Community Health has such an important mission of recruiting 250+ medical professionals and doctors to give free healthcare to those in need in Chicagoland and beyond!! LOVE THIS ORG!!
GREAT org, GREAT team— the CLOZTALK team is honored to call CH our partner!!
CLOZTALK team
>> Jonny Imerman, co-founder
This patient center medical home is able to provide care to uninsured patients in the Chicagoland area with EXCEPTIONAL care for free for their patients. Patients are able to have access to general medicine appointments, appointments with specialists including opthalmologists, gynecologists, cardiologists and others, dental appointments, health education and programs, mental health care services, medications and immunizations for free. There are so many dedicated staff and volunteers that donate their time and skills to their organization in order to provide patients with the health care they deserve. I wish I knew about CommunityHealth during the time that my mother was an uninsured patient, as this kind of care she was lacking could have made a difference in her health status today.
I have been an employee at CommunityHealth for 7 and a half years. Through the ups and downs that all nonprofits have, CommunityHealth has continued to work hard to keep improving the experience for its employees, volunteers, and patients. It is clear that CommunityHealth cares for its employees and values their work, and wants to retain its staff. Over the years our organization has changed things and developed new policies in order to address employees concerns and ideas for improvement. CommunityHealth knows the staff are such an integral part of taking care of patients and volunteers, and their actions continue to back that up year after year. If you talk to CommunityHealth staff, you will hear that many have been working there for 5-15 years. This kind of retention does not exist in organizations that don't continually strive to foster a supportive workplace and make improvements. When you talk to CommunityHealth employees they will tell you how much they love their coworkers and being together in our workplace. When those of us who worked off-site for a few months in the COVID-19 pandemic were allowed to come into work again, we were all OVERJOYED to see our coworkers again. I write this in October of 2020, when I am able to return onsite to CommunityHealth just once a week, on Thursdays. I can honestly say that Thursdays are my favorite, and this is because I get to see my coworkers. I know many of my teammates share this same sentiment; that being around our coworkers is a huge positive in our workplace. The way the employees speak about one another and our work culture truly speaks to the heart of our organization. This kind of work culture is so important in a high-stress field such as healthcare, especially in a health center that works with patients who are facing so many barriers in life that affect not only their health and wellness, but every part in the web of socio-economic factors. This culture that has been created at CommunityHealth is what ultimately keeps patients, volunteers, and staff sticking around for the long haul. No company is perfect, but I am proud to work for CommunityHealth and happy to report that it continues to strive for improvement in employee and patient satisfaction every year. CommunityHealth is a place that staff, volunteers, and patients WANT to be. The way CommunityHealth cares for its patients is truly unique. In my position at CommunityHealth I am also able to work with many volunteers, and I continually hear this sentiment echoed from them as well. People love coming to the clinic to spend time with staff, other volunteers, and patients. I am very lucky that I have gotten to know many of our patients over the years, and get to hear firsthand how glad they are to have CommunityHealth as a medical home and how supported they feel. One reason patients feel supported by CommunityHealth is that we are a one-stop-shop for so many things that affect health. We have primary care, mental health services/counseling, health education classes for hands-on learning and motivation, exercise classes, and a lab and pharmacy all in once place. Having all of these things on site is truly unique. We also get to know our patients. As a staff member who interacts frequently with patients, I can tell you that they come to us with questions because they know we will try to help them. We can help find a food pantry close to a person's home, find a free exercise class in their neighborhood, or send YouTube videos to help with education from home. We can't help with everything, but patients know that we will assist them in any way we can. Despite a few complaints about not being able to get through quickly on our phones, patients tell us that they love our health center and they continue to recommend us to their friends, family, and peers who are without health insurance. Because CommunityHealth is a small clinic, it can adapt and change things to improve patient experience much faster than larger hospitals and clinics. This was very evident especially in CommunityHealth's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.