People residing in and beyond Garfield Park now have a place to access holistic mental and behavioral health services: The Collaborative Bridges Wellness Center at 4223 W. Lake St.
The 17,000-square-foot wellness center, which opened Feb. 11, is a one-stop shop for most medical and behavioral needs. It offers primary care and lab services, support for crisis stabilization, outpatient and group behavioral health and substance use treatment.
The center also houses a pharmacy and provides resources for financial assistance, food insecurity and housing. It serves both walk-in clients and referrals from hospitals after patients have been discharged but require outpatient care.
Launched in 2021, Collaborative Bridges is a state-funded nonprofit made up of West Side hospitals Hartgrove Hospital, Humboldt Park Health and Loretto Hospital, plus several community organizations. These include: Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center, Community Counseling Centers of Chicago, Habilitative Systems Inc., PCC Community Wellness Center, and Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities Inc.
Since its inception, Collaborative Bridges has served over 2,200 people.
“Sixty percent of the folks we see are homeless,” said Kerri Brown, president and CEO of Community Counseling Centers of Chicago. “We may not know where they are, but we’ll be a light in this community so they know where we are.”
With 120 employees at its new wellness center, Collaborative Bridges aims to serve 3,500 patients annually – including anyone who might need medical, mental or behavioral health support.
Expanding its reach with a physical building, Collaborative Bridges aspires to close the 16-year life span gap between the Loop and the West Side.
Throughout all of Chicago, life expectancy is lowest in West Garfield Park, according to the Chicago Health Atlas. That can be attributed to several factors, mainly years of systemic disinvestment from the West Side.
“We came together because we realized that it was more than just talking about social determinants of health,” said Donald Dew, president and CEO of Habilitative Systems Inc. “It was also about political determinants of health. We went from the war on poverty to war on crime to war on drugs to mass incarceration.”
The Collaborative Bridges Wellness Center is the product of a different kind of political determinant.
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, Illinois Legislative Black Caucus members helped create the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ Healthcare Transformation Collaborative with the goal to encourage community partners and healthcare providers to work together to reduce health disparities. The Caucus introduced four pillars of legislation to help reform systemic racism through: criminal justice; education and workforce development; economic access, equity, and opportunity; and health care and human services.
The Healthcare Transformation Collaborative provided the Collaborative Bridges Wellness Center with a $13 million grant through last year, and nearly $6 million more through 2026.
“The transformation grant was from the consistent conversation that we lack knowledge of outcomes, and we lack access to the most vulnerable populations,” said State Rep. Camille Lilly of the 78th district, who’s part of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. Lilly and State Sen. Mattie Hunter developed the health care and human services pillar of the four-pillar legislation.
“What I appreciate about the Healthcare Collaborative is that they are community driven. They’re embedded in communities to serve the people that live here every day,” said Dana Kelly, chief of staff at the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services. “These organizations are using shared resources to make a stronger impact than they could individually.”
And those leading the organizations that created the Collaborative Bridges Wellness Center agree.
“When people are dying and suffering, there is no room for competition,” said Tesa Anewishki, CEO of Loretto Hospital. “There is only room for meaningful collaboration.”
