In the days following the murder of George Floyd at 38th and Chicago, riots and outrage left Lake Street in ruins. As the community rallied together in an effort to revive Lake Street, one family saw an opportunity to go one step further.
Dr. Mohamed Abdullahi is the Chief Medical Office, and the Primary Care and Urgent Care Physician, at TruCare Clinic and Urgent Care at the corner of Bloomington and East Lake Street.
The clinic open in June 2022, but planning for the clinic started during one of Lake Street's lowest points.
"We wanted to make it a place where patients can come to be heard and be able to receive evidence-based quality care," Dr. Abdullahi said. "Even though we may be a private clinic not tied to any major hospitals, we still want to be a place where people can come to be given good, quality care and be heard."
Dr. Abdullahi is a nationally-recognized primary care physician and lung specialist. He says Lake Street was the perfect place to open a clinic due to the lack of larger-sized clinics available that offer urgent care services in the area.
"There are no other private clinics that are this size and there are no other private clinics that can provide urgent care," he said. "We're not just a family medicine clinic, we can do urgent care including x-rays, labs, immunizations, vaccinations, or whatever anyone needs. This neighborhood didn't really have immediate access to an urgent care. The only option really was Abbott Hospital's ER."
Since opening last June, the staff at TruCare have been working tirelessly to both educate the community surrounding Lake Street about their health, as well as gain the community's trust.
According to Abdullahi, simplifying health care has led to higher rates of compliance with medications and higher rates of follow-up.
"We just simply explain to the patients in simple languages that they can understand. We also show them their images and labs so they understand why certain things are needed."
In addition to being misinformed about healthcare, Muhuba Abdullahi, the practice manager, says financial obligations are a barrier facing the the communities that TruCare serves.
"Many come in wondering if they can work sick with whatever condition they're suffering from," Muhuba Abdullahi said. "We offer people opportunities to get over those financial barriers and understand that their health comes first. That's actually our slogan, where your health comes first."
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From COVID-19 to civil unrest, Lake Street's faced a number of challenges the past three years. Despite those challenges, the clinic's seen firsthand how beneficial their location on East Lake Street has been.
"We've done a lot of community outreach throughout the community outreach throughout the community," Dr. Abdullahi said. "A lot of going door to door and into different buildings just letting people know that we are here. Many people who opened up found out us by not just our sign, but from family members or simply looking us up online."
In just over a year of being open, the Fairview Physician Associates Network added TruCare to its network. It allows certain benefits and looks to improve healthcare as a whole, while reducing the total cost.
"We're standing on the shoulders of giants and it helps out a lot," Muhuba said. "Other organizations support us. They love having us here and we love being loved."