Community Memorial Foundation

Healthcare Access Program (HCA)

As the mission of Community Memorial Foundation (CMF) is to measurably improve the health of people who live and work in the western suburbs, it is committed to addressing healthcare access issues within the communities it serves. Traditionally, CMF has supported healthcare access through its Responsive Grants Program. In 2009, CMF expanded its efforts in healthcare access, taking on a more proactive role by convening stakeholders and launching the Community Healthcare Network of the Western Suburbs. At the same time, CMF continues to participate in existing collaborations, contribute to organizational capacity building and assessment, and raise public awareness about healthcare access issues.

Organizations with whom CMF regularly meets regarding healthcare access issues in our communities include: Community Nurse Health Association, Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital, Pillars, Access DuPage, ACCESS Community Health Network, Loyola University Health System, DuPage Community Clinic, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Health and Disability Advocates, Campaign for Better Health Care, Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, and other healthcare foundations.

CMF’s work is strategically spread throughout its 27 community service area. Examples of CMF’s healthcare access efforts include the following:

Community Healthcare Network of the Western Suburbs (La Coalicion de Salud de La Comunidad)
The Community Healthcare Network of the Western Suburbs delivers defined health services to low-income (< 200% of the federal poverty level), medically-uninsured adults between the ages of 19 and 64. The Network serves eligible residents in fourteen western Cook County communities – Brookfield, Countryside, Hodgkins, Indian Head Park, LaGrange, LaGrange Park, LaGrange Highlands, Lyons, McCook, Westchester, Western Springs, Willow Springs, and the Cook County portions of Burr Ridge and Hinsdale. These communities contain a diverse and quickly evolving array of individuals and families. Lyons Township and surrounding areas are experiencing population growth, and have one of the fastest-growing Latino populations. In these communities, there are approximately 2,779 persons 18-64 years old who are below 200% of the federal poverty level and uninsured.

Enrolled patient members are linked to a designated primary care medical home. Each patient is enrolled into the Network for one year increments (with eligibility for renewal) and receives a membership card that also serves as a pharmacy card. There is a $5 co-pay for office visits and labs, and a $10 co-pay for most medications. A model of on-site integration of physical and behavioral health services is employed. The Network coordinates existing local assets to produce a more efficient and comprehensive healthcare delivery system and to yield better overall health outcomes.

Current Network partners include:  Community Nurse Health Association (Network manager, central application and enrollment site, and primary care medical home), Adventist LaGrange Memorial Hospital (labs, diagnostics, in-patient care and limited specialty care), Adventist LaGrange Family Medicine Center (primary care medical home), Pillars (behavioral health services), Access DuPage (pharmacy services through CVS Caremark), Community Memorial Foundation (inaugural funder) and volunteer physicians (both primary and specialists). Additional funding partners include Michael Reese Health Trust and Proviso Township Mental Health Commission.

Access DuPage/DuPage Community Clinic in Westmont
In DuPage County there are approximately 61,213 persons between the ages of 18-64 who are below 200% of the federal poverty level and uninsured. Since its inception in 2001, CMF has provided support to the Access DuPage Program, a collaborative effort that provides access to quality healthcare to more than 11,000 uninsured residents of DuPage County. Through this collaboration of hospitals, health clinics, physicians, local government, human service agencies and community groups, the uninsured have access to primary medical care, diagnostic services, inpatient services, prescription drugs and referrals to specialists. Major financial support is provided by DuPage County government and participating hospitals. Funds from CMF support the care of low-income residents from the southeastern DuPage communities of Darien, Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Oakbrook, Westmont and Willowbrook.

Through a collaboration between the DuPage County Health Department, Access DuPage and DuPage Community Clinic (DCC), a satellite site of DCC housed in the health department’s Westmont site in southeastern DuPage has been established. (All patients of DuPage Community Clinic are first enrolled in Access DuPage). Resources from Community Memorial Foundation support patients seen at the Westmont clinic as well as at local primary care offices in southeastern DuPage County.

Suburban Primary Healthcare Council
Suburban Primary Healthcare Council operates the Access to Care Program which has served more than 100,000 unduplicated individuals in Suburban Cook County and northwest Chicago over the past 23 years. The Access to Care Progarm continues to serve adults in the CMF service area not served by the Community Healthcare Network. Each enrollee is linked for one year to a primary care practice for unlimited $5 office visits, $5 diagnostic laboratory and radiology, and $10, $20, or $30 prescription medication. In 2010, the program covered 765 individuals in CMF’s service area.

CMF has recently supported the following advocacy work:

• The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians’ development of a case study to evaluate the Illinois Health Connect and Your Healthcare Plus programs.
• Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law’s planning grant for implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Illinois.
• Campaign for Better Health Care’s West Suburban educational sessions on Healthcare Reform.
• Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ expansion of the Immigrant Family Resource Program to include healthcare access.
• Illinois Association of Free and Charitable Clinics’ organizational start-up and infrastructure development.
• Grantmakers in Health State Grant Writing Assistance Fund to support a grantwriter for the State of Illinois to apply for an opportunity created through the Affordable Care Act.