Evanston Mayor: Solving the Health Care Funding Crisis

In 2007, the city reduced funding to a majority of medical services offered by the Evanston Health Department. 

Since then, there has been an increase in sexually transmitted infections, particularly in young women as well as a spike in non-emergency room visits. Girls of age 15 to 19 had the highest number of reported new cases of infections in 2008, followed immediately by those ages 20 to 24, according to the [U.S.] Centers for Disease Control's annual report on sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, the overuse of ER services for general health care compromises an already strained ER staff and delays care for those who are severely injured or ill.

We as a community have a responsibility to work together collectively to find opportunities and solutions to make sure that this community is not only one of the most livable in the nation, but also one of the healthiest.

The City of Evanston has to come to grips with the consequences of the closing of health care services in 2007 and needs to look for an effective and sustainable solution in the future.  As what we value the most about our community, its diversity, is threatened by foreclosures. Likewise, that same diversity is challenged with the inability of every resident to be able to access affordable, quality health care regardless of income level.

A current priority that I have set for myself as mayor that is shared by the city's Health Department is to apply for funding for a Federally Qualified Health Center in Evanston. An FQHC provides health care to residents regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. FQHCs are partly funded by federal monies as well as with community partnerships with existing hospitals, clinics, medical schools and community-based organizations. The goal is to help Evanston build greater capacity to provide access to health care for all its residents. Some of the services provided by an FQHC are senior services, women's health and family planning, chronic disease management, primary care, preventive care, prenatal care, mental health and oral health care services.

Evanston NorthShore Hospital is one of the key stake holders in the city's efforts to realize an FQHC, and the city has met several times over the last six months with their representatives to engage their support. The city and Evanston Township High School have already long enjoyed a great collaborative partnership with them in the nationally recognized health care center located at the high school thanks to Evanston NorthShore Hospital. NorthShore provides constant staffing and financing of this much needed center and many of their staff that helped open it are still there. The city is very grateful to them for their commitment and we look forward to working with them to fill in even greater parts of the community health care network with an FQHC.

While Evanston has been known for so many wonderful things throughout the years, many do not realize that Evanston has been a health care leader on the North Shore for over a century. In 1874, a group of Evanston residents organized the Evanston Health Department, which is older than our two excellent hospitals here: Evanston NorthShore Hospital (1893) and St. Francis Hospital (1901).

In 1943, Evanston developed a generalized Public Health Nursing Program. In 1950, suburban Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium and Evanston Health Department took over the tuberculosis program that was started in 1947 by the Tuberculosis Institute. Between 1963 and 1969, the Evanston Health Department established a vision and hearing screening program; a dental clinic for the medically uninsured and indigent children up to 18 years of age; a family planning program; a Mental Health Board; and extended health care services by contract to the villages of Glencoe, Kenilworth, Northfield, Winnetka and New Trier Township. The Evanston Commission on Aging Ordinance was passed in 1976.

Evanston faces many health care challenges in the coming years, especially when faced with a growing population of individuals that are underinsured and uninsured. Health centers and public health departments are expected to serve more individuals in their communities and to play a greater role in public health initiatives, often despite decreasing funding sources. In light of state and county budget cuts and decreases in Medicaid reimbursements, it is important to focus on collaborative sustainable solutions that leverage funding from a variety of sources to make a reality a much needed health center that can help make sure that the health care needs of all Evanstonians are realized.

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