Before the ribbon was even cut, three patients had arrived early Monday at the Manning Family Children\u2019s new ThriveKids Community Clinic in New Orleans East.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Manning Family Children\u00d5s 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<\/a>)<\/p>\n STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD<\/p>\n The ThriveKids Community Clinic, the first under Manning Family Children\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s never enough primary care doctors,\u201d said Dr. Patrice Evers, one of the pediatricians on staff. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to get busy quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The clinic represents investment in an area where access to children\u2019s health care has long lagged behind demand.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you looked on a map, there wasn\u2019t a clinic dedicated to serve them,\u201d said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department. \u201cThat was a tragic oversight that is being rectified today.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearly 20,000 children live in New Orleans East, according to The Data Center. It is one of the metro area\u2019s largest concentrations of kids. Many families still travel to Metairie or Uptown New Orleans for care.<\/p>\n \u201cY\u2019all could have stayed way Uptown, but you didn\u2019t,\u201d Avegno said during remarks Monday. \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s care.<\/p>\n \u201cPills can only do so much,\u201d Riley said. \u201cWe have to have effective collaboration with the school, the parents and myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Lou Fragoso, president and CEO of Manning Family Children\u2019s, 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.<\/p>\n in New Orleans, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD<\/p>\n The $10 million, three-year funding ThriveKids received from the American Rescue Act is in its final year.<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n \u201cHow well our kids live and how long they live shouldn\u2019t be dependent on what ZIP code they\u2019re in,\u201d Fragoso said.<\/p>\n The program\u2019s growth reflects the hospital\u2019s 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\u2019s most intensive mental health sites are in District E.<\/p>\n President and Chief Executive Officer of Manning Family Children\u00d5s (formerly Children\u00d5s Hospital New Orleans) Lucio \u00d2Lou\u00d3 A. Fragoso, speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony of the Manning Family Children\u00d5s 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<\/a>)<\/p>\n STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD<\/p>\n For Bree Anderson, founder and executive director of the A\u2019sani 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\u2019sani, died eight days after birth, and her son, A\u2019sir, spent nearly five months in the NICU. When he came home, they frequently traveled for his care.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI know what it\u2019s like for his oxygen to stop and have to travel from New Orleans East all the way to the main campus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n City leaders including City Councilmember Oliver Thomas, NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Fateama Fulmore, LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn, and Manning Family Children\u2019s board members attended Monday\u2019s opening, which included a tour of the clinic\u2019s exam rooms, counseling spaces and lab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the ribbon was even cut, three patients had arrived early Monday at the Manning Family Children\u2019s new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":301811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[12351,210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-301810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-hardwall","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115370832860884180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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