Heartland Health Outreach, Inc. (HHO) the health care partner of Heartland Alliance, was founded in 1985 as a Health Care for the Homeless demonstration project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust.  Today, it is a community health organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of Chicago’s most vulnerable populations – people who are homeless, severely mentally and/or living with multiple chronic diseases.  HHO provides comprehensive, integrated services, including primary, oral and behavioral healthcare, care coordination and health education and prevention services through its main health center in the Uptown community, its satellite clinic on the west side of Chicago, and through medical outreach services at more than 50 overnight and transitional shelters and drop-in centers throughout Chicago.  Oral healthcare is provided at the main health center and in the Englewood community.  HHO partners with two HCH sub-recipients to extend access to care in south suburban Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. In addition, HHO provides TB treatment and housing and specialized primary care, case management, nutrition, mental health and housing services for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Services

Patients have access to healthcare support on a 24 hour basis, with emergency on-call and via the patient portal on the electronic health record.  Other services include:  referrals to specialty and urgent care, optometry, mammograms, and X-rays; vaccinations; cancer screening; laboratory services; prescriptions; physical exams; diabetes and other chronic disease management; interpretation services; and smoking cessation services.

Statistics

Estimated homeless population: 75,000

Patients served: 14,495