The mission of Heartland International Health Center (HIHC) is to improve the well-being of the communities we serve by providing accessible, high-quality health care.  Last year, our nine locations on the North Side of Chicago provided more than 13,000 patients with a medical home where they could receive comprehensive services including primary care, prenatal care, pediatric care, immunizations, women’s health care, chronic disease management, medication discounts, oral health, mental health, and psychiatric services.

News 

• HIHC receives generous contribution from Polks Bros. Foundation
  December 5, 2011
  HIHC received $180,000 from the Polk Bros. Foundation to support comprehensive primary care, behavioral health care, and oral health care services in its school health centers during 2012. Students at Senn High School, Roosevelt High School, and Uplift Community High school benefit from coordinated on-site services that are tailored to meet the unique needs of adolescents. With support from Polk Bros. Foundation, master’s level therapists work within Roosevelt High School, Senn High School, and Uplift Community High School to provide comprehensive mental health and substance abuse services to students. Through its partnership with Alternatives, Inc, the school health centers provide a continuum of services to address the behavioral health needs of students, develop and provide psycho-educational group sessions, cultivate and facilitate a Student Health Club at Senn and Roosevelt, and advocate for enhanced behavioral health services in schools through collaborative work with the Illinois Coalition for School Health Centers. In addition, HIHC dental staff members provide comprehensive restorative and preventive oral health care to students two days per week at Senn and Roosevelt and to community members one day per week at Senn. Services include trauma prevention; preventive fluoride varnishes; cancer screenings; emergency services; and treatments targeting dental caries, periodontal disease, and edentulism (tooth loss). In addition, we provide extensive patient education tailored to the age of the patient and possible risk factors, particularly regarding mouth/tongue piercings, periodontal care, decay treatment and prevention, and nutritional information. Furthermore, Polk Bros. Foundation support also contributes to the provision of primary care services at Uplift by a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine along with a mid-level provider. Services include acute care for sickness and injury, immunizations, school and sports physicals, chronic disease management, nutrition counseling, women’s health services, STI testing and treatment, and sexual health counseling. Our Community Relations Coordinator also devotes half her time to Uplift where she assists with AllKids applications, coordinates receipt of dental services, and supervises the outreach and health education activities of AmeriCorps members and Schweitzer Fellows. This ongoing investment in our students' health from the Polk Bros. Foundation makes it possible to provide care when and where its needed to some of the most diverse student bodies in Chicago. We are most grateful for the opportunity to provide this care.

  • HIHC receives generous funding from Chicago Dental Society Foundation
    November 15, 2011
    The Chicago Dental Society Foundation has awarded $3,465 to Heartland International Health Center. This grant will be used to purchase much needed dental equipment at our Heartland Health Center - Senn and Heartland Health Center - Hibbard locations. These two sites on Chicago's north side provide comprehensive preventative and restorative care to both students and non-students in the community. This patient base is among the most diverse in the country and will benefit from improved access to effective and efficient dental care.

  • HIHC receives generous contribution from the VNA Foundation
    October 17, 2011
    Heartland International Health Center is grateful to receive a $40,000 contribution from the VNA Foundation to support our prenatal case management program. This program was launched in 2009 with the generous support of the VNA Foundation and has become one of HIHC’s most critical initiatives for serving low-income mothers and their babies. For many women, and especially those burdened by poverty, pregnancy and motherhood present a myriad of challenges and unknowns. HIHC’s Prenatal Case Management Program seeks to help patients to navigate these uncertainties by coordinating their care, giving them one-on-one time to talk with an HIHC nurse, and connecting them to the resources that they need. To this end an HIHC nurse meets with each expectant mother and works with HIHC’s physicians and midwives to assess each patient’s risk level and additional social service needs. The nurse also talks patients through available delivery and labor support options and prenatal education opportunities. These patients are given the opportunity to ask the nurse any and all questions they want, without a time constraint and within a safe and welcoming environment. As part of HIHC’s medical home model of care, the nurse coordinates the services patients receive from the organization, including prenatal care and education, postpartum and postnatal care, prenatal oral health care, and mental health care.