Facing Mental Illness in Uptown

This post was written by CHC member Caroline Sacko.

Series: Mental Health

Caroline serves at Heartland Health Centers - Uplift as a Health Educator.

Many people associate the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago with cultural diversity, radical politics, and crime. But one often overlooked aspect of Uptown is the community's struggle with mental illness. For example, Uptown residents are three times as likely to suffer from a mental disorder as other Chicago residents (1), and the leading cause of hospitalizations is mental disorders (2).

During the 1960s and 70s, mental health care in the United States was deinstitutionalized, meaning psychiatric hospitals were replaced by community-based clinics and outpatient hospital programs. In Uptown, deinstitutionalization meant that a number of large hotels and apartments from the 1920s were converted into single-room-occupancies and nursing homes - an affordable and minimally supervised living option for low-income people with mental disorders (3). This change in the housing landscape partially explains the high prevalence of mental illness in the neighborhood.

A couple of elements complicate providing care to Uptown's residents, as 30% of residents are uninsured and 55% are on Medicaid or Medicare. Additionally, Uptown is medically underserved with a provider to resident ratio of 1:5030 (1).

Uptown's struggle to treat its mentally ill community members can serve as a harbinger for all of Chicago, or even the entire country. Mental health is a medical specialty, so care can be difficult to access for people with limited means. Thankfully, a number of privately owned organizations have moved in to fill the gap. I am proud to say I serve at Heartland Health Center in the heart of Uptown, where we recently got a new full time psychiatric nurse practitioner to help address some of these service gaps. Additionally, these Uptown health centers provide psychiatric services on a sliding-fee scale for patients with no insurance: Uptown Community Health Center and Heartland Health Centers / Trilogy, and these hospitals and organizations accept Medicaid and Medicare: Lakeshore Hospital, Community Counseling Centers Chicago C4, and Howard Brown Health Center (care specifically tailored for LGBTQ persons).

Sources:

(1) http://www.bridgetgainer.com/Citizens'%20Guide%20to%20Uptown%20Health%20...

(2) http://www.bridgetgainer.com/Citizens'%20Guide%20to%20Uptown%20Health%20...

(3) http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-12-01/health/chi-uptown-edgewate...