welcome to the windy city

So I'm getting settled in to my July home. And I already LOVE it here at Lawndale. I love the mission, the people, the clinic. This is definitely the type of place that I can see myself working someday. And we haven't even started working yet! Today was our first day of orientation and while it was boring sitting in basically the same room all day it was necessary I suppose. Tomorrow we start learning about how to do home visits!

Yesterday I got here pretty early but it turned out to be a good thing because I just sat around and talked to the other people who got here early. There are 8 of us and we all get along great. It's a really diverse group of people and I think we're going to work very well together.

Our team (minus one)

l to r: Mahate, Ibukun, Linda, me, Justin, Gabe, Chase, and Jess was at a bridal shower

We've already started planning for our first health fair which will take place a week from this Saturday. Once everyone was here we went across the street to Lou Malnotis for dinner. This is a chain of Chicago pizza restaurants owned by Christian brothers. As they were getting ready to open their tenth restaurant, the pastor of the Lawndale Community Church convinced them to do it here in Lawndale- and to give all the profits back to the community! They consider it their tithe (giving 10% back to God). And the people who work at the restaurant are people going through the final steps of a program at the Hope House, a place that helps men with substance abuse issues.


I am staying with another girl from the program, Linda, at Alissa's apartment. Alissa is a pharmacist at the clinic. She just graduated 2 years ago so she's not too much older than us. Lawndale encourages its employees to live in the community (which I think is an important part of its success) so Alissa lives about 0.5 miles from the clinic in a two bedroom apartment.

The family that lives downstairs is very nice. The neighborhood where we live is predominantly Hispanic. It is a bit of a rough place but I feel safe here. Alissa has two cats which, luckily, have not been a problem with my allergies. I try not to touch them much and wash my hands a lot. But it's hard because they're really really cute! Linda and I share a bedroom which we keep off limits to the cats:)

Shadow (the big one) and Jula (the little one)- they own this place!

Today was the company picnic- there are over 300 employees at the clinics three locations! Chase participated in the hula hoop contest at the picnic!

He had quite an audience

This place is growing like crazy. There has been an 80% increase in the number of visits since 2001. The clinic gets a lot of money from Medicaid patients and also just from people who pay cash. If you are uninsured, it costs $15 to see a doctor and have any labs or x-rays that you might need. The pharmacy also provides medications at a very low cost. Much of their funding also comes from government grants. This place is pretty much the mothership of Christian clinics of this magnitude and I feel so lucky to be learning and serving here.

Thanks so much for your support and prayers as I begin this month!