Chicago Politics

Roseland Mental Health Clinic Ribbon Cutting and CARE Announcement 1.8.25

Chapters

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Roseland Mental Health Clinic Ribbon Cutting and CARE Announcement.

Transcript

0:01 Can you hear me? Happy, happy Wednesday. Welcome everybody. Good morning. Happy January. Happy New Year. All the good stuff. I am so excited today. This room is full. We have more than 100 people who wanted to be here today. So thank you for coming. We have people from mayor's office. We have people from the community. We have people from our clinics. We have people from all over who are here, I just want to say welcome. We are going to be having a few

0:32 brief speeches today to just celebrate. It is 2025, y'all, and this building is reopening after more than 20 years. So today, there is one million reasons to celebrate. But for me, it is about all the need for community. So many yeses. I can count more than 15 different sectors who had to say yes for today to happen.

1:02 Deputy Mayor Infrastructure, Deputy Mayor Community Engagement, Deputy Mayor Policy, Deputy Mayor Health and Human Services, the Mayor, the Chair of Health and Human Relations, Community Advocates, staff, me, many people. But we all had to say yes. You all had to say yes for this to happen. So this is a story of many, many voices. So the folks who are hearing talk today, please know that they were part of the yeses, but there are many other yeses in this room that may today happen.

1:36 So I just want to say thank you to everyone who said yes, everyone who dreamt, everyone who believed, everyone who tried, everyone who had hope that this will happen. So a few voices today, please know that I love you all, I appreciate you all, I welcome you all, and thank you for being here today with us. And it is a happy 2025. And I'm going to start with just calling on now.

2:07 She's pointing, and I need to take a moment to just gather myself to introduce, and I'm going to use this word, you know, chair, firebrand. She's an orange right now, and just a little reminder that she is a firebrand. She has kept us on our toes. She has challenged us. She has pushed us. She has advocated relentlessly. This is our chairwoman of Health and Human Relations Committee, Alderwoman Rodriguez. Good morning, everybody.

2:41 Good morning. So happy to be here today, even if it's cold. we are making warm spaces for our communities and this is an incredible example of that warmth that can actually be provided by government that can be provided by the city if we put our minds and our hearts and our resources to it I first want to thank the mayor

3:11 and I want to thank Dr. Ige I want to thank everybody from the Department of Public Health that has put so much effort and energy in making this happen. This is a dream, and it shouldn't be a dream. It should be the reality of the city for everybody. But it has been a longstanding dream that we have had of being able to provide structures of care for people, so people feel protected, so that people feel cared for. But I also need to make it very clear that we are here today because of the incredible fight of a black and brown coalition of people that understood that we did not need to separately fight for scraps, that we could come together and fight and win beautiful, amazing things for our communities.

4:08 and that is what happens when we come together. And at a time of so much division, when some forces are pitting black communities against Latino communities, we have this to show for. We could be winning amazing things if we come together. So to the Collaborative of Community Wellness, to the Community Board of Health, you all have done incredible work. You should be so proud that we get to open this today because of your fight.

4:38 We are going to continue fighting. We are going to continue joining hands and hearts to create more structures of care for our communities. But now I want to bring to the microphone our amazing mayor, somebody that has also put his heart behind these amazing care projects. Mayor Brandon Johnson. Thank you so much, Alder Rosana Rodriguez-Sanchez, and good morning to everyone.

5:12 I'm grateful that we are here to celebrate what progress looks like. And there are some incredible leaders that I think it's important that we name. First of all, to our CDPH Commissioner, Dr. Ige, thank you for your leadership and the conviction that you bring to the work every single day. Our 2FM Commissioner, Julie Hernandez-Tomlin, who was not able to be here today,

5:42 Public Buildings Commission Executive Director, Ray Gitteroff, their entire staff for the construction work that ensured that this building is safe and it's an inviting place so people can receive the services that they need. Dr. Ige went through my entire cabinet already, but to our Deputy Mayor, Lori Lipson, Gary, that's right, Lori Lipson, Deputy Mayor, Gary and Gatewood, community safety.

