Community Nurse Health Association of La Grange, Ill., recently marked its 12th anniversary of offering an adult clinic for low-income families in Chicago’s western suburbs. Ann Wohlberg, executive director, credits Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital and its medical staff with helping the non-profit association reach this milestone.
Volunteers affiliated with Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital currently include 16 doctors who serve in the clinic and more than 60 referral specialists. According to Community Nurse Health Association staff, these are top-notch doctors who represent the best in the community. Out of their love of practicing medicine, they offer their services to patients who typically would have to forgo routine or preventative care because they couldn’t afford it. These services include physicals, and physicians often are able to treat symptoms before they turn into serious problems. Patients receive help for chronic medical conditions, including diabetes and asthma, which are prevalent in low-income populations.
Tim Cook, Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital CEO, said, “It is the commitment of physicians like these that enables Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital to be true to its core mission of extending Jesus’ healthcare ministry throughout our community.”
Eight of these physicians have faithfully volunteered their services since the clinic opened in 1992, serving 56 patients in the first month alone. They are Christopher Brenner, Mark Coleman, Jerome Donnelly, Michael Dupont, Donald Higgins, Kenneth Nelson, Thomas Nelson, and Joseph Reda. Since 1992, the Adult Primary Care Center has tripled its volume and now provides primary healthcare to more than 1,580 clients annually.
“Without this service, there would be so many more people showing up in emergency rooms with serious diseases,” notes Wohlberg. “The quiet devotion of these physicians to treat low-income patients who would have no other means for care is just wonderful. It’s unheralded service.”
“Most people have a natural tendency to help others. As physicians, we are blessed with special talents. The opportunity to provide healthcare to the under-served in our own community is an honor,” says Kenneth Nelson, volunteer medical director of the clinic.
The clinic serves low-income residents of 15 communities in western Cook and eastern DuPage counties of Ill. who are living without or with only minimal health insurance. A minimal fee is charged, but no one is denied service if they are unable to pay, says Wohlberg.
Physicians also serving the clinic are Vincent Bartolomeo, Anthony Carlino, Daniel Chen, Marcia Dering, James Harazin, Daniel Hunter-Smith, Eric Spatford, and Jennifer Swoyer.
Other volunteers include members of the Spiritual Life Committee at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital. According to Tricia Treft, chaplain, “As one of its Christian service projects, the committee chose to assist in the charitable work of Community Nurse Health Association by sorting clothes and restocking the racks of its Carousel Resale Shop. Profits from the shop help support the healthcare work of the association. We see our involvement as another way of extending the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.”
The Community Nurse Health Association, a not-for-profit agency, originally started as a well-baby clinic in 1921.
Lynn Larson, Adventist Midwest Health Lake Union Herald correspondent
