
“The Kitten Scanner helps kids learn how an MRI works,” she said. “They get to choose a little stuffed animal and get to put their animal through the MRI machine and learn all about it. Then that animal follows them home and walks them through what the process will be like when they go through the MRI when they’re at the hospital going through it. That animal is the one taking them through the steps, versus having a nurse do it.”
At the end of the day, Sherri Hoyman – an Emplify Health by Bellin pediatrician – said the center houses an array of services to meet the unique and specialized needs of children ages 0-22
“The goal was to provide a space for children to receive care that meets their needs while being enjoyable and comfortable for all abilities,” she said.
