Extending access to care
Multiplying the benefits of prevention and early
intervention
No one should face undue barriers to getting the
medical attention they need. That’s why Advocate
operates more than 250 sites of care, including
five Level I Trauma Centers—more than any other
provider in the state. It’s why Advocate’s physician
offices offer expanded weekday and weekend hours.
And it’s why Advocate reported providing $434
million in free, discounted and under-reimbursed care
for Illinoisans in 2013. Donors support Advocate’s
commitment by funding preventive care, programs
for underserved populations and other services that
extend access to health services.
Every week in the U.S. 30 young people die of sudden
cardiac death resulting from medical conditions they often
didn’t know they had. To identify heart conditions that
could lead to tragedy on the playing field or elsewhere,
Advocate’s donor-funded Young Hearts for Life program
trained 1,600 parents and other volunteers to perform
EKGs on 17,024 Illinois high school students in 2013—
many more than could possibly be screened by medical
professionals alone. Philanthropy enables a similar
multiplier effect through Advocate’s Healthy Steps for
Young Children program. Healthy Steps specialists
performed more than 6,000 screenings in 2013 to identify
autism and other developmental or behavioral disabilities
in children under age 3—in time for them to get the
therapeutic services they need for optimum outcomes.
The program also trained more than 600 physicians and
physicians-in-training to use developmental screening
tools—extending the opportunity for early intervention
far beyond the specialists’ own reach.
Caring for patients with special needs
It takes special skills—and additional time—to meet the
health needs of people with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. Advocate Medical Group’s Adult Down
Syndrome Center at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
provides primary medical care, nutrition counseling and
psychosocial services to approximately 2,000 patients
annually, losing approximately $300 per patient visit.
Philanthropy—$268,000 in 2013—helps fill the gap
between reimbursement rates and the cost of care.
Advocate also provides routine and emergency dental
care to adults and children with developmental disabilities
through Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center’s
philanthropy-supported Special Patient Dental Care
Program. More than 2,000 patients are treated each year.
Reaching out to the underserved
One of Advocate’s inner-city parish nurses, Donna
Oborski has served Our Lady of Tepeyac Church in
Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood since 2008. Many
of the congregation’s more than 1,700 members are
living in poverty, and most lack the resources needed to
prevent and manage illness. A source of everything from
food at the parish pantry to referrals for affordable care,
Donna has developed such a deep bond and trust
with the community that gang members protect her
on home visits.
$185,000
in philanthropic
support of dental
care for underserved
populations annually
Many low-income people get health care only when
they are quite sick—if then. Advocate’s Inner City Parish
Nurse Ministry brings holistic, preventive health services
to residents of neighborhoods besieged by economic
hardship and chronic illness. Part of a larger program
serving 36 faith congregations across the metropolitan
area, parish nurses based in Humboldt Park, Kenwood,
Little Village, Logan Square, Roseland and Uptown
meet the needs of more than 14,000 Chicagoans a year.
The beneficiary of a $90,000 boost from philanthropy,
the program offers nutrition education, medication
information, walking clubs, health screenings, flu shots
and assistance with Public Aid enrollment—along with a
listening ear and a healing prayer.
14,000
inner-city
residents
served by parish
nurses each year
17.1%
increase in pediatric
developmental disabilities
since 2000
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