By: Beau Boughamer

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a lengthy feature about the first Community Health Center location inside a Wisconsin grocery store.  It’s a Milwaukee Health Services health center.

Retail clinics, such as the Take Care Clinics in Walgreens drug stores and Aurora Health Care’s Quick Care clinics, have spread throughout metro Milwaukee in recent years.

But the clinics, which offer fast, convenient access to basic care for common illnesses such as sore throats, ear infections and allergies, have largely avoided the city’s low-income areas.

That changed last fall.

Milwaukee Health Services, a Community Health Center that provides care for more than 32,000 people a year, opened MHS Convenient Care Clinic in the Lena’s Food Market at 4061 N. 54th St. in October.

Community Health Centers provide care primarily for people covered by Medicaid programs, such as BadgerCare Plus, and for people without health insurance, who are charged on a sliding scale tied to their income.