6:15 Our first deputy of policy, Noreen Hashim-Jewani, our senior policy advisor, Ali Lichterman, and I thank all of them for their commitment to the expansion of mental health services. We're also grateful that we are joined by the alderman of the 21st war. Alderman Ronnie Mosley is here as well. And so I'm going to take my time to really go through this moment because this is a landmark moment for our city's history.

6:50 Our community partners who have stood the test of resistance and resilience, and that is the coalition that called for treatment and not trauma. Thank you for that coalition for remaining strong. Our partners in organized labor, including AFSCME and INA and the Teamsters Union, who represent the dedicated workers who keep this health hub running day in and day out. And finally, to the 400 community members who provided feedback over the last year,

7:24 without them and without the people of Chicago, this ribbon-cutting would not be possible. And so many of our city departments and partners being present today, they represent the full force of government. My chief operations officer, John Robertson, is here. He is everywhere. This is an exciting day. As we celebrate the fulfillment of all, let me say that again, we are celebrating the fulfillment of all of our 2024 mental health expansion commitments as part of my administration's mental health system expansion phase one plan.

8:05 And in this phase, we expanded mental health clinical services and established a comprehensive vision for providing those services in an equitable and accessible way across the city of Chicago. In 2024, we added co-located services at the Legler Regional Library and integrated clinical services at the CDPH Pilsen Health Hub. And today, I am thrilled that we are reopening the doors of the Roseland Health Hub, formerly known as Roseland Mental Health Clinic.

8:44 This is not just a promise made. This is a promise delivered. And furthermore, today we officially celebrate the relaunch of the Care Alternate Response Program, another pillar of our mental health expansion plan. We improved and expanded the city's behavioral health crisis response pilot program by shifting to a fully health-driven, non-police model of behavioral health crisis response under the Department of Public Health.

9:17 in coordination with our Office of Emergency Management and Communication 911 Center. The city of Chicago continues to lead the way as it relates to transforming the way government shows up for people. And in that work, we double the number of care alternate response staff who care for our residents when they are having mental and behavior health crises. We connect them to the services that they need. This year, I'm excited to announce that we will expand the Care Alternate Response Program even further, bringing it to two additional district police districts, 4 and 12.

10:01 which will cover parts of Avalon Park, South Chicago, Burnside, Calumet Heights, South Deering, Hegawitz, the Lower West Side, and others. The CARE program is something that the people of Chicago have been asking for for decades. It is a measure that is making our city better and stronger and safer, more compassionate, healthier. That's what my administration will always be about, showing up for the people of Chicago. All right.

10:32 And so we are building towards a true behavior health continuum of care that integrates mobile crisis response with vital and brick-and-mortar services so that every Chicagoan in need, every Chicagoan in need of mental or behavioral health services has a number to call, a team that can be sent, and a place to go. Our mental health expansion meets the vision of Mayor Harold Washington, who in 1989 found that public mental health care in the city of Chicago was unequitable and inadequate.

11:07 Under his leadership, the city expanded to operating 19 public mental health centers. But since then, every mayor has closed clinics, cut access to quality, low-barrier mental and behavioral health care. But today, my administration is fulfilling the hopes and dreams of Mayor Harold Washington by reopening one of the 14 that were previously shuttered. And this space will ensure that the people of Roseland and the South Side have access to services that they need.

11:44 This health hub will offer a wide range of services, from immunization, sexual health care to mental health care, and family supports. It will address the specific health priorities of the roles in the community while partnering with local providers so that we are enhancing existing resources rather than competing with them. We hope that this will be more than a clinic. It's true that this is a gathering space that will foster health and wellness.

