Page 5 – Aunt Martha's

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File Under ‘O’

When we talk to people about their memories of Aunt Martha’s, some stories can only be cataloged as “Other.”

This week, we follow board members (and Others, of course!) from the board room to the back nine, with a stop or two along the way.

We’ll hear about an unexpected visit from the Sisters of the Salvation Army. And we’ll imagine what might have been by lifting the lid on a story that’s no waste of your time.

The Cigars

What really stands out, back when I was President [of the Board], working with Gary, we had golf outings. Gary and I used to sit out on a golf cart at one of the holes, and the greatest thing was all of the cigars Gary used to bring.

Gary brought a bag full of cigars and every golfer came to our hole because they knew he had those cigars.

That’s what stands out. Sitting there in that golf cart with about 250 cigars. And enjoying some of them ourselves.

John Annis

Those Big Trucks Keep Rolling

All of the sudden, [Gary] brought this great plan to the Board – to invest in the waste management company.

I said, “What the h*** do you mean, ‘waste management’? We’re not cleaning up garbage cans, we’re raising babies!”

I fought him tooth and nail on it because I thought it was such a terrible thing to bring into a social service organization.

Every time I see one of those big trucks passing down the street, I see all the money we could have made on that investment.

But that’s where my head was. And like I said, those big trucks keep rolling.

Gwendolyn Bowen

‘The Kind of Stuff that Makes it Work’

I was working with a client [at the drop-in center] and it was a was a nice summer evening. So we went out, across the street and sat down in the parking lot next to the church.

We’re down there, laying on the asphalt, chatting. And Gary shows up with a carload of ladies!

I later learned that they were ladies from the Salvation Army who were looking at [Aunt Martha’s] to decide about funding.

Later I said to Gary, “Why didn’t you tell me that they were coming?”

He said, “They saw what you were doing and thought it was wonderful. They said, ‘That’s the kind of stuff that makes it work.’”

Lindy Willis

Aunt Martha’s Board: In the Beginning

Excerpted from The Park Forest Star, Sunday, December 3, 1972

ON WEDNESDAY, “Aunt Martha’s” will begin operations.

The new center is located at 206 Birch street, in the offices of Co-operative Area B. Hours will be from 7 to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

A visitor who drops in to the center may discuss anything and everything on his mind with one of several volunteer workers on duty. They range in age from 14 years well up into their 50s, but have one thing in common — all have been thoroughly trained in how to listen and respond to problems.

Supervising the training program, a continuing effort, is Gary Leofanti, youth worker for the village of Park Forest. Under his direction, two Governors State University graduate students in the college of human learning and development will coordinate the work of Aunt Martha’s. They are Brian Urban and Gregg Cary, both Homewood residents, who will be on duty themselves four nights a week, and will give daytime hours to following up the evening work of the center.

RESPONSIBILITY for the program rests with a board of directors made up of a selection of volunteer workers representing both sexes and the entire age span. There are 13 positions on the board, and 10 of the are currently filled.

Phil Allen (below) is serving as the first Aunt Martha’s board president, assisted by Gary Reed (also below), vice president; Nanette Joelson, treasurer, and Norma Tedder, secretary.

Other board members are Paul Ries, Sherry Brandt, Terri Clapp, Jan Friedman, Chris Norlin and Allison Marcotte. The last four are in the under-21 age bracket.

A primary service in which the center expects to deal is aid for runaways — in fact, it was through the concern of the youth commission’s ad hoc runaway committee that the idea for Aunt Martha’s was born and took shape. Planning began in committee last February and has been in process ever since; with the emergence of Aunt Martha’s as a not-for-profit corporation on its own during the summer, many youth commission members have offered their services as volunteer workers.

In 2007, with grant funding provided by the Illinois Department of Human Services – Division of Mental Health, Aunt Martha’s launched the first private secure network in Illinois to provide telepsychiatry services. The technology system we created was the first of its kind in the state. The goal was two-fold:

Create access to care

Illinois, like many states with rural areas, has a shortage of child psychiatrists. Our telepsychiatry program child psychiatrists available to those communities. It also became a model for future expansion.

Lower the cost of care

In the short-term, telepsychiatry would lower the cost of care for families by eliminating travel, child care expenses and time away from home or work.

Technology Challenges and Medicaid Billing Barriers

Our first telepsychiatry network consisted of six Community Mental Health Centers in central and southern Illinois. The centers were able to refer children and adolescents, ages 0-17 with behavioral and emotional problems, who worked with Aunt Martha’s psychiatrists by video-conferencing for evaluations and medication management. Despite the technological breakthrough, there were still barriers to making it all work.

At the time, access to a high-speed internet connection capable of supporting a high-quality, clinical interaction was spotty at best, particularly in the areas targeted by the telepsych program. This required special telecom lines to be installed at each partner site.

By the way, Aunt Martha’s could not bill Medicaid for the visits provided over its telepsych network. Incredibly, it would be nearly a decade before telepsychiatry services could be billed just like an office visit!

