The power of partnership: Building stronger, healthier communities

“We don't want a zip code to determine whether someone gets the care they need and how long they live,” said Yvette Saba, president of Endeavor Health Edward Hospital. “We don't want to see hunger and homelessness in our communities. We don't always see it right in front of our face, but it's there, and we can't forget about it.”

The CIF helps close the gap between healthcare and life circumstances that affect individual and community health, such as food insecurity, housing, healthcare access and job security. It’s a vision that not only improves the health of our patients, it helps decrease the disparity in care throughout our communities.

Expanding access to nutritious food

Food pantries are on the front lines, helping people in their most desperate hour.

Loaves & Fishes, recipient of the first CIF Impact Award, plans to use the five-year, $5 million grant to double its HUB 2.0 facility and expand its cold storage capacity to increase shared storage for partner food pantries.

“This has a huge, huge, huge impact, and we are so honored to be the inaugural recipient of this award,” said Mike Havala, president and CEO of Loaves & Fishes. “If you're trying to focus on healthy foods, cold storage is critical to have. It also allows us to do more bulk purchases, so that lowers our unit cost of food.”

The organization also plans to add distribution locations in underserved areas, create a nutrition education program for clients, and increase opportunities for pantry partners to buy food together to reduce costs and lower freight fees.

“By having that expanded capacity, we'll be able to eventually serve two to three times the number of people that we're serving today, and we're serving about 10,000 people (per week),” Havala said. “While those are big numbers, we should never forget those are individual people. They're mothers, they’re fathers, they’re children, they’re grandparents.”

Providing stability through emergency and supportive housing

It’s heartbreaking to think of someone not having a warm home or a safe place to sleep at night.

April Redzic, president and CEO of DuPagePads, sees it all the time.

She shared a story about a client named Abe who developed severe heart disease in his 50s, which prevented him from getting to work.

“He lost his job, and then he lost his health insurance, and then he lost his wife, and Abe also lost his home in that process,” Redzic said. “Abe would ride back and forth on public transportation with a small group of friends that he found in similar circumstances, and that was how they would stay warm at night.”

Pads’ Street Outreach team met Abe and helped him apply to have shelter at Pads' Interim Housing Center (IHC). At the IHC, he had a safe room with a roommate who also suffered from heart disease, and later qualified as a candidate for Pads' supportive housing program for persons with disabilities because of his health needs. DuPagePads staff were able to move Abe into his own apartment.

“He is stably housed, and he's been so since about 2021, so you all helped Abe — and his heart — be in a better place,” she said.

Endeavor Health is honored to partner with DuPagePads with a CIF grant to help support emergency housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, including basic care such as food, clothing, and case management combined with intensive and stabilizing support to meet complex needs and help clients reach their long-term housing solution.

Connecting families to trusted support

When unfortunate circumstances strike and you feel like you have nowhere to turn, life can get scary.

Thankfully, in our Chicagoland area, organizations like Endeavor Health’s 59 CIF partners are waiting to help with needs like clothing, food, transportation or assistance receiving healthcare. Lately, the immigrant population has needed advocacy more than ever.

That’s where groups like the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project step in.

“There's a chilling effect of people not wanting to get themselves to the hospital anymore, to doctor's appointments, even just for their kids, and oftentimes waiting to the very last minute, right when things have gone to a point of emergency,” said Cervantes. “We see the pain every day of separated families, and that's not easy to digest.”

Many calls to the Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project office are questions about what to do if a loved one is taken or is missing, she said. They’re also fielding calls from people nervous about their public benefits or Medicaid expiring soon.

A CIF grant supports their mission of connecting the immigrant community in Will and DuPage counties to health insurance benefits and other available community resources. This helps break down barriers to healthcare access through a trusted team of health justice workers, navigators and community health workers.

Closing gaps in medical, dental and behavioral healthcare

Medical care, an essential part of a healthy life, is unfortunately not always easy to access or afford.
 