12:16 And as I said, this is a symbol of us keeping our promises. And more importantly, this is an expression of the values identified during the working group and that process that allowed for more than 400 people to provide their feedback. And that community support and those voices are being heard in the delivery of mental and behavioral health services right here on the south side of Chicago. You know, I want to say this last part.

12:47 It's so important. The working group expressed the need for accessibility and equity, trauma-informed care, community education, reduction of barriers, and a real coordinated effort. For too long, the voices that come from the neighborhoods who have the lived experiences have been ignored by administration after administration after administration. Make no mistake about it, in 2025, as we look forward to living out our values,

13:23 we will continue down this path of growth and growing our support around mental health services across the city. Because the voices of the people must be heard. And the delivery of these critical services is a testament to my commitment to serve the needs of all Chicagoans. And no matter what zip code you reside in or who you are, you deserve accessible, quality behavioral health care. And my administration will keep working to ensure every Chicagoan gets what they deserve.

13:54 And from the first call that was made to receive care, these clinics, the city of Chicago is going to be there for you. And once again, I want to express my deep gratitude for all the city leaders, the departments, the alders, and the community partners who are making our mental health system and this expansion possible. So I look forward to the continuous work and the collaboration in 2025, and we're off to a great start, you all.

14:25 We are keeping promises, and the Bears are undefeated in 2025. And with that, I'm grateful that we are joined by our CDPH director, Tammy Rutledge. Thank you all very much. Okay. She said she fought for this for 14 years, and how do I follow the mayor, right?

14:59 So good. Good afternoon, everyone. Good morning. My name is Tammy Rutledge. I'm the director of STI Specialty Services at three of our clinics, and Roseland is one of them. Two days ago, I was just named as the site director for the Roseland Health Hub. So, don't know what that means yet, but I was named that. And so I'm really excited about this project. I have been with the city of Chicago for over 30 years. I have been a consumer.

15:30 I have been an advocate. I was also fighting with people like you, advocating to bring services back to the south side of Chicago. I am a product of Englewood, but I am an advocate for Roseland community. And I was here when the clinics closed. I was continuing to ask and advocate for services back because Roseland has been kind of a deserted community, right? People have forgotten about some of the things that have occurred here. And the people have a need.

16:02 So why shouldn't we offer equitable services throughout the city of Chicago? And so today you will see, hopefully you all will get a chance to tour the facility. You'll see the beautiful artwork on the outside. So now when people call, they won't say, where is that red building? Oh, look at the mural on the outside of the building. You will see. And the person, Max Samsung, who did that artwork, he's also a product of Rosalind. He's here today as well. And so I wanted to just speak a little bit about, as the Director of Sexual Health Services,

16:39 we provide a lot of services for the community. We have been here the last five years, even though the rest of the building has been closed. We are here strong providing sexual health services as well as treatment on the same day. And over a year ago, we started offering depression screening so that we can assess the needs of our clients and refer them internally to our mental health services or if they needed additional services to some of our community partners. So I am excited. I am overjoyed for today.

17:11 I am so excited to see all of the support and the love from the community here. And I thank you all so much for joining us in this celebration early in January of 2025. Thank you, Tammy. Tammy is very humble. I asked Tammy to speak today because when I started in my role and we came here the first time to say we choose Roseland as the place where we want to expand services. And she took me to Lexington Betty.

17:43 and this is a barbecue place here and we sat down and she started to share with me what 30 years of working for CDPH meant that there were times in this building where nothing worked and there were times in this building where she was just so sad at the condition in which she was working she was the one that said why can't we have an electronic check-in thing and she worked on her own She went to department by department and advocated and sourced for support.

18:17 And this mural you are seeing is almost five years of advocacy by Tammy to say, let's make our space look pretty. And so the reason we named her director is that for 30 years she has been working to make these flakes look nice, to make people of color feel like they matter and that they deserve good things. So, Tammy, I want to thank you for your constant advocacy and leadership. I know that she will make sure that everyone who comes into this building has the same experience that the mayor had today.

