Aurora Psychiatric Hospital Campus Master Plan Investment
Project Overview
AURORA PYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL BACKGROUND
Aurora Psychiatric Hospital has been a leader in behavioral health care for over 130
years. As the oldest private psychiatric hospital in the State of Wisconsin, our facilities
provide hospital-based and outpatient care for individuals with mental health and/or
substance abuse disorders. Aurora’s psychiatric medical team includes some of the
area’s leading psychiatrists, therapists and psychiatric nurses, who deliver the highest
quality of behavioral health care. With over 480 caregivers employed by the hospital,
there are 49 physicians on our medical staff.
Aurora Behavioral Health Services is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient
behavioral health services in Wisconsin. We operate three inpatient facilities and forty
outpatient sites throughout our service area. In 2014, Aurora recorded over 6,000
inpatient discharges and 250,000 clinical visits related to psychiatry, psychology and
psychotherapy.
Aurora Psychiatric Hospital is the only private provider in Wisconsin with a full continuum
of behavioral health care, including inpatient, residential, partial hospital, intensive
outpatient and outpatient services. We offer specialized programming for children and
adolescents, eating disorders and addictions, as well as a full range of mental health
issues. The Aurora Psychiatric Hospital campus is home to the Kradwell School, which
is a private specialty school for students 5th through 12th grades, typically struggling with
behavioral health issues. In addition, we host a variety of community recovery and
support groups as well as various educational offerings on our campus
MASTERPLAN OVERVIEW
Aurora is working on several fronts to expand and further integrate behavioral health
services within our service region.
As part of these efforts, Aurora’s Board of Directors and executive leadership team has
recently approved a $35 million master plan investment for the Aurora Psychiatric
Hospital Campus which seeks to address growing demand for behavioral health care in
Wauwatosa and the greater Milwaukee area.
The projects currently identified in the campus Master plan include:
•
New on-campus parking: As part of the master plan, Aurora will add both a new
ramp and reconfigured surface lot parking, to provide relief from the current on
street parking burden in our surrounding neighborhood. We expect to provide
more than 190 spaces as a part of the renovation, which will accommodate the
new campus development, will eliminate the need for overflow parking on the
street and create a surplus of over 30 spaces. Additionally the plan locates
parking in a convenient area of the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital campus to further
minimize the propensity for on-street parking.
•
Psychiatric Inpatient and Hospital-Based Services: We will be renovating the
hospital to increase capacity and address growing patient demand. As part of this
project, we will renovate patient rooms that are currently being used as office
space to accommodate the burgeoning need for inpatient behavioral health
services in Wauwatosa and the Greater Milwaukee Area. An estimated 18
additional patient rooms will be made available through this renovation. The
expansion will add office space and upgrade treatment space to accommodate
the loss of space in the inpatient areas. The design additions and expansions
will be made with minimum impact on the site and respect for the context of the
campus
•
Dewey Center: The Dewey Center has served as a residential substance abuse
and rehabilitation facility. The current building is over 90 years old and has long
served its purpose. We are proposing to replace the Dewey Center with a new
modernized facility to accommodate increased need and ensure quality of care
for patients receiving residential based substance abuse services. Our plan is to
convert semi-private rooms to private, increase the capacity from 15 to 30 beds
and consolidate our campus-based substance abuse treatment programming
that is currently spread throughout our campus to this location. The new facility
will be designed to complement the character of the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital
Campus.
•
Alumni House: Last, we have plans to replace the current Alumni House with a
new facility. The Alumni house serves as a short term sober living facility.
Individuals reside in this building anywhere from 2- 4 months. Eight residents and
a house manager will live there. Similar to the Dewey Center, this building has
surpassed its functional purpose. The new facility will also be designed to
complement the character of the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital Campus. The
planned location is the North side of the campus.
•
Deferred Maintenance Projects: In addition to the upgrades being made to
parking and building infrastructure, Aurora will be upgrading aging and inefficient
building systems and mechanical infrastructure. We will be renovating and
repairing existing buildings on campus, ensuring they meet current code
requirements and that their operational infrastructure is properly maintained.
Projects will likely include updates to heating and air conditioning systems,
replacement of windows and carpeting, among other updates within the various
buildings on campus.
Aurora is very excited to make this investment in Wauwatosa and increase access to
behavioral health services in the greater Milwaukee area. We believe this campus
master plan will allow us to better address growing demand for behavioral health care
and substance abuse treatment in our region and eliminate the parking burden on our
surrounding neighborhood.