2022 COVID-19 Renewal Grant Recipients

More than $2.7 million was awarded by Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation and Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation to 32 Illinois health centers and clinics that deliver vital health care services to residents who may face obstacles to care. The grants, which were renewed in 2022 to organizations that received them in 2021, aim to offset costs associated with reopening and continuing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recipients listed below.

Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation recipients:

Alivio Medical Center, Chicago

Alivio Medical Center provides health care to communities who are uninsured and underinsured. Funding will be used to offset rising operational costs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting staff including bilingual patient navigators who assist patients and families with negotiating care.

Beloved Family Wellness Center, Chicago

Beloved Family Wellness Center offers services to patients and families in Englewood and surrounding communities.  We will use our grant funds for Continued Pandemic Efforts of Improving Children's Oral Health Access and Outcomes Project” to continue to support the hiring of oral health staff.

Community Health & Emergency Services, Inc., Carbondale

This grant will help Community Health & Emergency Services, Inc., to deploy outreach workers who can help patients access services by arranging/providing transportation to and from appointments (where travel is a barrier). This will help patients schedule appointments and follow-ups, and in either instance provide education around disease prevention.

Douglas County Health Department, Tuscola

Douglas County Health Department serves Douglas County and the four surrounding counties, providing care to individuals who are uninsured or underinsured and individuals with special needs. The grant will help increase dentist availability for extensive appointments like surgical extractions.

Henderson County Rural Health Center, Oquawka

Eagle View Community Health system, part of Henderson County Rural Health Service, will expand services to provide primary care, behavioral health and dental services at its clinic in Monmouth. The grant will also be used for equipment at the Monmouth clinic. 

Howard Brown Health Center, Chicago

Howard Brown Health Center delivers health services to patients in areas disproportionately affected by health disparities at 11 clinical sites throughout Chicago, with a focus on the LGBTQ community, its allies and people with HIV/AIDS. The grant will be used to support dental staff as well as ongoing safety and infection control measures.

Macon County Health Department, Decatur

The Macon County Health Department Dental Clinic is a six-unit dental clinic with digital radiographs and computer software. Grant funding will supplement salaries and bring on more team members to allow greater flexibility in the number of patients seen while still maintaining safe capacity numbers.

Macoupin Community Health Centers, Carlinville

The Macoupin Community Health Centers, Inc. serves 15 counties and about 5,300 dental patients each year, more than half of which are children. Grant funding will support staffing and supplies at the Morgan Street clinic in Carlinville.

Mile Square Health Center, Chicago

The Mile Square Health Center is located in the Back of the Yards community and has been offering healthcare services for 13 years. They will use grant funding to upgrade equipment and help support the clinic staff to spend additional time with patients to screen for and facilitate inter-clinic referrals as needed for support service.

Mobile CARE Foundation, Chicago

The Mobile CARE Foundation will use grant funding to support the integration of dental and primary care records, tracking of internal and external referrals as well as increased follow-up to ensure referrals are actualized. Grant funding will also include a broad expansion of the Mobile Dental Program to bring oral health access to thousands of children in need.

Near North Health Service Corporation, Chicago

Near North Health Service Corporation will use the grant for its Pediatric Dental Days program, which encourages parents and children to visit the dentist. Funds will be specifically used for a part-time dentist to be able to increase the number of patients seen in their clinic, and to also cover for a portion of the dental director’s supervisory time. Intraoral cameras and flat screen TVs will be purchased to allow dental providers to explain dental findings and engage children and parents in oral health care. In addition to that, murals will be also acquired to create child-friendly operatories, with an inviting atmosphere, in order to alleviate anxiety and create a positive experience for the pediatric patients.

PrimeCare Community Health, Inc., Chicago

PrimeCare Community Health, Inc.’s oral health program reduces healthcare disparities for children in underserved Chicago communities. The grant will support preventive, restorative, and emergency dental services to children under 18.

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, Mattoon

Sarah Bush Lincoln Dental Services provides oral health care and education to children living in  rural, seven-county regions of east central Illinois. Grant funding will be used for personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectants, and uniforms.

Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation, Carterville

Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation provides quality oral health care to southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana residents. The grant will help support workforce development and stabilization efforts for dental assistants and dentists.

Southern Illinois University Center for Family Medicine, Lincoln

The Southern Illinois University Center for Family Medicine Lincoln clinic provides comprehensive, preventive, and restorative dental care, medical care, and behavioral health services to children and adults residing in Logan County. The Lincoln dental clinic is the only office within a 30-mile radius that accepts Medicaid and uninsured or underinsured patients. This grant will be used to increase access to dental services and support personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory.

Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation Recipients:

Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Inc.

The Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Inc., operates four Federally Qualified Health Centers in Chicago and the northern suburbs for anyone who needs care, regardless of ability to pay. The centers will use the grant funding to improve their integrated pediatric healthcare practice, providing both oral and medical services to children, and to support the dental clinic’s return to pre-pandemic productivity.

Central Counties Health Centers, Inc., Springfield

Central Counties Health Centers, Inc., has provided quality and affordable dental care to children in central Illinois since 2008. Over the years, it has expanded to provide more children access to dental care, and it continues to work for this cause. Grant funding will support its growth by adding a fourth dentist over the next two years.

Chicago Family Health Center, Inc., Chicago

The Chicago Family Health Center, Inc., provides care for the medically underserved on Chicago’s south and southeast sides through a network of six locations and offers a dental home to thousands of children. The Center will use its grant for its dental program operations, to provide access to vital dental services for the communities they serve.

Community Health Partnership of Illinois, Chicago

The Community Health Partnership of Illinois is using its grant funding to provide direct oral health services to children living in Kankakee County and the surrounding counties. CHP will utilize its mobile dental clinic and ongoing outreach efforts with the state migrant education programs and migrant and seasonal head start programs as well other outreach team members and programs to actively identify children in need of immediate services, as well as those without an immediate need but also without a medical/dental home.

Crusader Community Health, Rockford

Crusader Community Health serves Winnebago and Boone Counties primarily, which are ranked amongst the lowest in the state for health outcomes. They will use grant funding for a dentist whose serves the Boone County area.

DuPage County Health Department, Wheaton

The DuPage County Health Department will use its grant to provide personal protective equipment to dental staff at its dental and mobile Smile Squad. The Health Department will also hire personnel – a driver, dentist and dental assistant – to provide oral health services on the Smile Squad in response to increased staffing needs.

Erie Family Health Foundation, Inc., Chicago

Erie Family Health Foundation, Inc. will use its funding to help meet growing demand for high-quality oral health services within the community it serves. The grant will enable them to maintain existing services in the coming year while planning for further expansion to serve more children in the future.

Greater Family Health, Elgin

Greater Family Health (formerly Greater Elgin Family Care Center) will use the grant to support its children’s oral health program. Funding will help provide preventive and restorative dentistry to thousands of children annually.

Heartland International Health Center, Chicago

Heartland International Health Center will use its grant to fund the reopening of its school-based health center clinic and the salaries of a full-time program dentist and manager of specialty care quality. The grant will also be used for ongoing costs for special equipment and supplies necessary for new clinical protocols for enhanced patient, provider, and staff safety.

Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, Chicago

The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago cares for pediatric patients who are enrolled in Medicaid, have special needs, or are living in poverty and provides equitable and quality oral health care, education, prevention, and treatment. Grant funding will help close the gap in revenue due to the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and serve additional children in the community.

Lawndale Christian Health Center, Chicago

Lawndale Christian Health Center is a medical home to more than 65,000 patients, including 19,500 children, and offers a variety of services, including dental care. Grant funds will help support the salaries of dental staff and ensure the community has adequate access to dental services.

Milestone, Inc., Rockford

Milestone serves patients with complex medical needs and disabilities. Milestone is using its grant to upgrade the specialized exam room and make it more accessible for patients.

Pillars Community Health, La Grange

This grant support will enable Pillars Community Health to provide oral health services for children at its La Grange Dental Center and Anne Jeans Elementary School. Funding will be utilized to continue addressing the coronavirus pandemic and prioritizing the health and safety of our patients and staff, while encouraging engagement and re-engagement in needed preventive and restorative oral health services and oral health education. We will utilize these funds for operation support to ensure that we can retain staff and meet the demand for oral health services in the coming year. 

Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children’s Clinic, Oak Park

Oak Park River Forest Infant Welfare Society Children’s Clinic will use grant funding for the operation of their comprehensive dental program. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected this program and delivery of care at the Children’s Clinic, which is able to provide care for 65%of the patients they treated pre-COVID.

SIHF Healthcare, Sauget

SIHF Healthcare will use its funds to offset revenue losses due to COVID-19 and to ensure they can continue to provide a full array of dental services to the communities they serve.

VNA Health Care, Aurora

VNA Health Care was founded in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic to provide health care services to those in need. The grant will be used to help with the organizational budget and ensure important dental services are provided to children and their families who are at increased risk of health disparities.

Well Child Center, Elgin

The Well Child Center provides health and social services for families and children who are uninsured in Kane County. The grant will help the Center fund comprehensive oral healthcare services and mitigate lost revenue as a result of COVID-19.