Blog

CommunityHealth continues to evolve with the changing circumstances of our world. From updating our eligibility with Illinois insurance plans to opening our doors to migrants displaced by crises, we continue update our processes even in our 30th year. In offering free...

CommunityHealth shines the Volunteer Spotlight on Dr. Kelly Scherer during April. Kelly began serving with CommunityHealth as a volunteer optometrist in 2019. However, optometry services were halted during the pandemic. Unable to provide in-person services but still...

Happy #NationalVolunteerWeek!Though CommunityHealth celebrates Volunteer Appreciation Month throughout April, we like to go big during this week from the 16th to 22th. As the week comes to a close, we wanted to give you an overview of all the ways we have commemorated...

The Ilene Goodman award is presented to one volunteer every year at our Volunteer of the Year Awards in December. Ilene, together with her husband Milton, was a volunteer who was connected with CommunityHealth almost from the beginning of its existence. The Goodmans...

CommunityHealth recognizes that hyper-localized care is accessible care. So to meet our communities where they are at, we opened two community-based clinics in our patients' neighborhoods of Belmont Cragin at Onward House in 2021 and Little Village at Enlace in 2022. ...

How can we work together to become the first major metropolitan city to have a fully functioning system in place ensuring that every Chicago resident has access to the right health care, at the right time, in the right place?  CommunityHealth invites all Chicagoans to...

CommunityHealth shines the Volunteer Spotlight on Cici Gazder during March. Cici began volunteering with CommunityHealth in August of 2021. She served 195 hours as a lab technician, conducting blood draws for testing and comforting patients during lab work. For her...

CommunityHealth is celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. Since 1993, our clinic has provided high quality health care to uninsured individuals in Chicago. Our founder, Dr. Serafino Garella, built CommunityHealth from his belief that quality health care is a...

The Future of Health is in the next generation of health care providers. The Student Run Clinics (SRC) at CommunityHealth train medical students and residents in primary, specialty, pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing care with a focus on cultural competency. Our...

March is Women's History Month. Throughout the month, the United States honors the advancement of gender rights, accomplishments by female innovators, and the space for growth we face with gender equality. But CommunityHealth celebrates gender equity everyday. While...

As one of the largest free clinics in the country, CommunityHealth relies on volunteers to provide health care services at no cost to patients. Over 40% of CommunityHealth’s volunteers are from our Student Run Clinics with community partners such as Rush University...

Dr. Lauren Sullivan, DO, began volunteering with CommunityHealth in 2016 and has served over 244 hours throughout the past 7 years. As a doctor of internal medicine, Dr. Sullivan not only diagnoses complex illnesses but also supports overall well-being in her...

CommunityHealth celebrates our lab technicians during Phlebotomists Recognition Week from February 13-17.     To learn more about phlebotomy, we talked to Jazmin Ascencio, our beloved Clinic Support Coordinator who has been with CommunityHealth for two...

February is American Heart Month. CommunityHealth advocates heart-healthy living year-round. Heart disease is considered the number one cause of death in the United States. American Heart Month addresses the risk factors and celebrates daily habits that strengthen...

Every fall, Communityhealth hosts the All In™ campaign- a series of education, thought leadership, and networking events focused on generating solutions to help all Chicago residents access health care. We are working together to become the first major metropolitan...

We are so sad to announce the passing of Milt Goodman, a long-time member of the CommunityHealth family. For over 20 years, Milt brought his gentle warmth to all those around him, not to mention the delicious pastries he would regularly bring into the break room for...

Laura Licari has been a pharmacist for 16 years and a CommunityHealth volunteer for 14 of those years! As someone who is proud of pharmacists' contribution to the health care system, she has been happy in her professional career. Laura has brought her skills to a...

On September 1st, you have the chance to hear from President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois, Jennifer Welch, the keynote speaker at our Eighth Annual All In™ Breakfast Summit. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we could...

CommunityHealth is proud to present, for the very first time, an All In™ open for patient registration ONLY! On September 3rd, CommunityHealth and a group of patient participants will visit Just Roots Chicago, a community urban farm, for a tour and cooking...

