Champaign, Ill. (WCIA)
Raul Garza , the CEO and President of Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness joins us with an exciting announcement concerning the building of a new federally qualified health center. It will also include a side by side Aunt Martha’s clinic with a Basinger Pharmacy here in CU!
This is all possible thanks to a recent donation of 9 million dollars from Mackenzie Scott.
A suburban Chicago health care organization plans to open a new federally qualified health center with an adjoining pharmacy in Champaign to serve low-income patients.
The organization already serves more than 100,000 people at more than 30 clinics in Illinois, including two in Danville.
“A location in Champaign hasn’t been chosen yet, and Aunt Martha’s is still deciding between building from the ground up or remodeling an existing building,” Garza said.
“Only 13 percent of the low-income residents are being served, and that’s profound,” he said.
Aunt Martha’s got its start in 1972 and provides such services as primary care, behavioral health, dental, family planning, women’s health, men’s health and pediatrics.
Whether the Champaign health center will provide dental care is still being evaluated, but it will for sure offer primary care and most likely family-planning education and support, Garza said.
He projects Aunt Martha’s could serve 5,000 to 7,000 patients if it has, ideally, nine exam rooms and spaces for mental health care in Champaign.
“The adjoining pharmacy will be operated by an independent pharmacist Aunt Martha’s works with in Joliet,” he said.
Garza, who has been Aunt Martha’s CEO for 14 years, has former ties to Champaign County. He spent eight of his 10 years in the military at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, and grew up with Rod Sickler.
Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness
Business/Organization Address
614 N Gilbert St.
Danville, IL
Website
New federally qualified health center to open with adjoining pharmacy in Central Illinois
