Health/Wellness Clinic gets $5,000 grant

PRINCETON — Bureau County Health and Wellness Clinic announced it has been recognized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois for its success in serving their patient population by providing primary health care to the low income, uninsured of Bureau County and surrounding area, and has been awarded a $5,000 grant to continue its efforts.

“We are proud to support the Health & Wellness Clinic,” said Clarita Santos, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Director of Community Health Initiatives. “Our mission is to promote the health and wellness of our members and our communities through accessible, cost-effective, quality health care. By supporting organizations like BCHW, we are able to reach out to the people most in need.”

The clinic is one of the 350 organizations to receive a grant or donation for 2008 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, which focuses its giving in three key areas: Health services for the uninsured and underserved, human services and education. Additional information about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois’ charitable giving program is available at www.bcbsil.com/about_us/involvement.htm.

In 2002, the clinic was the vision of Heather Glenn, an emergency room nurse who was frustrated by seeing people spend hours in the waiting room of a Peoria emergency room because they had nowhere else to go for basic care. Six months from that vision, the clinic was opened in a one-room storefront on Main Street.

When factory layoffs hit Bureau County, the patient population grew exponentially, and in 2004, the clinic was blessed with the generosity of becoming part of the Covenant Children’s Home Campus on Elm Place. Through the following years, she saw and met the needs of patients by providing weekly services in DePue, helping set up a clinic in Mendota to function on its own and implementing a plan, writing and receiving a grant to “go mobile” in 2006 that was put on hold until recently.

Although Glenn has moved on to start her own business, her vision and efforts are a primary reason the clinic is now seeing patients in Spring Valley and soon in Sheffield and Walnut. The Christian-based clinic is staffed primarily with volunteers from the clerical staff to the doctors.

Patients are seen by appointment at 500 Elm Place, Princeton on Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. People can call for questions about eligibility. The clinic is primarily supported through public donations and fundraiser events. 

If you would like to volunteer time and talents at the clinic or at any of its events, call (815) 879-8794.