For our community and for the city of Chicago, reopening one of the mental health clinics
that were closed under previous administrations, we are delighted to have with us a new mayor
who is delivering one of the promises that were made.
I am grateful for Mayor Johnson for reopening this mental health clinic here in our community.
And I am very grateful also for our champion and the chair of the Health and Human Relations Committee, Chairwoman Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez, for CDPH, for our health navigators, for everybody, all the community leaders who made this day possible.
Thank you for the bottom of our hearts.
This is a new coalition.
This is a new day.
I am wearing today the Mayor of Washington's button
because this is a new coalition
and this is what fresh government can do for our people.
We will not stop investing in people.
We will not negotiate with our values
and we will be steady fast,
continue to doing the work of the people.
So thank you very much for being here with us today.
Brevemente en español, el día de hoy.
Muchísimas gracias.
Le quiero dar las gracias en especial
al alcalde Johnson, Brandon Johnson,
por cumplir su palabra de reabrir las clínicas de salud mental
que fueron cerradas por administraciones anteriores.
Le do las gracias también a nuestra campeona,
la cabeza del Comité de Salud, Rosana Rodríguez Sánchez,
a las navegadoras de salud, al Departamento de Salud de la Ciudad,
a las navegadoras de salud y a todas las comunidades
to introduce my great friend, my colleague, I'm part of this important coalition that made today possible.
my good friend, checkwoman Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez.
Good day for the City of Chicago, and we are here to celebrate it.
So thankful, and I want to uplift in this moment the coalitions that made this possible
at the grassroots level.
And I want to say that because in a moment when we are witnessing so much division, I
want us all to remember that the reason why this clinic is reopening, in a big part, is
because the black and brown communities came together to demand what their communities needed,
and they got it to Gapwick Solidarity.
We can change the world, and we are demonstrating right now how we are able to change things
and how we are able to get the things that we need for our communities.
So I want us to think about that, and I want us to remember that as we continue to do the work in this city
to better the lives of everybody.
I also want to thank Mayor Johnson for listening to us,
for standing in his commitment
because we fought for the reopening of the clinics
for a very long time
and we were not able to move
and Brandon Johnson said that he was going to do that
and he made good in his promise
and we are here today
and we are going to be at Roseland very soon
reopening that clinic
and we're going to continue expanding resources
I also want to thank Brandon Johnson
because he committed to doing this.
Y ahora estamos materializando esa promesa, estuvimos mucho tiempo luchando para poder ver estas clínicas abiertas y no pudimos hacerlo con otras administraciones, pero este día llegó y gracias a ese compromiso del alcalde podemos tener esta clínica.
So I want now to call to the microphone the person that allowed us to be able to have this research, the person that was committed to the promise of mental health for everybody, of resources for everybody, Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Wow. Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you to Alder Byron Ciccio Lopez and Rosana Rodriguez-Sanchez and to all of the people who have made this moment and this opportunity possible.
But I also just want to say for the record, I just like the way my name sounds in Spanish.
It just has a stronger ring to it.
But we're happy to be in this community and so grateful for the people of Pilsen.
What a proud neighborhood. What an historic neighborhood.
Give it up for one of the 77 communities in this city, the Pilsen community.
I also want to thank our CDPH Deputy Commissioner Richards, of course, yes, our first Deputy Commissioner, Waga, CFD Commissioner for the Fire Department, who's not able to make it today, Commissioner Nance Holt, 2FM Commissioner Hernandez Tomlin, Commissioner Blakemore, OMC Executive Director Tarado, and of course all the Deputy Mayors and Senior Leaders of my administration.
our partners in organized labor i want to give a special thanks to as well
especially ask me teamsters local 743 and to the illinois nurses association
whose members staff the services and this new health hub and of course again to the
members of this incredible community i'm truly honored to be here today to announce the
opening of the Pilsen South Ashland Health Hub, Mental Health Expansion, and Ms. Ribbon Cuddy.
I just took a tour of this new clinic, and I can tell you, the great work that is already happening
and the great work that will occur here is just going to be remarkable.
You know that during this tour and standing here today, I cannot help but think about my brother Leon.
And to one of our brothers who reminded me today that, you know, him struggling, my brother, who was my hero, he was a loving father and husband, he was a brilliant man, talented, he was a musician, but he struggled with mental illness.
and he did that throughout, had to suffer through that throughout his life.
