Congressman Mike Quigley was among those joining officials from Heartland Alliance and Haymarket Center Feb. 19 to dedicate a new healthcare clinic on the West Side that is mainly dedicated to serving homeless individuals.
The James West Clinic, 22 N. Sangamon Ave., is a joint effort between Heartland Health Outreach and Haymarket Center that offers primary care, and many other medical services, for underserved populations. The clinic officially opened in December.
Dr. Dan Lustig, clinical vice-president of Haymarket Center, said that about 80% of his organization's clients have a chronic medical condition. Haymarket sees about 20,000 clients a year and has concentrated largely on substance use and mental health disorders. The new clinic allows many of those clients to have a new "medical home" for their comprehensive health services.
"This is a huge opportunity for the state," Lustig said. "It's something very unique for a population that tends to be ignored."
The facility will also offer services that can assist clients in finding other necessities such as stable housing.
"Once someone can get on Medicaid, their health can improve," said Dr. Stephanie Luther, chief medical officer of the Clinic. "Once they get housing, it can be turned around. I've had to start weaning one of my patients off diabetes medication, after they were placed in housing."
Luther said that there were some initial hurdles for the program during the Affordable Care Act's sign-up period, and when new policies kicked in.
"These are folks who have gone without insurance for decades," she said. "The [Affordable Care Act] launch was not a smooth transition, and then add in these folks who have had very hard lives, who have to jump through many hoops."
But Dr. Karen Batia, executive director of Heartland Health Outreach, said she was confidant most of the wrinkles will be ironed out. She estimated that the facility cost about $500,000 to start, and predicted that expanded Medicaid funds from the ACA will bring in significant new revenue streams.
"We can easily see about 40-50 people a day," added Luther. "We hope we can break the cycle of 'crisis care.'"
Quigley said that the Clinic was exemplified what is possible when a government decides it cares about more than national defense or reducing services.
"We can do better than that," Quigley said. "This is a compassionate country that cares about each other. But unfortunately you don't see it. There's campaigns going on now, and you don't see people saying today what LBJ said 50 years ago about the war on poverty."