The foundation of Chicago philanthropists John and Kathy Schreiber is donating $35 million to Northwestern Medicine to create a new institute to support healthcare for vulnerable patients and communities.
The new John and Kathy Schreiber Community Health Institute will expand care for uninsured and underinsured patients. The institute will also work with community health care providers and organizations to connect patients with primary care, and coordinate and support care.
The grant will be “transformative to work that is happening across the city and across northern Illinois to help patients and communities be stronger and healthier,” said Ann Hall, vice president of administration at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, and co-director of the new institute.
The grant will be used to increase capacity by about 50% at Northwestern’s two transitional care clinics, which serve uninsured and underinsured patients with complex medical needs. It will also be used to expand services at those clinics, including more support for addiction and substance use disorders.
The gift will also be used to help connect patients with care at federally qualified health centers, which are clinics that receive federal funding to help them care for underserved communities.
“We see a lot of patients through the (emergency department) who don’t have a medical home,” said Dr. Dinee Simpson, chief health equity executive at Northwestern and co-director of the institute.
The money will fund 12 community health workers, five nurse navigators and three social workers, Simpson said. The community health workers will reach out to uninsured and underinsured people to help them find regular care at federally qualified health centers and resources to address other needs, such as food insecurity or a lack of transportation.
Hall said federally qualified health centers and free health clinics “are often best suited to help these patients because they are in the communities where individuals work and live.”
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The institute will also aim to support federally qualified health centers through increased training and strategic and operational support, Simpson said.
John Schreiber grew up in Chicago and graduated from Loyola University, before heading to Harvard University’s business school. Schreiber retired in 2015 as a partner and co-founder of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors and previously was chairman and CEO of JMB Urban Development and executive vice president of JMB Realty Corp., according to Schreiber Philanthropy. He and his wife Kathy raised eight children.
Over the years, the Schreiber family has donated $50 million to Northwestern Medicine, including the new $35 million gift.