18:55 They will be welcome with pomp and circumstance because we have seen her do it behind the scenes. So thank you, Tammy, for your leadership. now when we say the full force of government the mayor said that we were expanding care to two additional districts and i want to just add a little to that because we like to do a little extra you saw something for our people is that care is expanding citywide period to have folks to have choices our folks don't always like to call 9-1-1 and we know there are

19:33 many reasons why that is so but if you call 9-1-1 now we want to give you an option and that option is if that issue is not a criminal issue it's a behavioral health issue we will be the ones to come and support people who don't want to call 9-1-1 and what we said to them you email us you call us directly and we will still come it doesn't matter what district you are in it doesn't matter So what? what you're in, it doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in, we, CDPH, will come and respond.

20:07 So care is city-wide. And what does care mean is if you're in crisis, there might be many things that you will need. And so I'm going to invite Tiffany. Again, in CDPH, I am so proud of the people that we have. Tiffany has worked nonstop. We poached her from different places. She has all kinds of ideas and suggestions about what can we do and how can we make it better. And it can be this and it can be that.

20:37 So, Tiffany, I don't want you to be humble. I want you to brag about how you are serving Chicagoans. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone. And Dr. Ye is right because my humble is, like, really big. I don't do all that. And I'm overwhelmed. I will legit say I'm overwhelmed because I'm Tiffany Patton Burnside, Senior Director of Crisis, and I supervise the day-to-day operations of the care program.

21:10 I'm a licensed clinical social worker, fed and bred, born and raised on the west side of Chicago. But a number of years ago, I took the call to, accepted the call, to work in mental health to ensure that people of this city get the services and support that they need, get the help that they need. And my overwhelm comes from the fact that I'm standing in a place that used to be a police station. This was not, we weren't mental healthing up in here, we were policing up in here. And now, the transition, it went from a police station to a city-led clinic,

21:44 and then, right on this ground, on the other side of those doors, HRDI opened a community triage center, a crisis facility for individuals who needed help but had no place to go other than the police station or a hospital. So this ground right here has been set with foundation of helping support people who are in need. And now to say that this is a health hub that the city has run, it's come full circle.

22:14 We went from criminalizing people who were in mental health, who had mental health issues, who were in crisis, to now offering full service support, total support, treating individuals who are in need. That was not the plan for this building when they first opened it and officers were walking through the door, but look at us now and look at how far we've come. And for that, my heart is full. It is an honor to be here today to discuss the expansion of the care program,

22:45 and I want to thank Mayor Johnson and Dr. Ige and Alderman and Rosanna for their leadership and support in building up the success of this initiative. We have been piloting this program for three years, and we have learned so many things. The main thing that we learned was that the people of the city of Chicago are hurting. The people are hurting. We went through a pandemic, and everybody had to sit at home alone with themselves and look at themselves in the mirror and say, something's not right here. I need some help.

23:16 And the city, this city, the city of Chicago, our city, honored that call and said, you're right, we're going to open some doors. We're going to send some teams out, but we're going to get the help to the people that they need. And that is the purpose of why we're here, ensuring the people of this city, those individuals who are the most underserved, undersupported, get the help that they need. Currently, the care program is operating in four police districts. We're expanding to six. As Dr. Ige mentioned, we are citywide now, meaning individuals who have fear or shame of calling 911,

23:50 they can just reach out to me. It's me. and the citywide team will be at their disposal we are not only just offering individuals mental health assessments we are responding with medical triage we are responding with trauma informed assessments and care for individuals who are in need so for the first time someone doesn't have to feel alienated because they have a mental illness they don't have to feel alone because they're sick

24:22 They have some place to go and someone to call. That is not happening everywhere, just so you all know. That's not happening in other jurisdictions. We can look at the jurisdictions across the country. Chicago is blazing trails in spaces where other cities are left behind. And for that, again, I have to thank our leadership and our administration for having foresight and knowing that this is what the need is and then taking the steps to drill down, put some pressure in it,

24:54 and say, we've got to get this done for the people because the people are in need. I have like a whole. Three pages of stuff to say, and I said none of it. You said all of it. But I just want to get to the point that within the pilot, we served over 1,500 people that we came to contact with through the 911 call system. So individuals who called 911. But those weren't the only individuals we came into contact with. We also, as my team, provides care to anyone, whether you call 911 or not.