How can we work together to become the first major metropolitan city to have a fully functioning system in place ensuring that every Chicago resident has access to the right health care, at the right time, in the right place?        ...

Did you know that Dr. Eileen Murphy has eight siblings? Throughout her childhood, she was motivated to care for others and be self-sufficient. Today, not only is she an OB-GYN, but four of her five sisters are also doctors, and the fifth is a registered nurse. Sounds...

For more than a decade, CommunityHealth has offered cooking classes to our patients, demonstrating how to make healthy, delicious recipes with affordable ingredients. Since spring of 2020, these classes have been on pause, but we are THRILLED to announce that as of...

At what point did we decide that teeth are not a part of the body?   Despite the fact that tooth infection can lead to serious illness, despite the fact that oral health is directly linked to diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and despite the fact that millions...

Languages have always been a part of Eric Miranda's life. Born to a Puerto Rican father and a mother from Indiana, Eric is a native speaker of both Spanish and English. In college, Eric added a third language, spending his junior year in Strasbourg, France. He also...

The mission of CommunityHealth is to serve people without essential health care. Essential health care includes reproductive health care and gender-affirming treatment. Health equity in the United States is under attack. The Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade...

CommunityHealth's mission is to serve people without essential health care, and our vision is quality health care for all. Since 1993, we have worked toward that mission by providing extremely high quality primary and specialty care. Our unique model of care, built...

In 2021, Republicans in at least 25 states introduced over 60 pieces of legislation that directly target transgender youth, making it the worst year in history for the number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills signed into law. This year, South Dakota became the 10th state to...

This month's spotlight is on Dr. Rebecca Fitzpatrick! She is in her final year of residency at Rush Hospital. Originally from Texas, Dr. Fitzpatrick came to Chicago after graduating med school in order to "try something different." In the future, she hopes to pursue a...

In one week, CommunityHealth will officially have three locations! Enlace Chicago, located in Little Village, is our newest point of access for patients to receive quality care.   Just like our co-location at Onward Neighborhood House in Belmont Cragin,...

In keeping with our intention to make our organization as patient-centered as possible, CommunityHealth has initiated an important and exciting transition: the creation of an External Affairs team, led by our very own Laura Ciresi Starr. Previously, as the Director of...

The CDC defines social determinants of health as "conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes." Over the last several years, the health care industry at large has turned...

If you're a regular reader of the CommunityHealth blog, you might recognize the amazing Amy Milroy from her Future of Health testimonial. Though she spent high school and college in Michigan, Amy now calls Chicago home, and has spent most of her life living in...

This month, we lost a beloved member of our community, Dr. Arnie Widen (1929-2022). Dr. Widen was not only a member of our Board (and former President), but he served as a volunteer physician in the clinic for many years, both seeing his own panel of patients and...

Last month, we shined a spotlight on Onward Neighborhood House, the location of our first telehealth-focused clinic site. This month, we're talking about Enlace Chicago, a social service agency located in Little Village, which will be the THIRD location where...

  Earlier this month, Emily Hendel (Director of Clinical Services) and Miriam Barger (Care Coordination Manager) spent a week in Guatemala, visiting San Lucas and nearby villages in the region to provide health care. The journey was coordinated by Minnesota...

This month, as we recognize both World Health Day (April 7th) and Earth Day (April 22nd), it's the perfect time to emphasize the inevitable truth that we need to care for the Earth in order to care for ourselves and each other. Climate change is the single biggest...

Sylwia Balata has been an outstanding volunteer at CommunityHealth for just about four years now! As a Polish interpreter and lab technician, she is deeply connected to both the patient and their care team. Sylwia was born in a city in Poland near the Ukrainian border...

Way back in 1868, a group of German, Scottish and Swedish settlers founded the Onward Presbyterian Church. Over the next century, the church evolved into an essential resource for immigrants in Chicago, serving as a school, a refuge, and a community center for...