Chicago Family Health Center celebrates 30 years of service

January 26, 2007

In a time when Chicago’s south side was quickly deteriorating, several community residents had a vision. It was time to regenerate the area and bring back the vital services lost after the closing and abandoning of many area steel mills. In 1977, those residents, together with Claretian priests of the local Catholic Church, opened the Claretian Medical Center (now Chicago Family Health Center). In a small storefront at 91st and Commercial Avenue, a staff of five provided services to 400 patients in the communities of South Chicago, South Deering, and the East Side.

Much has changed since Chicago Family Health Center (CFHC) opened its doors. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, CFHC serves more than 18,000 patients annually at four sites and has more than 200 employees. In its 30 years of service, CFHC has continually sought ways to continue to provide quality services to the ever-changing demographic of South Chicago and neighboring communities. CFHC has added services as the community evolved, and now provides obstetrics/gynecology, family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics, dentistry, case management and health outreach. However, through all of this growth, CFHC has not deviated from its original mission to provide quality, accessible healthcare to the medically underserved residents of far south and southwest Chicago.

CFHC’s 30th year of service will mark many milestones, centered on the expansion of services and facilities. Following a model similar to the Roseland Access Point, opened in Spring 2006, the Advocate Trinity Access Point began serving patients in January 2007. Located within the hospital, the Center provides another option to those patients seeking care for non-critical issues in the Emergency Room. CFHC will also complete the renovation and expansion of its South Chicago site, which is less than a block away from the original location. The expansion will allow CFHC to increase access to healthcare and will also reduce waiting times. Scheduled to open in April 2007, the expansion entails doubling exam rooms, increasing dental chairs by three, and bringing comprehensive services under one roof.

While celebrating 30 years of past accomplishments, CFCH looks forward to continuing to offer a high-level of services with the same energy and passion it has applied in the past.

For more information, call Kathryn L. McLain at (773) 768-5000 extension 1144.