Three Bridges
Medical Group.
A four-suite medical and dental complex at 2235 S. Howell Avenue in Bay View. On the books since 2020. Three RPs and a DC isolating the practices that share the building: a general dentist, a periodontist, a family-medicine practice, and a small chemotherapy infusion suite.
The building
2235 S. Howell Avenue is a single-story CMU-and-steel building completed in 1972 on the east side of South Howell between Iron and Pryor Avenues, four blocks south of the Hank Aaron State Trail's eastern terminus and a half block from the Howell Avenue bus stop on Route 15. The building was developed as a four-suite medical complex by a Bay View family-practice doctor who occupied Suite A from 1972 until 2005; the building changed hands twice and is now owned by Bay View Properties LLC.
Each of the four suites has its own utility-isolation closet directly off the rear loading hallway. The mechanical room shared by all four sits at the south end of the building behind a steel door; the 1.5″ service enters there and splits into four 3/4″ branches, one per suite. Each branch was originally protected by a single DC at the meter — a 1972 install that survived intact until 2020.
Tenants
- Suite A · Bay View Family Medicine
General practice. Two exam rooms, one procedure room with an autoclave. ~120 patients/week.
- Suite B · Howell Avenue Dental
Solo general dentist. Two operatories, dental vacuum, amalgam separator.
- Suite C · Lakeside Periodontics
Periodontic specialty. Three operatories, dedicated surgical sink, autoclave.
- Suite D · Three Bridges Infusion
Small chemotherapy infusion suite. Eyewash, biohazard-rated waste handling, AC-condensate capture.
Initial walk-through (2020)
The complex came to us in April 2020 after the prior tester retired. The handover walk-through with the new property manager found:
- The single 1972-vintage DC at the service entrance was, by 2020 SPS standards, non-compliant for the building's combined hazard load (three high-hazard practices, one moderate). It needed replacement.
- Each suite needed its own assembly. Suites A (autoclave), B (dental vacuum), and C (dental vacuum + autoclave + surgical sink) needed RPs; Suite D was assessed at the time as moderate (no chemotherapy on-site yet) and got a DC.
- The cooling-tower makeup line off the rooftop AC had no isolation. A 3/4″ RP was added there.
The 2020 work — survey, four installs (one 1.5″ DC at service entry replaced; three 1″ RPs in the per-suite closets; one 3/4″ RP at the rooftop) — closed in October 2020 after MWW's backflow inspector signed off. Total: $11,840.
The dental decision (2022)
In late 2021 Suite D added chemotherapy infusion services. The hazard class on Suite D's protection moved from moderate to high; the DC at Suite D's branch was replaced with a Watts 909 RP in January 2022. The same year, both dental practices (B and C) added new amalgam separators, and the dental vacuum lines were re-routed to share a single separator unit. The new shared separator's failure modes are sufficiently aggressive — mercury, hydrocarbons, sodium hypochlorite — that we recommended a semi-annual test on the dental-isolation RPs starting in 2022, in addition to the annual containment test at the service entrance.
The property manager accepted the recommendation. Since 2022, the dental RPs are tested in May and November; the rest of the building is tested annually in May.
Current protection (2026)
| # | Suite | Assembly | Hazard | Last test | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Mech rm, service entry | Watts 919 · 1.5″ DC · WT-919-228440 | Mod containment | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2027-05 |
| 2.2 | Suite A · autoclave | Watts 909 · 1″ RP · WT-449180 | High | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2027-05 |
| 2.3 | Suite B · dental vacuum | Watts 909 · 1″ RP · WT-449181 | High | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2026-11 (semi-annual) |
| 2.4 | Suite C · dental + surgical | Watts 909 · 1″ RP · WT-449182 | High | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2026-11 (semi-annual) |
| 2.5 | Suite D · infusion | Watts 909 · 1″ RP · WT-449183 | High | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2027-05 |
| 2.6 | Rooftop · cooling tower makeup | Wilkins 375 · 3/4″ RP · ZW-66110 | High | 2026-05-15 · Pass | 2027-05 |
Annual rhythm
The May test happens on the first Saturday of the month — the only Saturday we work, by exception, because none of the four practices wants to close mid-week. Stoltzfus tests the rooftop RP and the service entry assembly; Okafor runs the per-suite RPs (she's bilingual and Suite D has Spanish-speaking patients in the lobby). The November dental-only re-test happens on a Wednesday afternoon between 13:00 and 16:00 when both dental practices schedule reduced hours. Total visit duration in May 2026: 4 hours 10 minutes for six assemblies. Total invoice: $1,860.
References
- EPA Dental Amalgam Rule — Effluent guidelines. epa.gov/eg/dental
- OSHA — Hazardous Drug Handling. osha.gov/hazardous-drugs
- USP <800> — Hazardous Drugs Handling. usp.org
- Wisconsin DSPS SPS 382.41. docs.legis.wisconsin.gov
- MWW §295-1. water.milwaukee.gov
- City of Milwaukee Health Department. city.milwaukee.gov/Health