Michael Reese Health Trust Gives Support For A Healthier Illinois
Michael Reese Health Trust Gives Support For A Healthier Illinois
By Tia Carol Jones
Michael Reese Hospital was founded in 1881 in the city’s Bronzeville community as a space for people who faced barriers to healthcare. What resulted is that the hospital built a broader community that made healthcare accessible to all people. The Michael Reese Health Trust was established around 30 years ago when Michael Reese Hospital was closed, as a way to carry the hospital’s mission forward. Now the Michael Reese Health Trust is supporting organizations and providers that make access to reproductive and sexual healthcare more available to people who need those services the most.
Ameya Pawar, President and CEO of the Michael Reese Health Trust, said that what Michael Reese did as a hospital was steeped in the definition of public health, which is to serve the entire population in furtherance of healthcare for the broader population. He said the hospital was a leader in innovative efforts and that legacy of helping everyone is the north star of the Michael Reese Health Trust. Pawar said the Michael Reese Health Trust is excited about the partnership with the Pritzker administration for the Prairie State Access Fund. He said the public-private partnership wants to protect and invest in the infrastructure of reproductive and sexual healthcare.
“One of our goals is that in making strategic investments in clinical infrastructure, we can over time, reintegrate these services within the broader healthcare system,” he said. He added that by making destigmatizing services like STI testing, abortion care, ultrasounds and women’s healthcare, they will not continue to be othered and seen as just healthcare.
The Michael Reese Health Trust recently announced its first round of grants through the Prairie State Access Fund. The Prairie State Access Fund is a pooled fund that the health trust started, to support healthcare providers so that they have the dollars to build resiliency in the system. Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the Chicago Abortion Fund, the Red Tent Fund and Repro TLC were awarded $1 million in flexible funding. These initial investments are meant to strengthen the sexual and reproductive healthcare ecosystem across the state of Illinois.
“Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) is honored to partner with the Prairie State Access Fund as a grant recipient,” Adrienne White-Faines, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said in a press release. “As an essential provider in the Illinois’ health care infrastructure, these funds allow PPIL to continue to expand access to thousands of Illinois residents for quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including wellness exams, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, family planning, abortion and gender-affirming care, while also serving increasing numbers of out-of-state patients who seek our services.”
Pawar said that for the last 30 years, the Michael Reese Health Trust has been doing work in supporting safety net hospitals, federally qualified health centers, community clinics and the health workforce. He said that hospitals like Sinai and Roseland are safety net hospitals that provide high quality services, often with limited services. He said they are constantly having to do more with less. In addition to reproductive and sexual health, the Michael Reese Health Trust also works in the areas of prevention and breaking the cycle of domestic violence, health workforce, ending homelessness and honoring its Jewish legacy.
For more information about the Michael Reese Health Trust, visit www.wearemichaelreese.org.
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