COVID-19 Renewal Grant Recipients
More than $3.5 million was awarded by the two foundations to 35 Illinois health centers and clinics that deliver vital health care services to residents who may face obstacles to care. The grants, which were renewed in 2021 to organizations that received them in 2020, aim to offset costs associated with reopening and continuing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants of up to $100,000 were available to Illinois health centers and clinics that integrate oral health into a primary health care setting. Recipients listed below.
Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation recipients:
Alivio Medical Center, Chicago
Alivio Medical Center provides health care to communities who are uninsured and underinsured. Funding will be used to offset rising operational costs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting staff and personal protective equipment for the dental department.
Beloved Family Wellness Center, Chicago
Beloved Family Wellness Center offers services to patients and families in Englewood and surrounding communities and will use its grant funds for staffing and to improve oral healthcare access and outcomes for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Community Health & Emergency Services, Inc., Carbondale
This grant will help Community Health & Emergency Services, Inc., support its dental staff and add outreach workers who will encourage families to receive oral health services for their children, including exams and any needed dental treatment like fillings and extractions.
Douglas County Health Department, Tuscola
Douglas County Health Department serves Douglas County and the four surrounding counties, providing care to individuals who are uninsured or underinsured and individuals with special needs. The grant will help fund increased expenses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Howard Brown Health Center, Chicago
Howard Brown Health Center delivers health services to patients in areas disproportionately affected by health disparities at 11 clinical sites throughout Chicago, with a focus on the LGBTQ community, its allies and people with HIV/AIDS. The grant will go toward its Englewood clinic that opened during the COVID-19 pandemic and help meet the oral health needs of pediatric patients. This funding will also help support purchasing personal protective equipment and dental operations.
Macon County Health Department, Decatur
The Macon County Health Department Dental Clinic is a six-unit dental clinic with digital radiograph and computer software. Grant funding will supplement salaries and bring on more team members to allow greater flexibility in the number of patients seen while still maintaining safe capacity numbers.
Macoupin Community Health Centers, Carlinville
The Macoupin Community Health Centers, Inc. serves 15 counties and about 5,300 dental patients each year, more than half of which are children. Grant funding will support staffing and supplies at the Morgan Street clinic in Carlinville. This clinic will add four additional dental chairs, doubling their total to eight chairs for patient care and plans to complete this expansion project in February 2022.
Mile Square Health Center, Chicago
The Mile Square Health Center is located in the Back of the Yards community and has been offering healthcare services for 13 years. They will use grant funding to help meet increased demand for their services caused by COVID-19 by creating an interconnected clinic offering dental and behavioral health care in response to patient need.
Pillars Community Health, La Grange
This grant support will enable Pillars Community Health to provide oral health services for children at its La Grange Dental Center and Anne Jeans Elementary School. Funding will help cover the cost of needing to make physical changes to the dental center, increased cleaning and sanitation protocols and revenue shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic
PrimeCare Community Health, Inc., Chicago
Primecare Community Health, Inc.’s oral health program reduces healthcare disparities for children in underserved Chicago communities. The grant will support preventive, restorative and emergency dental services to children under 18.
Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, Mattoon
Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Services provides oral health care and education to children living in a rural, seven-county region of east central Illinois. Grant funding will be used for personal protective equipment, disinfectants and uniforms.
Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation, Carterville
Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation provides quality oral health care to southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana residents. The grant will help support the salaries of new dentists.
Southern Illinois University Center for Family Medicine, Lincoln
The Southern Illinois University Center for Family Medicine Lincoln clinic provides comprehensive, preventive and restorative dental care, medical care and behavioral health services to children and adults residing in Logan County. The Lincoln dental clinic is the only one within a 30-mile radius that accepts Medicaid and uninsured or underinsured patients. This grant will be used to increase access to dental services at its Lincoln site.
Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation recipients:
Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Inc.
The Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Inc., operates four Federally Qualified Health Centers in Chicago and the northern suburbs for anyone who needs care, regardless of ability to pay. The centers will use the grant funding to improve their integrated pediatric healthcare practice, providing both oral and medical services to children, and to support the dental clinic’s return to pre-pandemic productivity.
Central Counties Health Centers, Inc., Springfield
Central Counties Health Centers, Inc., has provided quality and affordable dental care to children in central Illinois since 2008. Over the years, it has expanded to provide more children access to dental care, and it continues to work for this cause. Grant funding will support its growth and allow its clinics to serve more children.
Chicago Family Health Center, Inc., Chicago
The Chicago Family Health Center, Inc., provides care for the medically underserved on Chicago’s south and southeast sides through a network of six locations and offers a dental home to thousands of children. The Center will use its grant for its dental program operations, to provide access to vital dental services for the communities they serve.
