CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A new healthcare facility opened Friday in the medically-underserved Woodlawn neighborhood, on Chicago’s South side, offering a wide variety of services no matter a patient’s ability to pay.
“This is a day that will change the future of Woodlawn because it will change thousands of lives,” said Friend Health CEO Verneada Bachus.
“Residents of this community will have improved access to high quality primary care…including pediatric, women’s health, mental health, substance use, and infectious disease care,” Bachus noted.
Sean Harden, the chairman of Friend Health, shared the podium with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
“There’s one study that suggests that just a few miles north of here, your life expectancy is 85-years old, but for a Woodlawn resident that life expectancy is 75-years old,” said Harden.
“There should never be a time in one of the wealthiest cities in the world where the life expectancy of Black people in our city is ten years less,” Lightfoot added.
The mayor noted oral healthcare will be a big emphasis at the new facility.
“Dental, dental, dental, I’m a huge proponent of oral healthcare that we as a community desperately need. We neglect it far too often,” said Lightfoot.
They’re expecting to serve 35,000 patients a year.
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