Heartland Alliance Health reverses decision to close clinics, food pantries
Heartland Alliance Health announced Wednesday that its clinics and food pantries will remain open, reversing an earlier decision to close at the end of the month.
The nonprofit said on its website that all its health clinics, food pantries, and medical case management and outreach services will remain open and active.
"We are diligently working on contacting those participants who've received notice about our closure and rescheduling their services," Heartland Alliance Health said on its website.
The organization's two clinics — one at Englewood at 5501 S. Halsted St., the other in Uptown at 4009 N. Broadway — had been set to shutter at the end of the month. The organization's three food pantries were also to close.
More than 100 workers were left blindsided, and more than 8,000 community members who rely on the services provided by Heartland Alliance Health were left scrambling.
But Michael Brieschke, chairperson of the Heartland Alliance Union, said Cook County Commissioner Stanley Moore (D-4th) heard about the nonprofit's plans to shut down through news reports and reached out to the organization's leadership.
Moore was able to connect Heartland Alliance Health to the organization OneHealth, which provided a multimillion-dollar grant to Heartland Alliance Health, according to Brieschke.
With the Heartland Alliance Health clinics and other services to remain open, all notices of layoffs will be rescinded, Brieschke wrote.
"We really are grateful, especially that our program participants will continue to receive the services they so greatly need," he wrote.
But Brieschke emphasized that the union still is not happy with Heartland Alliance Health.
"All Heartland employees will continue to support one another as we work to heal the damage the announcement of closing has caused," he wrote. "Trust has been breached on many levels during the last few weeks, but we hope the partnership with OneHealth will be sustainable and bring some much needed positive change to HAH."
Less than a year ago, the parent group of Heartland Alliance Health, Heartland Alliance, split up into four separate entities as a cost-saving measure.
