Community Health Center Opens in Evanston

Local officials, including Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen, held a ribbon cutting for a new community health center in Evanston Monday.

Operating temporarily out of the Lorraine Morton Civic Center at 2100 Ridge Ave., Erie Family Health Center Evanston/Skokie is one of 219 community health centers funded under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act this year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will provide a $650,000 annual operating grant, while NorthShore University HealthSystem has committed $600,000 in operating support over the next three years and $1.2 million toward opening a permanent location, according to a press release from Erie.

Erie operates 12 health centers in the city of Chicago, but the Evanston/Skokie location is the only one in the suburbs thus far. As a permanent location for the new health center, Erie is searching for a roughly 15,000-square-foot health space to serve more than 5,000 patients a year, according to Rachel Krause, development and marketing consultant for Erie. Plans for the future site include 14 exam rooms, 5 dental bays, space for behavioral health services and an on-site lab, health education area and children’s play area. 

Erie Family Health Center is currently considering 1258 Hartrey Avenue as a possible location, at the intersection of Hartrey and Dempster Street, Krause said.

“We are evaluating build-out costs and how we might negotiate so that we may make capital improvements,” she wrote in an e-mail to Patch. 

The center will provide primary care services for kids, teens, adults and seniors, as well as children’s dentistry and behavioral health, according to the release. The health center expects to begin providing prenatal care in the summer of 2013.

“There is a growing need for primary care providers in the suburbs, so we are thrilled to be able to expand our health care services by branching out to Evanston and Skokie to meet increased patient demand,” Erie Family Health Center president and CEO Lee Francis said in the release. 

The city of Evanston cut all direct medical services provided through the city’s Health Department in 2007, except pediatric dentistry, while the Skokie Health Department provides limited services. 

“I am delighted that many more Evanston area residents and their families will now have access to much-needed, affordable health care,” Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said in the release. 

“This clinic … will provide very important, much needed services to a good many residents from both Skokie and Evanston,” said Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen. “I look forward to continued cooperation to serve our communities.” 

Erie Evanston/Skokie will partner with North Shore University HealthSystem and St. Francis Hospital, among other local organizations.