Before the ribbon was even cut, three patients had arrived early Monday at the Manning Family Children’s new ThriveKids Community Clinic in New Orleans East.
Among them was Amari-Lyn Thompson, who was eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch at school when her face swelled so severely her eyes shut. In the past, she would have called her mother, missed school and hoped for an appointment somewhere in the city. This time, she simply walked across campus to the new clinic, located inside the New Orleans East Opportunity Center and connected to her school, The Net.
Manning Family ChildrenÕs celebrates the grand opening of its ThriveKids Community Clinic, Expanding primary care and mental health services to New Orleans East community on Haynes Blvd., Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
The ThriveKids Community Clinic, the first under Manning Family Children’s ThriveKids umbrella, is easily accessible to students from The Net and The Bridge on the same campus, along with children enrolled in the on-site daycare. It is also open to the broader community for walk-ins and appointments. The clinic will operate Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and expects to serve about 5,000 children in its first year.
“There’s never enough primary care doctors,” said Dr. Patrice Evers, one of the pediatricians on staff. “I think we’re going to get busy quickly.”
Its staff includes three pediatricians, a pediatric psychiatrist, a licensed clinical social worker, a nurse and a medical assistant. The clinic will provide primary care for patients from birth to 21 and mental health services for those ages five to 21.
The clinic represents investment in an area where access to children’s health care has long lagged behind demand.
“When you looked on a map, there wasn’t a clinic dedicated to serve them,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department. “That was a tragic oversight that is being rectified today.”
Nearly 20,000 children live in New Orleans East, according to The Data Center. It is one of the metro area’s largest concentrations of kids. Many families still travel to Metairie or Uptown New Orleans for care.
“Y’all could have stayed way Uptown, but you didn’t,” Avegno said during remarks Monday. “This is a dynamic partnership that is flexible and responsive to the true needs of the community. Speaking as someone who has been in health care for quite some time, that is not a hallmark of most health care organizations.”
Already, patients have begun seeking care for a range of needs, from mental health counseling and STD testing to support for grief, trauma and behavioral conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, said Patrick Riley, a therapist at the clinic. Working with families, providers develop intervention and behavior plans that include everyone involved in a child’s care.
“Pills can only do so much,” Riley said. “We have to have effective collaboration with the school, the parents and myself.”
Lou Fragoso, president and CEO of Manning Family Children’s, said ThriveKids was designed with the New Orleans East community in mind. The program, started in 2022, places mental health providers directly in schools across New Orleans. The clinic in New Orleans East will be their first.
in New Orleans, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
The $10 million, three-year funding ThriveKids received from the American Rescue Act is in its final year. Leaders of Manning Family Children’s, which is operated by LCMC Health, are working to renew and potentially expand the program with additional federal support. The hope is to open more community-based clinics in underserved areas.
“How well our kids live and how long they live shouldn’t be dependent on what ZIP code they’re in,” Fragoso said.
The program’s growth reflects the hospital’s expanding partnership with NOLA Public Schools, the New Orleans Health Department and the Orleans Parish School Board. Last year, ThriveKids provided more than 20,000 mental health counseling sessions directly in schools. About one-third of participating students live in New Orleans East, and half of the program’s most intensive mental health sites are in District E.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Manning Family ChildrenÕs (formerly ChildrenÕs Hospital New Orleans) Lucio ÒLouÓ A. Fragoso, speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony of the Manning Family ChildrenÕs first ThriveKids Community Clinic, a school-based community clinic in New Orleans, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
For Bree Anderson, founder and executive director of the A’sani Heartbeat Foundation, the new clinic marks an important step forward. When she went into premature labor at 24 weeks, care was not available close to home in the East. Her daughter, A’sani, died eight days after birth, and her son, A’sir, spent nearly five months in the NICU. When he came home, they frequently traveled for his care.
“I know what it’s like for his oxygen to stop and have to travel from New Orleans East all the way to the main campus,” she said.
City leaders including City Councilmember Oliver Thomas, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Fateama Fulmore, LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn, and Manning Family Children’s board members attended Monday’s opening, which included a tour of the clinic’s exam rooms, counseling spaces and lab.