He passed well before his time, addicted and unhoused.
And like my brother, many residents are suffering from mental health crises
and they don't have access to consistent, affordable and accessible mental health care that they need.
When left unaddressed, mental health crises can lead to violence and addiction, homelessness and so much more.
Unfortunately, when it's unaddressed, it creates vicious cycles of harm to residents
and to our communities.
In the wake of elimination of federal and state funding, other administrations chose
to close mental health facilities, leaving our city with only five mental health centers
of the original 19.
And that is why, from the beginning of my administration, I made a commitment to expand
mental health services, opening clinics and layering services in existing clinics in Chicago,
and expanding an alternate response program care to meet Chicago's where they are.
We can no longer criminalize mental health issues. We have to make sure that we are investing in
people. That's the commitment that I made and that's the commitment that I kept. And I'm proud
to say that my administration and our department and working with our partners, we are on track to
complete all of the expansion goals for mental health resources in 2024. Today, we have made a
commitment to reopen the CDPH Rosen Mental Health Center by the end of the year, established the
mental health services at the Legler Regional Library. We have moved to a behavior health-driven
Alternate response
model of care teams, staffed entirely, staffed entirely by CDPH and dispatched by 911 telecommunicators
at OEMC. And today, with the opening of this clinic, members of the Pilsen community will
have access to mental health services in addition to health care right here in their own neighborhood.
We are actively addressing the disparities faced by our sisters and brothers in the Latin
community, who've experienced disproportionate high rates of mental health conditions, including
anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder. This clinic will be able to provide
mental health services to nearly 300 clients every year through various forms of therapy,
health care, services, resources, and so much more. We are turning the tide, ladies and
gentlemen, we are turning the tide, taking the steps needed to reverse the course and
continue to expand mental health in the city of chicago this has taken this has been hard work you
all it hasn't been easy but we've had a strong dedicated force within our community working
alongside of partners in city hall and in city council my office numerous individuals that have
fought to save our city and to save our health clinics and to save lives that fight was worth
the fight we are always better off having fought because when we fight we bet we certainly can win
and today in chicago we are winning so let's continue the important work as we continue to build
a better stronger safer chicago and one of those individuals that are that's helping us build
a better stronger safer chicago is our cdph first deputy commissioner waga welcome her to the stage
Thank you all very much.
Thank you, Mayor Johnson, Alderman Sigja Lopez, and Alderwoman Rodriguez-Sanchez.
My name is Fikurty Wagao, and I'm so happy to be here on behalf of our commissioner,
Dr. E. Gay, and the Department of Public Health.
And thank you for showing up, and I'm sure a very busy morning for all.
The mayor touched on this a little bit, but I want to make sure everybody knows,
yes, we are adding mental health services at this site,
but we have had long-standing immunization services here in the Pilsen community,
and we are bringing back the WIC services in 2025.
So we will have all three.
This hub is staffed by bilingual team,
ready to provide compassionate and high-quality care in Spanish and in English,
ensuring that language is not a barrier to accessing or remaining in care.
Further, our approach here emphasizes manageable caseloads for all of our clinics,
ensuring all clients get the attention that they need and deserve.
I also want to emphasize that CDPH is opening services and expanding services here
to complement, to not compete, with our partners who are here in the Pilsen community.
We want to fill service gaps and create a stronger, more connected system of care.
To that end, we are collaborating with local health providers to build a robust referral network
with the goal of ensuring all residents are connected to the care that they need in their communities.
By working with community partners and residents, we will continue to develop flexible and tailored services,
adapting our services based on the needs that we see and hear from the clients who seek care with us.
Our goal is for this health hub to be much more than a clinic.
We want to be a gathering place for Pilsen residents.
We want to make the space available for health, for engagement, and for wellness
in the many, many ways that can look beyond clinical services.
And together we aim to create a healthier, more connected future for this vibrant neighborhood.
We're excited for what's ahead and look forward to serving this community in new and meaningful ways.
I also want to extend deep thanks, echoing what the mayor said, to mayor's office partners,
to the Department of Fleet and Facility Management who helped us get this space to where it is.
Deep appreciation to the Department of Human Resources who helped us create the positions that we needed
and accelerated filling them.
