CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Advocates for people needing mental health treatment saw the decision by Chicago leaders to close six of the city's 12 clinics back in 2012 as a sign of continued disinvestment in Chicago's most vulnerable people.
Wednesday, Mayor Johnson and other leaders formally reopened a Far South Side clinic, which they promise will be more than it once was.
“I am thrilled that we are reopening the doors of the Roseland Health Hub, formally known as Roseland Health Clinic,” Johnson said during a Wednesday ceremony.
The building at 200 E. 115th Street was once a police station, but Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Simbo Ige said it will now provide no-cost mental health, vaccinations and sexual health services even as the City expands its police-free response to people having mental health emergencies.
“They asked us for mental health, we delivered Health Hub,” Ige noted. “They asked for expansion to two additional districts, we gave City-wide. They asked us for just mental health, we said, ‘No, we’re going to give holistic care.’”
The care program provides emergency responses via 911.
To meet the transition to a public health model, the City's health department has hired 19 new full-time employees, including mental health clinicians and EMTs.
“This is a dream, and it shouldn’t be a dream, it should be the reality of this city, for everybody. But, it has been a longstanding dream that we have had been to able to provide structures of care,” said Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, who chairs the City Council Health Committee.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok I Bluesky