Keenan STI Clinic Closure Announced By Milwaukee Health Department

The City of Milwaukee Health Department announced that the Sexual and Reproductive Health (STI) Clinic at Keenan Health Center would be temporarily closed due to ongoing staffing issues until February 2026. The clinic’s temporary closure went into effect immediately.

According to Milwaukee District 3 Alderman Alex Brower, the clinic sees about 30 patients every day. Brower also noted that the clinic had 9,216 visits and tested over 4,300 people in 2024.

“We are losing a service here,” said Brower, during a Common Council meeting.

The clinic offers a variety of services to uninsured and underinsured residents of Milwaukee and the surrounding areas. The services offered are the following, according to the Milwaukee Health Department: screening, diagnosis, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, confidential HIV counseling and testing, free external and internal condoms, birth control methods (including pills, patch, NuvaRing and Depo injection), vaccinations against Hepatitis B (with full exam), risk reduction counseling and emergency contraception. Anyone 12 years and older can receive these services at no cost.

The clinic was temporarily closed mainly due to the lack of nursing staff available to be hired, despite efforts of recruitment, according to Deputy Commissioner of Clinical Services Jefflyn Brown of the Milwaukee Health Department. Brown also mentioned that the clinic has not been properly staffed for several years during a Public Safety and Health Committee meeting.

“We have the positions. It’s getting the folks to interview, to accept offers and through our door is part of the issue. We have the positions, we just don’t have people in them,” said Brown.

For the clinic to be considered fully staffed, the following positions should be filled, according to Brown: one director of the clinic, one public health nurse supervisor, five full-time public health nurses, two medical assistants, one nurse practitioner and one office assistant.

These positions all have the budget and funding needed to be filled, just not the employees, according to Brown. Of the 11 positions available within the clinic, only six of them are currently filled, Brown also explained.

Commissioner of Health Mike Totoraitis of the Milwaukee Health Department further explained that one of the employees is currently out on medical leave, leaving the clinic with only five employees that are able to work.

“I guess I see why you guys are closing the thing,” Milwaukee District 12 Alderman Scott Spiker said, after hearing about the current staff shortages at the clinic.

The clinic used temporary staff, reduced hours and services in an effort to remain open through the staffing challenges.

“Our hope had always been to continue to have the clinic open,” Totoraitis said.

Brown explained that a shift in leadership led to several staff members leaving the clinic. The former director of the clinic left in May 2025, and many nurses followed in June 2025. Additionally, one employee had quit on the spot.

“All of this unfortunately cascaded at the same moment,” Totoraitis said.

Totoraitis explained that recruiting staff is faced with the difficulty of competing with the salaries provided by hospitals. Totoraitis also added that the clinic does not require employees to work 12-hour shifts but offers a more traditional 9-5 type schedule and other desirable benefits, to make up for the smaller salaries offered by the clinic, due to tight budgets.

The Milwaukee Health Department held three job fairs on Nov. 18 and 21 and Dec. 1 at the Keenan Health Center to recruit nurses for the clinic.

Until the clinic reopens, Milwaukee residents can receive same-day STI testing and treatment at other community health partners, as noted by the Milwaukee Health Department:

• Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. (2555 N. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive)
• Progressive Community Health Centers
  • Lisbon Avenue Health Center (3522 W. Lisbon Ave.)
  • 12th Street Urgent Care (945 N. 12th St.)
• Outreach Community Health Centers (220 W. Capitol Drive)

The Keenan Health Center is still open for other medical services. Brown noted that people looking for STI testing and treatment at the Keenan Health Center will be directed to other local clinics where they can receive care.

“We are trying to make sure people don’t fall through the cracks,” Brown said.