Deep appreciation for the residents who are here today and who will use these services.
and really I want to close my comments
with a big
thank you to them
Many people at CDPH here, I think some are back there, who work tirelessly to make this happen.
So thank you to all of our partners, thank you to my CDPH colleagues,
and I will turn it over to our medical director, Dr. Geraldine Luna.
Good morning, everyone. Buenos dias.
This part of the remarks are going to be in Spanish, and it's to just start with our equity lens of language, how important it is to serve our communities in the right language.
and inaugurándose para fortalecer a nuestros pacientes aquí de la localización de Pilsen
y para dar los servicios de salud que tanto merecemos, que tanto merecen nuestras personas.
Estamos unidos hoy para anunciar la expansión del Centro de Salud de Pilsen de South Ashland
en un espacio creado para mejorar el acceso a estos servicios esenciales
y fortalecer lazos dentro de la comunidad de Pilsen.
Este 28 de octubre, este centro empezó sus actividades y servicios de salud
enfocándose en el apoyo emocional, traumático y conductual.
Estos servicios están diseñados para adaptarse a las necesidades individuales
con una combinación de ambos, según lo necesitan.
Y lo más importante es en el idioma y la cultura, que tú y yo entendemos, y que mejora y que se ha visto tener un impacto directo en las respuestas de salud.
Es importante resaltar que el centro cuenta con un personal bilingüe, que recibe a sus pacientes y le dan los servicios en español.
Todos los residentes de Chicago pueden accesar estos servicios de manera gratuita.
se espera atender anualmente
aproximadamente 300 pacientes
que necesiten estos servicios
de salud mental
cada clínico manejará
entre 50, 30 y 50
casos, dependiendo
de la complejidad de los mismos
nuestro objetivo es
convertirnos en un miembro
valioso y confiable
de la comunidad de Pearson
no buscamos competir
con nuestros proveedores de salud
locales que saben que sabemos que
dan una excelente calidad de
servicio, sino más bien apoyar
los servicios de salud y cubrir
cualquier vacío en las necesidades
de nuestras comunidades. Además de
los servicios de salud mental
ofreceremos vacunas disponibles
también todos los jueves y
viernes de ocho de la mañana a
tres de la tarde. Para obtener
más información de estos centros,
por favor visiten nuestras
Now I share the podium.
It is Esther Echamarella. Thank you.
Buenos días. Good morning.
I really am very emotional here.
Missy Fraga, Juan Soto, the community who has been to say thank you, Mario,
in memory of your brother, who has been suffering so much,
and many people in this community has been suffering so much.
I want to say thank you to the Alderman Byron's teacher, Lopez, Matt Richardson,
who you have been working so hard to maintain the coalition,
because I've been working in this community of mental health for many years.
We suffered a lot of not to have good service.
The grand issue is to have housing for people and avoiding homeless people who have suffered mental health.
So it's my honor, on behalf of the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition, UIC Health System, to offer health and mental health. And we will fight for one thing, health and mental health everywhere.
We need to have the same amount of money to serve not only health, but mental health.
And finish with a stigma.
We can suffer about diabetes, breast cancer, and when we say, I have stress, I cannot deal
with language, and they die on the sick mental health, we don't pay attention and we don't
want to talk about.
So we need to finish the statement. So I want to, quiero hablar ahora en español y decirles gracias a toda la comunidad que se reúne con nuestro concejal aquí luchando por lo que se viene luchando por mucho tiempo en integrar salud y salud mental.
I am here in the community working. I have worked in Wilson, in the city, but I believe that my heart is trying to help this community, particularly with the health workers community.
We want to have the community around. They tell us what to do to offer a good health system.
Thank you, thank you very much.
Thank you, Esther.
Now we'd like to invite all our community who has come today to celebrate this important and beautiful day
To officially cut the ribbon
So I want to invite everybody to join us for the ribbon cutting
We're going to make the ribbon cut
It's a historical day for today, thank you very much
We're going to make the ribbon cutting
Armando, if you can guide us
Maurice
Everyone's hands on
Cheryl
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for your patience.
We're going to do the five countdown.
Five, four, three, two, one.
You're just going to look at the camera, okay?
First shot, just looking at the camera.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Here, here, here.
No other cameras.
Okay, at this point in time, if we are ready to cut, remember to continue to look at the camera even when we are cutting.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.