Not everyone in Wisconsin has quick access to hospitals like we do in Milwaukee. It’s more of luxury than we know. People living in rural Wisconsin travel hundreds of miles to Milwaukee for medical care, and a Milwaukee organization is working to help those families out when they arrive. The patients are invited to stay at Kathy’s House.
Kathy's House is a non-profit organization providing a temporary home for adult patients traveling to Milwaukee for advanced medical care. Patients are referred to the house by their hospital. If patients are staying long term, they have a bedroom, kitchen, dining room and more at Kathy’s House.
Learn more about what Kathy’s House offers adult patients in the audio story below.
Kathy’s House is named after Kathy Vogel Kuettner, who passed away from cancer in 2000. During her medical journey, she witnessed other patients lacking support during theirs. She wanted to change this, so she asked her family to open a hospitality hospital house on her behalf. A year after she passed away, her family went on to open Kathy’s House.
Kathy’s House mostly serves patients who are not from Milwaukee. Most times, they are families traveling from rural Wisconsin to receive specialized healthcare that they cannot find in their small towns.
Each patient is unique and their stay at Kathy’s House depends on their medical needs. About 85 percent of the patients Kathy’s House serves are battling cancer, so patients often stay at the House when they come for treatments for extended amounts of time.
Kathy’s House is in such high demand that they had to turn families away last year. The organization received a $6 million grant from Froedtert Hospital to fund construction of a new Kathy’s House with double their capacity.