The organizations serving the health needs of their communities do a lot of heavy lifting. But sometimes they find meeting seemingly minor needs can make a world of difference.

The team at CIF partner Midwest Refuah Health Center recently helped some pediatric patients find a reason to smile. Two brothers, second and fourth graders, were being emotionally bullied at school.

“They were being called ‘the pouty brothers’ because they always had a pout on their faces,” said Mitch Salzstein, Director of Development with Midwest Refuah Health Center.

The school contacted the boys’ parents with concerns about their mental health. Their parents scheduled an appointment with a behavioral therapist at the health center. Less than 20 minutes into the appointment, they figured out the issue, Salzstein said.

“The problem was they were embarrassed by their teeth,” he said. “That’s why they weren't smiling at school. They didn't want their classmates to see the condition of their teeth.”

Their parents couldn’t afford dental care, and Midwest Refuah Health Center solved that issue. With the support of a CIF grant, the center provides affordable, culturally-sensitive medical, dental and behavioral healthcare to uninsured or underinsured community members.

Creating opportunity through mentorship and workforce development

It’s not easy to get ahead in the career world, and not everyone has the same support system behind them. Fortunately, there are people who recognize this and have created a network to support local neighbors needing help finding jobs and careers.

Through ASPIRE Lake County, people from communities with minimal resources can join a summer internship program designed to open the door to entry-level jobs in healthcare, including at Endeavor Health hospitals and health centers.

“It is one of the rewarding parts of this job, to see an individual go from this shy, bashful, nervous intern to someone who's now a full-time employee working in the pharmacy,” said Jacob Schulz, Workforce Development Program Manager at Endeavor Health.

With the support of a CIF grant, ASPIRE Lake County will continue connecting Lake County students and young adults with healthcare career exploration opportunities, in partnership with District 113 (Highland Park/Deerfield), District 116 (Round Lake), District 127 (Grayslake), College of Lake County, Rosalind Franklin University, University Center, Youth Build, and Lake County Workforce Development.

Building confidence, belonging and leadership in teens

Young people are a vulnerable group. The more support and knowledge they receive during these formative years, the better, say experts.

Alive Center, with locations in Naperville, Aurora and Hanover Park, not only offers a safe place for teens to gather, it provides an outlet for innovation. Staff recently helped a group of teenagers turn a vision into reality.

Last year, a group of teens had a simple but powerful idea: Connecting generations through technology.

“They envisioned a program called senior simulators, using virtual reality to bring bucket-list experiences directly to senior citizens,” said Amanda McMillen, executive director of the Alive Center. “But they didn't stop at that idea. These teens researched, planned and wrote a grant to fund virtual reality headsets, and once funded, they implemented the program themselves, teaching seniors how to use virtual reality to experience things like skydiving and world travel.”

The teens expanded the program into teen tech tutors, and help seniors navigate smartphones, iPads and computers. To date, the teens have trained more than 100 senior citizens in DuPage County.

For seniors, the program reduces social isolation, increases cognitive stimulation, and bridges a digital divide, McMillen said. For the teens, the impact is equally profound, she said.

“When a 16-year-old sits next to a 100-year-old, it really puts life into perspective. Empathy deepens, patience grows. Leadership is practiced in real time through program design, collaboration and problem-solving. Most importantly, teens develop a sense of purpose and belonging,” McMillen said.

An Endeavor Health CIF grant supports Alive Center’s teen-led programming to enhance their confidence, belonging, vitality, coping and leadership skills.

Partnership: the path to stronger, healthier communities

These organizations do incredible work every day, but they don’t do it in isolation. Someone who is hungry may also need a safe place to stay, mental health support, medical care or assistance finding work.

That’s why partnership matters. By working together and supporting one another, these partners address a more robust set of a person’s needs. Endeavor Health is proud to stand beside them in creating a future where every neighbor can live a healthier, safer life.

Find the full list of CIF partners and their grant-funded programs and services.