ChildServe, a specialty pediatric health care provider for children and young adults with special health care needs, has announced the organization closed its $10 million capital campaign Growing Together: The Des Moines Campaign.
The primary goal of the campaign is to provide funding to relocate ChildServe’s Des Moines facility, currently on Woodland Avenue, to a location near the corner of 48th and Franklin.
The new facility will consist of renovating a recently acquired building at 1750 48th St. in Des Moines, expediting the project’s timeline to serve more children and to serve them sooner.
In a news release, ChildServe leaders said they anticipate renovation of the building to begin in the first half of 2025. The new location will more than double the square footage of the current Des Moines center, from 9,000 square feet to over 20,000 square feet, and increasing the capacity of children served by tenfold – from 60 to 600.
ChildServe’s Johnston location will remain the organization’s headquarters.
“The Growing Together Campaign was about building a new Des Moines campus that would have 10 times the impact on children and families being served when compared to the current facility,” said Tom Mahoney, ChildServe Des Moines campaign chair, Board of Trustees member and past president and ITA Group board chairman. “This is not just another capital campaign. This project is transformative in how ChildServe is having a positive impact on the lives of children with complex medical needs and their families. This project is also helping central Iowa parents stay engaged in the workforce, so they are better able to financially support their families.”
The campaign has generated contributions from more than 90 donors and community partners. Gifts and grants were provided from a multitude of individuals and organizations, including Variety – the Children’s Charity, Prairie Meadows, Athene Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, and Tiffany and BJ Baker.
“We are incredibly excited about this next step in our regional growth strategy to transform even more lives through specialty pediatric healthcare services,” said ChildServe CEO Dr. Teri Wahlig. “The generous contributions of our donors will allow ChildServe to expand in Des Moines – the perfect complement to our main campus in Johnston in serving the Des Moines metro area. The facility will improve access and decrease barriers to care for children with special healthcare needs through several of our specialized programs, including medical childcare, autism services, pediatric rehabilitation and neurobehavioral healthcare.”
ChildServe’s current Des Moines facility offers Medical Childcare, the only program in the state of Iowa that provides specialized weekday care for children with complex medical needs, such as feeding tubes, epilepsy, and respiratory complications that require nursing oversight.
The location also provides an Autism Day Program which, much like the Medical Childcare program, fills a gap for Iowa children and families who need specialized, tailored weekday childcare services. Pediatric rehabilitation therapy services, including occupational, physical and speech therapy, are also available onsite and will grow exponentially with the relocation and expansion of the Des Moines site.
Each of the services have waitlists, and ChildServe’s new Des Moines location will allow access to imperative services for more Iowa children with special healthcare needs.
A Neurobehavioral Clinic will be added as part of the project. The clinic will focus on the population of children with special health care needs who have a co-occurring behavioral health need, such as anxiety, ADHD, autism, brain injury, developmental delay or obsessive compulsive disorder.
The expansion is part of ChildServe’s larger regional growth strategy, which includes enhancing its main campuses in Ames, Des Moines, Iowa City and Johnston. ChildServe also opened its first satellite location in Hiawatha in 2023.