The video below shows how much our early telepsychiatry services meant to one family in central Illinois.

Learn more about the telehealth services Aunt Martha’s offers today!

There are, today, incentives within the healthcare environment to encourage greater collaboration between hospitals and community health centers (a.k.a. FQHCs). Becker’s wouldn’t write about it if it wasn’t cutting-edge, right?

Even before those incentives were encoded in our national health policy, Aunt Martha’s understood the need and the opportunity that existed in the unnecessary overuse of local emergency departments (2008, 2021).

Celebrating our Hospital Partners

In 2021, our hospital-based clinics provided nearly 47,000 visits to more than 21,500 patients.

Advocate South Suburban Hospital

Our first hospital-based clinic opened in 2007 at Advocate South Suburban Hospital (Hazel Crest), and quickly outgrew its original space. Additional partnerships would follow, expanding Aunt Martha’s footprint and the impact of our integrated model of care to new communities and new regions. The picture below was taken in March 2007 at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new health center.

Visit us in Hazel Crest

Left to right: 38th District Representative Al Riley, Ron Shopshire of Great Lakes Bank, 30th District Representative William Davis, Advocate South Suburban Hospital President Dr. Ann Errichetti, Aunt Martha’s Healthcare Network Medical Director of Clinic Operations Dr. Jennifer Byrd, Aunt Martha’s Healthcare Network’s Director of Sub-Specialty Services Dr. Alice Sartore, Hazel Crest Mayor Robert Donaldson, Village of Hazel Crest Trustee Dr. Jane Brown, Aunt Martha’s Healthcare Network’s Medical Director Dr. Lee Washington, Aunt Martha’s Healthcare Network General Manager Raul Garza.

Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood visited our health center in Woodstock on June 6, 2022. She is backing Aunt Martha’s proposal to design a value-based approach to meeting the physical and mental health needs of teens and young adults in the 14th Congressional District.

Visit us in Woodstock

Ascension Saint Joseph Medical Center

“This partnership speaks to the very heart of our mission as Presence Health to provide compassionate, holistic care with a spirit of healing and hope to so many in need in our Joliet community.” — Beth Hughes, President and CEO of Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center.

Visit us in Joliet

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center

One of the reasons Aunt Martha’s has always been a unique resource is our willingness to understand and respond to the needs of highly specialized, high-risk populations. DCFS youth. Youth involved with the courts and juvenile justice system. Children and families in crisis.

In each case, Aunt Martha’s stepped in to design (often from the ground up) innovative solutions that relied on the expertise of deeply committed partners.

Special Needs Clinic at Little City (Palatine)

A Medical & Dental Home for Patients with Special Needs

Caring for special needs patients takes compassion and understanding. What works in traditional medical and dental offices may not work in a setting that specializes in caring for patients with special needs.

We Care about the Details

Aunt Martha’s cares about the details. The little things that make a patient’s day a bit brighter, a caregiver’s day a bit easier. That’s why Little City asked Aunt Martha’s to bring our integrated model of care to its 56-acre campus in Palatine. Every detail — from the personalities of the staff, to the physical design of the office, to the role of the patient’s family and caregivers — has been carefully considered. Today, our Little City Health Center is Chicagoland’s only medical and dental home specially designed to meet the complex needs of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (DD).

Priority Access to Care

Aunt Martha’s clinic at Little City gives priority status to our patients living in the agency’s on-site residential settings. We also serve patients in the care of other organizations like Little City. The health center has significantly reduced Emergency Department visits by the developmentally disabled DCFS youth on the Little City campus.

About our Partner

Little City was founded in 1959 by a group of parents who wanted something better for their children who “experts” often said should be institutionalized. More than 60 years later, Little City remains a vital, vibrant community that creates hope, change lives and challenge the limits placed on individuals with disabilities.

Our nonprofit includes a 56-acre campus in Palatine with a choice of housing, programming and educational options as well as a foster care placement office in Chicago. We recently added the Duffey Family Children’s Village of state-of-the-art group homes for children and doubled our square footage and capacity of its ChildBridge Center for Education.

Partnership will offer one-stop access to primary care, mental health and behavioral health services.

CHICAGO, IL: Aunt Martha’s Health & Wellness, one of Illinois’ largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI), one of the largest statewide providers of social services, are collaborating to increase community access to primary care and behavioral health services in Chicago’s Portage Park and Belmont-Cragin neighborhoods.

The partnership will bring Aunt Martha’s services to LSSI’s Portage Cragin Counseling Center, located at 4840 W. Byron Street, Chicago.

Teams of employees from both agencies will work hand-in-hand with patients and their caregivers to develop care plans, coordinate visits and monitor progress toward personal treatment goals.

“This partnership is about bringing value to the community. That’s central to everything we do and in LSSI we found a partner that shares that commitment,” said Raul Garza, Aunt Martha’s President and CEO.

