Our Story
Before becoming Greater Elgin Family Care Center, we were known as the Free Clinic which provided primary care services to Elgin’s low-income families. We operated out of several different locations, including the basement of a local church and the Community Crisis Center.
In 1998, a group of local stakeholders and organizations, known as the Community Task Force 2000, came together to address the health care needs of Elgin’s low-income community. The goal was to provide needed primary care services to Elgin residents and minimize the burden on the local hospitals, which were seeing patients in their Emergency Rooms for non-emergency needs. The solution to this problem was to create a community health center that would provide quality health care to all, including those who didn’t have the ability to pay, and Greater Elgin Family Care Center (GEFCC) was born.
In 2002, GEFCC applied to become a Federally Qualified Health Center and after a successful application, we began receiving support from the Bureau of Primary Care Health Care. While originally created to serve the Elgin community, over the years we have successfully expanded to serve over 47 municipalities in Illinois. We provide comprehensive, patient-centered medical, dental and behavioral health care to over 46,000 patients annually through 9 permanent Health Centers and 23 School-Based clinics.
We believe that everyone deserves access to high quality, affordable, health care that is delivered with respect by compassionate and qualified professionals. We have a commitment to improve the quality of care we provide and the health of our patients. It is this commitment that led us to pursue the accreditation by the Joint Commission and the certification as a Primary Care Medical Home. Because of our Primary Care Medical Home status, our patients benefit from having access to an interdisciplinary team of medical, dental, and behavioral health providers, all working in partnership with the patient to improve their quality of life and that of their families.
We work to eliminate any barriers that may keep our patients from accessing services. We do this through the provision of 24-hour access to providers; comprehensive care management; assistance with transportation costs; access to reduced-price pharmaceuticals; on-site laboratories; same and next-day appointments; bilingual staff and translation services.
Mission
To provide quality, affordable health care for all, including those without the ability to pay.
Vision
Greater Elgin Family Care Center (GEFCC) is known in the communities it serves for high quality, patient-centered care, delivered by a team of competent and committed staff. GEFCC will grow responsively and responsibly to fulfill unmet health needs, enhance community relationships and maintain financial viability.
Core Values and Guiding Principles
Caring and Respect:
We care for our patients with compassion and respect.
Quality:
We provide safe, patient-centered, evidenced-based, efficient, and cost-efficient services.
Excellence:
We have qualified staff who excel as a result of training, coaching and mentoring.
Diversity:
We extend our services to all people and ensure our staff reflects the cultural diversity of those we serve.
Integrity:
We ensure staff are responsive, professional and accountable for their performance.
Responsive and Collaborative:
We asses community priorities, needs, and expectations, and work cooperatively with other providers and resources to address those needs.
Advocacy:
We advocate for patient rights.
Accreditation
The Joint Commission
Greater Elgin Family Care Center has earned The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval and accreditation as a Primary Care Medical Home (PCHM). Only 10% of all ambulatory health center in the U.S. qualify for this recognition.
The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization and the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. To earn and maintain The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years.
If you’d like to file a complaint, click here and follow the link.
Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)
In 2002, GEFCC applied to become a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and after a successful application, we began receiving support from the Bureau of Primary Care Health Care.
The first FQHCs were established in the U.S. more than 50 years ago by community residents and health care providers who believed that everyone should have access to quality health care no matter who they are, where they live or their ability to pay. The health center movement they launched brought doctors and health care services into medically underserved areas all across the country.
Community Health Centers are independent, non-profit, non-governmental health care organizations. While no two health centers are exactly alike, they share the same mission:
To provide access to high quality, cost-effective health care services to every-one, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.
United Way
United Way is an organization that operates in communities across the nation and world. United Way’s mission, to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good, is realized through local support. United Ways locally fund area agencies like Greater Elgin Family Care Center and support efforts towards three areas of focus: Education, Income and Health.