Vivent Health + TPAN held a community open house May 14 at its Edgewater neighborhood health center location on Broadway. Earlier in the day, they held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the site.
TPAN joined forces with Vivent Health two years ago to maintain its foothold in the community and expand its wraparound services. This new health center comprises 20,891 square feet and has 45 clinicians, case managers and support personnel to assist clients with whatever needs they may have. There is also a state-of-the-art pharmacy, behavior health facilities, new exam rooms, a food pantry, youth drop-in center, insurance navigation support and prevention services.
Speakers included Vivent Health Board Vice Chair Michael Murphy; Vivent Health CEO Brandon Hill; and Vivent Health + TPAN Medical Director Jo-Ann Jose, MD.
Murphy, who was the board chair of TPAN for eight years, described how Vivent started as the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and explained that their mission was to treat people holistically. He added that other cities began to adopt this model and started merging with other facilities. Murphy said that in Chicago they chose TPAN as that entity.
Hill said this vision has been in the works for awhile, where Vivent and local organizations with longstanding roots in the community have come together to provide the best possible medical care for those in need. He spoke about the partnership that Vivent and Northwestern University have created to “ensure that people live and thrive in long healthy lives with HIV.” Hill added that some people living with HIV will celebrate their 80th birthdays, and knew of one person who is set to celebrate their 90th birthday.
“We are sitting yards away from the finish line,” said Hill. “The end of the epidemic in sight while being faced with potentially losing funding and access to care. This merger and this opening, the ribbon cutting we did this morning is really a testament that we’re still here. And we’re still committed to [this work], regardless of what’s happening federally, regardless of what’s happening with care coverage and grant funding. We stand here knowing that there are 10,000 people in Chicago living with HIV, who are still going to need care, no matter what the administration decides to do. We know that there are 30% of those19,000 people who aren’t engaging in care in our own city and [because of the challenges they face]. Those challenges are incorporated into the care that we provide [that has been built on the foundation that TPAN has offered over the years].”
Jose noted some of the occurrences in the six months since the clinic has opened: Some clients have engaged in their own healthcare for the first time, while others have become virally suppressed or accessed PrEP for the first time, and many have controlled other medical issues. She also recognized her medical team—Amesika Nyaku, MD; Cori Blum; Nurse Practitioner John Stryker; Registered Nurse Manuel Conde; Certified Medical Assistant Emily Saluga; and Clinical Case Manager Jack Alferio—and shared some of their relevant medical experience.
“We’re at a very challenging time for HIV science and medicine right now,” said Jose. “The work done to change the curve of the epidemic—by patients, community advocates, physicians, researchers and organizations like the ones we have learned about tonight—is in real danger. I don’t have any easy answers to that mostly because it’s an impossible situation and there are no easy answers. But from the arc of my career, from every patient who has trusted me with their health … I do know that the work we do here matters, and we have to keep doing it, no matter what comes next.”
“Today is about more than just about a new sign on the door or a new name joining TPAN,” said Hill as he invited attendees to join him in a champagne toast. “It is our statement. That this community, our community in Edgewater, Chicago deserves quality care, dignity in treatment and a place where health, humanity and HIV expertise go hand in hand.”
Photos below by Vern Hester
