Mayor Lightfoot announces healthcare investments in Auburn Gresham, North Lawndale

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot will make an announcement at a press conference Monday afternoon about two new healthcare investments in the Auburn Gresham and North Lawndale.

The first one is the Healthy Lifestyle Hub in Auburn Gresham and the second is the new North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

"Both great institutions, both community focused and community-led, both Chicago prize finalists and both of which will serve the healthcare deserts in these and surrounding communities and in so doing, help address the outrageous discrepancies in everything from life expectancy chronic health conditions and more.".

The investments are part of the mayor's INVEST South/West initiative and are being funding from $11 million from the federal CARES Act.

The Auburn Gresham Health Lifestyle Hub at 839 W. 79th Street will renovate a vacant 4-story building to free up hospital capacity.

"Mayor Lightfoot continues to follow through on her promises of driving investment and capital improvements in South and West Side communities that have languished with disinvestment. The Auburn Gresham Healthy Lifestyle Hub will breathe life into a long vacant 4-story building on 79th Street, delivering a full-service health center and digital community center (including mental and oral health services) promoting lifelong learning to a long suffering community," said Carlos Nelson, CEO of the Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC).

The funds will also support the construction of a 30,000-square-foot surgical center as part of the North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center project.

"Set against the background of both COVID-19 and the issues of racial disparities brought to the forefront in the wake of the death of George Floyd, this project represents a critical extension of Sinai's legacy of reaching beyond our own hospital walls to provide much-needed resources to our community," said Karen Teitelbaum, President and CEO of Sinai Health System. "We're at a pivotal moment and this sort of financial commitment means much more than bricks and mortar; it's about ensuring vitality, employment, safety and good health in a part of Chicago plagued with disparities. All Chicagoans deserve good health, no matter where they live."

Last week, Mayor Lightfoot announced the city's youth summer employment program, One Summer Chicago, will be offering paid job training and a Chicago Youth Service Corps. The program runs for six weeks, from July 6 to August 14. There will be about 20,000 opportunities this summer.

Mayor Lightfoot also joined Walmart for announcement that the company planned to reopen all of its Chicago stores after several were damaged during periods of looting and unrest.