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Erie Family Health Center was founded in 1957 as a volunteer project of Erie Neighborhood House and physicians from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in order to serve the elderly residents of West Town. Fifty years later, Erie Family Health Center now serves over 30,000 patients annually through eight primary sites, including three elementary school-based health centers, a teen health center and a dental health center. Erie provides comprehensive care including:
The majority of Erie Family Health Center patients are Hispanic, and bilingual physicians and educators deliver most of the care in Spanish. Most patients are uninsured or underinsured; in Chicago, as nationwide, one in three Hispanics lacks healthcare coverage - more than any other racial or ethnic group.
Throughout its 50 year partnership, Northwestern Memorial Hospital has provided financial support to Erie for physician and staff salaries, IT assistance with electronic medical records, as well as strategic support through Board membership.
Some of the projects that NMH and Erie have collaborated on include an innovative obstetrician/midwife partnership so that all Erie maternity patients can deliver their babies at Prentice Women's Hospital, accounting for 10 percent of all deliveries at Prentice; a Breast Health & Screening Program targeted at reducing the rates of breast cancer in Erie's patient population; and, a Diabetes Initiative targeted at educating patients about how to self-manage this chronic disease. Additionally, though research-based activities, Erie has helped Northwestern Memorial researchers determine the most effective ways to deliver messages about colon cancer screening to Spanish-speaking populations.
