The development of Health Centers began about 50 years ago when President Lyndon Johnson declared the “War against Poverty”. They play a vital role in the health care system in the United States as they serve over 25 million people today, which is about 1 in every 13 people. Their aim is to provide comprehensive primary care to populations that are medically under-served. They provide high quality and affordable medical care to people with or without medical insurance and to populations who don’t have the ability to pay.
The patients at Health Centers predominantly have low income and are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. The Health Centers have a very different patient mix as compared to other ambulatory care providers and so is their source of revenue.
Heartland Health Centers
We visited the Heartland Health Center, which is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with 16 locations serving North Chicago. They have a wide variety of service lines including primary care, mental health care and oral health care. There are community based and focus on providing quality services at a low cost. Since they have a unique mix of patients from different ethnicities, they have telephonic and video interpretations for over 200 languages. They conduct a variety of community services such as diabetes management, yoga, knitting, low-impact indoor exercises, cooking and so on.
Image Source: http://www.mdtarch.com/portfolio-item/heartland-health-center-devon/
We visited the Heartland Health Center at Devon street, which is the first community health center in Illinois have a LEED Platinum certification. They reused existing site materials such as stone and marble. It has a beautiful central courtyard that not only pours in natural light but also provides a good view to the patients. It uses a geothermal HVAC system and has solar panels on the roof. I think it was a very welcoming and beautifully designed center.
Comments