New Microsite Clinic Brings Health Care to Chicago’s Underserved

In Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, access to health care has gotten easier with the opening of a new microsite clinic. The facility, established through a partnership between the AbbVie Foundation and CommunityHealth, represents a step in addressing health disparities in historically underserved neighborhoods.

The clinic features exam rooms, wellness education spaces and virtual appointment options – all designed to provide essential health care services to uninsured and underinsured adults. The initiative reflects the Foundation’s key belief that transformative change begins at the community level, and that addressing health inequities is a key step in ensuring everyone can live their healthiest life.

The clinic is CommunityHealth’s fourth clinic in the city. The organization, which is one of the largest volunteer-based health centers in the nation, has plans to open a fifth clinic by the end of 2025. The goal is to create a network of accessible care points throughout Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

“We are rethinking space and place for point of care to ensure every Chicago resident is able to access high-quality, culturally competent health care closer to home,” said CommunityHealth CEO Steph Willding. “With support from the AbbVie Foundation, we’re able to meet patients where they’re at and ensure greater health equity throughout the city.”

The microsite clinic is a lifeline for those who face barriers to accessing care. Located within The Resurrection Project facility in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, the clinic leverages existing community trust and complements services already available at the location:

• Uninsured and underinsured adults can see a doctor, get laboratory work done, pick up medications and receive referrals to dental and specialty care
• Virtual appointment options further remove barriers to access, ensuring flexibility for patients with transportation or scheduling challenges

“The work CommunityHealth does to improve health outcomes is so meaningful, and it is an honor to partner with them to expand their services and reach through this new microsite clinic,” said Claudia Carravetta, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & Global Philanthropy and President, AbbVie Foundation. “The clinic may be small in size but its impact on the local community is profound.”

The AbbVie Foundation has worked with CommunityHealth over the last year, serving thousands of uninsured and underserved patients who speak English, Spanish and Polish. CommunityHealth clinician volunteers  provide primary and specialty care, medications, lab testing, mental health services and health education at no charge.

Organizations with deep community roots, like CommunityHealth, help build sustainable healthcare initiatives that create meaningful change. The newest clinic demonstrates the importance of increasing equitable access to quality health care one community, one clinic, and one patient at a time.

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