Friend Health Provides Much Needed Healthcare Access To Communities
Friend Health Provides Much Needed Healthcare Access To Communities
By Tia Carol Jones
Wendy Thompson, CEO of Friend Health, said she was drawn to work in healthcare and the mission to help people live their best lives. Thompson said after having a career in finance, she had a greater calling for public service and went to work with the Chicago Public Schools for 10 years. She said what drew her to education is that education is one of the most transformational opportunities for individuals. She learned that healthcare is equally as important.
Friend Health was founded in 1997 as Friend Family Health Center. Its focus was pregnant women and infants. It evolved to women’s health and children’s health and evolved into a full-service healthcare provider with comprehensive medical care – pediatric, OB/GYN, adult and family medicine, internal medicine, behavioral health and mental health, as well as dental services. Thompson said Friend Health is available to meet all of the needs of the community when it comes to healthcare.
Friend Health has six locations, as well as two mobile units, which provide healthcare to people in communities across the South side of Chicago. The 63rd and Cottage Grove site, which opened in 2022, is the largest Friend Health locations. Thompson said that as Friend Health looked to optimize technology and ensure it could offer the community the best healthcare and facilities, it decided to expand to the 63rd and Cottage Grove site.
She said there are plans to have a site at 63rd and Evans where there will be same-day service and immediate care, dental and behavioral health. In 2017, Friend Health merged with HRDI Medication Assisted Treatment, which has been in the community for more than 50 years.
“Between the two organizations, from a behavioral health perspective, we provide the complete continuum. Everything from 24/7 crisis supports to residential supportive housing for individuals with mental health challenges, as well as those addressing addiction,” Thompson said.
Expanding quality health care to communities on the South and West sides of the city is important because healthcare is a right, Thompson said, and added that far too often, it feels like a privilege. She said that at the Friend Health 63rd and Cottage Grove location and its newest location in the Back of the Yards community, on 47th and Ashland Ave., patients receive the same quality of healthcare that people at larger medical institutions receive, because it is what they deserve.
“They deserve compassionate care, they deserve support in navigating what is an incredibly complex system, the healthcare system,” she said.
In addition to having a visit with a healthcare provider, patients at Friend Health also receive supports – care coordination and community health workers. Thompson said Friend Health wants to switch the narrative of going to the doctor because people are sick and going to a primary healthcare provider to stay healthy.
As healthcare has evolved, with technology playing a significant role in that evolution, Thompson said that Friend Health is in the process of moving its electronic health record system to Epic, which is connected to MyChart.
It means that there is an accessible portal for patients to use as a tool in their healthcare. Friend Health has also provided access to same-day appointments and walk-in appointments, because it wants to ensure access is not a limiting factor to someone receiving the help they need.
“We are focused on meeting the community where they are and when they want to be seen,” Thompson said.
For more information about Friend Health, visit www. friendfhc.org.
Latest Stories
- Happy New You!
- Is It Normal Aging or Early Dementia? Memory Loss Causes and Alzheimer’s Warning Signs to Watch For
- Chicago Sinfonietta To Host ‘Open Heart’ Concert
- State Of The Southland: Village of Matteson
- Local Woman Looks To Change Narrative Around Having Locs
Latest Podcast
Wendy Thompson-Friend Health
