Maria Leanos placed her 2-year-old daughter, Rosario, on a scale at Alivio Medical Center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
She told the wide-eyed girl in white tights and T-shirt to sit still as the dietitian weighed her.
“Sometimes she is a picky eater, and I am trying to get her to eat other foods,” said Leanos, 25.
Advice from the dietitian about feeding and meals is just one of the reasons Leanos seeks family health care at Alivio.
“I just really like how they attend to me and my children,” she said.
This kind of personal care in a bilingual setting has helped make Alivio a popular draw: The center handles a total of 37,000 patient visits a year.
After eight years of operating on Western Avenue at 23rd Street, Alivio officially announced plans Wednesday to open a second health center, on the east end of Pilsen.
The new facility is to be at 21st and Morgan Streets. It will contain 28,000 square feet, double the size of the existing center, and provide the same health services, including primary care, midwifery and health education.
“We have grown by over 200 percent over the last several years,” said Carmen Velasquez, executive director of Alivio, who started the health center.
The current site was a muffler shop’s parking lot when Velasquez started a $2.1 million fundraising campaign to build the health center. The goal is even larger for the second center: $7 million.
To date, about $3.8 million has been raised, including a $1.7 million empowerment zone grant. The 100 employees of the center have contributed $26,400.
The existing center serves the Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards neighborhoods, offering health care to many who cannot afford it. About 38 percent of the patients at the clinic have no health insurance, and 52 percent receive Medicaid.
“We have to figure out how to provide services to people who can’t pay,” said Velasquez.
