The Cook County Health Department plans to open a new outpatient health care center early next year in the Bronzeville neighborhood near the former Michael Reese Hospital site, officials announced Wednesday.
The Bronzeville Health Center, located at 467 E. 31st St., will offer family medicine, mental health care and rehabilitation services.
“This is a particularly poignant moment — we are here on 31st Street in the shadow of the old Michael Reese Hospital campus to announce a new investment in population health on the South Side of Chicago,” Cook County Council President Toni Preckwinkle said at a news conference Wednesday.
Preckwinkle said the Cook County Health Authority and the Cook County Asset Management Office will invest $10 million in the new 26,000-square-foot facility. Once complete, the center will have 44 exam rooms and a gym for treatment services.
The county expects the center to see 85,000 patients in its first year.
The new health center will help address “a very troubling disparity head-on,” Preckwinkle said, citing a 2019 study that found a 30-year life expectancy gap between white residents in Streeterville and black residents in Englewood.
“The health center promises to not only meet the immediate health needs of the community, but also promote long-term improvements in health outcomes on the South Side of Chicago,” Preckwinkle said.
Michael Reese Hospital closed in 2008, leaving a gap in health services in the South Side community. Cook County Commissioner Bill Lowery said the situation was exacerbated by the closure of six city-run mental health facilities in 2012.
“Like physical health care, mental and behavioral health care is a right, not a privilege,” Lowry said. “We know that such treatment leads to violence prevention, leads to safety, and leads to healthy lives.”
In addition to mental health care, the Bronzeville Health Center will offer primary care for children and adults, chronic disease management, pregnancy care, expanded physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy services.
The center is an extension of Provident Hospital, the nation's first African-American-owned and operated hospital.
Cook County Health has invested more than $9 million in Provident Hospital in recent years to expand clinical services and modernize facilities, said Dr. Eric Mikaitis, interim CEO of Cook County Health.
The Bronzeville Health Center will be housed in a former Reese medical office building with a modern design. The interior of the center is currently under construction and officials hope to have it completed by early 2025.