25:26 If we see someone and they are in need and we're just driving by, this van will stop, check in on you, make sure you're okay. This van is fully stocked with supplies. So if you're hungry, we have food. If you are thirsty, we have water. If you are cold, we have warm clothes, shoes, socks. If you are hot, we have cool clothes, shoes, and socks. If your need is such that you have a medical need that you really don't want to, you know, go out to get help,

26:01 our vans now are equipped with EMTs who are able to do medical triage to help determine what the need is and work with you in order to get you to the help that you need. That may be right there on site where you are, and we're working to get you to where you need to be so that the system as a whole can take responsibility and help the individuals who are in need. that is the dream that is the vision of the care program the care program offers care to anyone who is in need

26:34 regardless of where you are regardless of who you are regardless of your background, creed, religion, beliefs we have a multidisciplinary approach to what we are doing in an effort to make sure that the people of the city have the support and help that they need and with that, I bid you farewell, thank you Thank you everyone. I see a lot of faces here. Our mental health board. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you for your leadership. I see so many faces in the audience. Thank you.

27:14 Our mission today is to give you the health hub experience. The thing you will have heard today is that no matter what you need, no matter where you want to enter from, we want to meet you where you are. We want to give people options, and we want to give people good options. So as you go through the building today, you will see all those little touches of extra. They asked us for mental health. We delivered health hub. They asked for expansion to two additional districts, we gave citywide.

27:46 They asked us for just mental health, we said, no, we're going to give holistic care. And the reason we did that is because I chose this job because of the mayor. That if you ever had any doubt in your mind about what Mayor Brandon Johnson is about, Now, I want to reassure you that every conversation that I've had with the mayor is about people. It's about people.

28:17 It has always been. He is consistent. He is unwavering. It is about people first. Every meeting I have with him is about people first. And so I took my cue from that. How can we put people first? Not diseases, not services, but people first. So if you go into our care van, it is about you as a person. If you need food, that's what you're going to get. If you come into this space, if you need mental health, if you need immunization, whatever you need is what you're going to get.

28:48 So thank you, Mayor, for your leadership. Thank you, everyone who has advocated. Our promise to you is that we will go above and beyond. We will give you an experience where you will say, this is the best of government. so feel free to roam around we have the care van outside you can check in see what it's structured like and we want to give you a tour of this building and please just allow me to say thank you to Deputy Mayor Lori Lipson

29:20 to say thank you because she has gone above and beyond and I know that we didn't have resources we had very limited but this is what we dreamt of We wanted it to look good, and you made it look good. So thank you. Thank you so much. And our partners in 2FM, all the people who did infrastructure and behind the scenes, please know that I appreciate it with all of our heart.

29:51 We are the service provider, but making things look good, it just gives us joy. So thank you so much for everyone who's contributed to this success story. Welcome. This is your space. This is our space. So feel free to just join us as we take a tour of the building. So, Mayor, let's go.

30:35 Thank you. You can't see anything. Sorry.

31:07 Thank you. Hi. She's walking. Back up, y'all, a little bit. We're just trying out here. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. I think that's a little bit. All right, folks, you need this. Down in front, please. Down in front.

31:39 You can't see, folks. You have to get down, please. Ma'am, you have to get down. Sorry, sorry. Excuse me, excuse me. Guys, I'm locking the cameras. Please get down. We're starting with the mayor's photographer. everybody's looking right over here good everybody looking right over here at me one two three just smiling all right we're going to cut on three one two three

Sources and methods: how we get and count this data · report an error