Community Health Partnership of Illinois, Chicago
The Community Health Partnership of Illinois is using its grant funding for general operating costs associated with financial needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, including updating the dental clinic to adhere to new COVID-19 safety protocols. The grant will also support salaries for dental team members to work within the newly improved dental clinic.
Crusader Community Health, Rockford
Crusader Community Health will use grant funding for vital personal protective equipment, new autoclaves and dental provider salaries as it continues to welcome back patients and communicate the importance of regular care and that is has taken increased safety precautions as a result of the pandemic.
DuPage County Health Department, Wheaton
The DuPage County Health Department will use its grant to provide personal protective equipment to dental staff at its dental and mobile Smile Squad. The Health Department will also hire personnel – a driver, dentist and dental assistant – to provide oral health services on the Smile Squad in response to increased staffing needs.
Erie Family Health Foundation, Inc., Chicago
Erie Family Health Foundation, Inc. will use its funding to help meet growing demand for high-quality oral health services within the community it serves. The grant will enable them to maintain existing services in the coming year while planning for further expansion to serve more children in the future.
Greater Family Health, Elgin
Greater Family Health (formerly Greater Elgin Family Care Center) will use the grant to support its children’s oral health program. Funding will help provide preventive and restorative dentistry to thousands of children annually.
Hancock County Dental Center, Carthage
The Hancock County Dental Center is the only Medicaid provider in Hancock County. The center serves children in Hancock County and surrounding counties without a Medicaid provider. The grant will fund equipment updates and additional safety measures needed in response to the pandemic.
Heartland International Health Center, Chicago
Heartland International Health Center will use its grant to fund the reopening of its school-based health center clinic and the salaries of a full-time program dentist and manager of specialty care quality. The grant will also be used for ongoing costs for special equipment and supplies necessary for new clinical protocols for enhanced patient, provider and staff safety.
Henderson County Rural Health Center, Oquawka
Eagle View Community Health system, part of Henderson County Rural Health Service, will expand services to provide primary care, behavioral health and dental services at its clinic in Monmouth. The grant will also be used for equipment at the Monmouth clinic.
Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Chicago
The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago cares for pediatric patients who are enrolled in Medicaid, have special needs or are living in poverty and provides equitable and quality oral health care, education, prevention and treatment. Grant funding will help close the gap in revenue due to the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and serve additional children.
Lawndale Christian Health Center, Chicago
Lawndale Christian Health Center is a medical home to more than 65,000 patients, including 19,500 children, and offers a variety of services, including dental care. Grant funds will help support the salaries of dental staff and ensure the community has adequate access to dental services.
McLean County Health Department, Bloomington
The McLean County Health Department serves one of Illinois’ largest counties with 172,000 residents. The department will use its grant to cover the cost of revenue lost due to new safety practices put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, like enhanced personal protective equipment and decreased scheduling to keep patient-to-patient contact limited.
Milestone, Inc., Rockford
Milestone serves patients with complex medical needs and disabilities. Milestone is using its grant to update its operatories to provide better care for its patients. Milestone has already updated two of five operatories. The grant will allow them to update the three remaining operatories to provide dental care to more patients and reduce current wait times for their dental services.
Mobile CARE Foundation, Chicago
The Mobile CARE Foundation will use grant funding to support the expansion of its dental clinic by 40 percent over the next three years and integrate oral health care and primary care. The expansion will expand access for thousands of new patients each year.
Near North Health Service Corporation, Chicago
Near North Health Service Corporation will use the grant for its Pediatric Dental Days program, which encourages parents and children to visit the dentist. Pediatric Dental Days sets aside two days each month for appointments for children age 6 and under at the Komed Holman Health Center dental suite. Many of these children live in areas with barriers to accessing dental care.
Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children’s Clinic, Oak Park
Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children’s Clinic will use grant funding for the operation of their comprehensive dental program. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected this program and delivery of care at the Children’s Clinic, which is able to provide care for 65 percent of the patients they treated pre-COVID.
SIHF Healthcare, Sauget
SIHF Healthcare will use its funds to offset revenue losses due to COVID-19 and to ensure they continue to provide a full array of dental services to the communities they serve.
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Chicago
The Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the UIC College of Dentistry is the largest provider of dental care for children from underrepresented groups in Illinois. Grant funding will cover costs to improve air flow in the sterilization room, update sterilization equipment and purchase additional personal protective equipment for dental staff.
VNA Health Care, Aurora
VNA Health Care was founded in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic to provide health care services to those in need. The grant will be used to help with the organizational budget and ensure important dental services are provided to children and their families who are at increased risk of health disparities.
Well Child Center, Elgin
The Well Child Center provides health and social services for families and children who are uninsured in Kane County. The grant will help the Center fund comprehensive oral healthcare services and mitigate lost revenue as a result of COVID-19.