$3M Grant Will Fund Construction Of New, 'Purpose-Built' Aunt Martha's Women's Health Clinic

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — A longstanding provider of women's health care in Chicago Heights will soon get a fresh start in a newly constructed clinic.

Aunt Martha's Health & Wellness has been awarded nearly $3 million through the Illinois Capital Development Board's Community Health Center Construction Grant Program to begin replacing its Women's Health Center at 233 W. Joe Orr Rd. in Chicago Heights. The grant will fund the first phase of a project to raze the existing facility and replace it with a new, purpose-built clinic.

The award is part of $50 million in Rebuild Illinois capital funding announced by Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois Capital Development Board and the Illinois Department of Public Health for 21 community health center projects across Illinois. Aunt Martha's award totals $2,997,906. The agency was the only South Suburban Cook County-based community health center selected to receive capital development funds under this round of awards.

For Aunt Martha's, the investment represents the next chapter in a commitment to women's health that began 50 years ago, when the organization opened a Teen Clinic and began providing family planning services in 1976.

"Fifty years ago, Aunt Martha's made a decision to stand behind young people and families who needed access to care, even when doing so was not easy," said Raul Garza, President and CEO of Aunt Martha's Health & Wellness. "This investment allows us to carry that commitment forward in a new way. We are creating a modern clinical environment designed around the needs of women and families and built to support the kind of coordinated, high-quality care our communities deserve."

The Joe Orr Road site has served the Chicago Heights community as a Women's Health Center since 2004. Since 2016, the center has served approximately 35,000 patients through more than 141,000 visits, demonstrating sustained demand for women's health and related outpatient services.

The replacement facility is planned as an approximately 5,375-square-foot outpatient health center supporting women's health and reproductive health services, including obstetric and gynecologic care and family planning, along with behavioral health, care coordination, enrollment assistance and telehealth-enabled services. The project is intended to provide greater privacy, improve patient and clinical flow, strengthen continuity of care and better integrate services within one coordinated setting.

The need for expanded healthcare infrastructure and comprehensive women's health services remains exceptionally high throughout the surrounding South Suburban Cook County service area. Significant barriers to timely first-trimester prenatal care and ongoing access disparities persist across the surrounding communities.

"This is more than an investment in a building," Garza said. "It is an investment in women, families and a community where access to early and continuous care remains critically important."

The Community Health Center Construction Grant Program provides capital funding to Federally Qualified Health Centers and FQHC Look-Alikes for projects that renovate or replace healthcare infrastructure, increase capacity and expand access to care. Successful applicants were selected through a merit-based review under Illinois Grant Accountability and Transparency Act requirements.

Aunt Martha's will continue working with the Illinois Capital Development Board through the grant agreement, design and construction process. Additional project details and timing will be announced as plans are finalized.

About Aunt Martha's Health & Wellness

Aunt Martha' s Health & Wellness is a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center serving patients and communities throughout Chicagoland and parts of Northern and Central Illinois. The organization provides primary care, behavioral health, reproductive health and family planning services, along with community-based services for children, youth and families. Aunt Martha's serves more than 105,000 patients and clients each year and has been recognized nationally for quality and value.