February 5, 2024

ChildServe recently announced the organization plans to extend its reach in Des Moines by relocating its current Des Moines facility, located on Woodland Avenue, to a location near the corner of 48th and Franklin pending final approval by the City of Des Moines. The new facility will more than double the square footage of the current Des Moines center, from 9,000-square-feet to 20,000-square-feet, increasing the capacity of children served by tenfold – from 60 to 600. ChildServe’s Johnston location will remain the organization’s headquarter campus.   

“Our ChildServe team members have done an outstanding job making the best use of space at our Des Moines center over the past 15 years, but we have simply outgrown the facility – and the children and families we serve deserve more,” said Dr. Teri Wahlig, ChildServe CEO. “Our current waitlists for our signature programs continue to grow, so we know now is the right time to invest in the future for Iowa children and families. We are incredibly excited about this next step in our regional growth strategy to transform even more lives through specialty pediatric healthcare services.”  

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, and 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, an area that will experience exponential growth with the relocation and expansion of the Des Moines site.  

Each of these services have waitlists, and ChildServe’s new Des Moines center will allow access to these imperative services for more Iowa children with special healthcare needs. In addition, a Neurobehavioral Clinic will be added. The clinic will focus on the population of children with special healthcare needs who have a co-occurring behavioral health need, such as anxiety, ADHD, autism, brain injury, developmental delay, obsessive compulsive disorder, and more.  

To bring ChildServe’s new Des Moines center to life, the organization launched a $10 million capital campaign, entitled Growing Together: The Des Moines Campaign, in October 2023. The campaign is chaired by Tom Mahoney, ChildServe Board of Trustees Member and Past President and ITA Group Board Chairman. To learn how you can make a contribution visit www.childserve.org/growing-together/. 

This expansion is part of ChildServe’s larger regional growth strategy, which includes enhancing its main campuses in Ames, Des Moines, Iowa City and Johnston. The Ames location hosted its expansion grand opening in September of 2023, with Iowa City to follow in the spring of 2024. Both locations will double the facility footprint, to double the number of children served. ChildServe also opened its first satellite location in Cedar Rapids in April 2023.