For so many aging Americans, the price of health care is a cause for much undue stress. For seniors living in Evanston and Skokie, that stress has been greatly alleviated by recent news that was published yesterday in Evanston’s Evanston Now, a news and information site dedicated to the local community.
According to the site, the NorthShore University HealthSystem is donating $1.8 million to support the establishment of a new federally qualified community health center to serve low-income patients in Evanston and Skokie.
“The contribution supplements a $650,000 annual grant from the federal government to the Erie Family Health Center, the group that will operate the local center, which will open temporary quarters Oct. 22 on the ground floor of the Civic Center before moving to an undetermined permanent location in Evanston next ye

ar,” Evanston Now explained.
The health center is slated to provide pediatric, family and dental services to community residents who qualify and “will help us make a real impact on the health and welfare of residents of Evanston and Skokie,” Dr. Lee Francis, president and chief executive officer of Erie, said in the article.
The $650,000 annual federal grant was made possible thanks to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which will provide a total of $11 billion over five years to help expand and construct health centers around the nation. No local resources will be required for the Evanston facility, including taxpayer funds or staff.
“Local advocacy for the center also came from Evanston 150, the community organization that identified 10 ‘big ideas’ to celebrate Evanston’s 150th anniversary in 2013,” Evanston Now said. “One of the 10 was to ‘establish a community health center to provide high quality and affordable medical, dental, and preventive care for all, regardless of ability to pay, for those who are uninsured and underinsured.’”
We here at Freedom Home Care can think of no better way to celebrate the community’s sesquicentennial than with helping our aging loved ones find affordable health care.