From the patient’s perspective, according to Garza, Aunt Martha’s on-site primary care, nursing and psychiatric services will be seamlessly integrated with the outpatient counseling and therapy services already being provided at LSSI’s Portage Cragin center. The integrated model is the underpinning of Aunt Martha’s value-based approach to care and has been demonstrated to result in higher levels of screening, better adherence to treatment, fewer ER visits and fewer hospital admissions – all factors that contribute to better outcomes and lower costs.

“Health and human service providers have a responsibility to improve the health and well-being of their community,” said Mark A. Stutrud, President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. “This integrated approach provides Whole Person, Whole Family care.”

Aunt Martha’s and LSSI are planning an opening event for the summer of 2021.

About Aunt Martha’s

Aunt Martha’s serves nearly 120,000 children and adults each year with more than 35 sites, including 23 community health centers spread across nine counties. The agency’s integrated health home model offers value-based, coordinated services, delivering whole-person wellness through the integration of primary and behavioral health care and linkages to additional support services that address social determinants of health. Aunt Martha’s has been continuously accredited by The Joint Commission since 1997.

About Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI)

Serving Illinois since 1867, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI.org) is a nonprofit social service organization of the three Illinois synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). LSSI is one of the largest statewide social service providers. The organization provides critical programs for Illinois residents including foster care, mental health services, alcohol and drug treatment, affordable senior housing, residential programs for people with developmental disabilities, and services that help families who have been impacted by incarceration. LSSI is accredited by the Council on Accreditation.

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Media Contacts

LSSI

Barb Kraeger Hailey
847.635.4686
Barb.Hailey@LSSI.org

Aunt Martha’s

Kenny Martín-Ocasio
708.747.7441
kmocasio@auntmarthas.org

The BMN Crisis Worsens

As the urgent quarantine needs of the pre-vaccine pandemic subsided, plans turned once again to the creation of a Step Down program for youth ready to leave the Integrated Care Center the CQC and the Children’s Quarantine Center was no longer as necessary, the plans resumed to convert the space to the Step Down program.

While that moved forward, a new challenge emerged – the Director of the Department of Children and Family Services in Illinois was charged with being in contempt of court for not finding appropriate placements for youth being held beyond medical necessity (BMN) in hospitals and psychiatric facilities.

Expanding on the ICC Model

Hearing this news, Aunt Martha’s leadership knew the organization had to be a part of the solution. Today, we are planning to expand on the success of the ICC model — and welcome an exciting new partner — to allow Aunt Martha’s to take on more youth in crisis or with significant behavioral health needs.

We believe every child deserves a chance to feel safe, appreciated, and receive the care they need to succeed. We look forward to announcing more about this incredible expansion throughout 2022.

While ICC staff adjusted to the increasing complexities of the youth being placed in their care — from 2018-2021 they saw a 340% increase in placements directly from psychiatric settings — a new need emerged. Despite the team’s success at stabilizing even the most high-acuity youth, it became clear that many of the kids who improved so quickly in Aunt Martha’s care needed an additional layer of support.

They had a plan in mind. They saw a “Step Down” program as key to continuing the exceptional progress so many youth and young adults had made in the relatively short-term environment of the ICC.

Their plan began to take shape. Then COVID-19 happened.

Philoniese Moore, Senior VP of ICC and CQC Operations, embodies Aunt Martha’s commitment to children and youth. Here she is pictured at the entrance to the Integrated Care Center. On the right is Mr. Amir Major, a former Manager on Duty at the ICC.

The Children’s Quarantine Center

An Urgent Call for Help

On March 21, 2020, Aunt Martha’s learned that the COVID-19 virus had been confirmed in the homes of at least one of Illinois’ DCFS foster care families. 16 days later, 16,400 positive tests had been confirmed.

These families needed to find a safe place for their foster children to go. There was no place. At least not a place that was designed to protect people from a deadly airborne virus. Aunt Martha’s, it just so happened, was positioned to mobilize an immediate response.

We proposed the Children’s Quarantine Center (CQC), which would give DCFS youth the chance to quarantine in home-like setting. Only this home would be equipped with the infectious disease control protections of a health care facility.

Creating the CQC

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Aunt Martha’s operated the facility now known as the Children’s Quarantine Center as a transitional living program for homeless youth and young adults.

Negative Pressure System

In addition to redesigning the space to accommodate and medically isolate the youth placed there, preparing the CQC required the installation of a hospital-grade, negative pressure ventilation system to control the spread of airborne pathogens.

Just as in a hospital setting, where negative pressure rooms are used in patient rooms to ensure infectious germs do not spread throughout the facility via the HVAC systems, the installation of such a system at the CQC effectively isolated youth while protecting them and staff in other areas of the facility from exposure.

Social Distancing

The CQC’s layout reflected its youth-centered program plan, allowing for youth and staff to maintain social distancing while living and working full-time in a congregate setting.

Because limiting exposure to visitors was essential for quarantine, the CQC was equipped with an interactive video system that allowed youth to maintain contact with their families, foster families and other individuals they relied on for support.