Open Door Clinic wants to move to new Elgin location

After 37 years in the historic Professional Building in downtown Elgin, Open Door Clinic is planning to move to a larger and more modern location sometime in the fall.

A contract is pending to buy an 8,400-square-foot facility near Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, said Stuart Grochowski, the clinic's marketing coordinator. The current facility is less than 6,000 square feet.

The clinic, which has a second location in Aurora, provides HIV/AIDS services, including outreach, education, screening, medical care and counseling, plus such support services as housing, food and transportation through partnerships with community agencies.

Between Elgin and Aurora, the clinic now serves 600 clients and their families, about 40 percent Latino, he said. It employs about 20 people in Elgin and 10 in Aurora and has an annual operating budget of $5.5 million, Grochowski said.

Grochowski declined to disclose the amount of the pending sale.

Open Door held a fundraiser last weekend at St. Andrews Country Club in West Chicago featuring guest speaker Olympic medalist Greg Louganis, who tested positive for HIV in 1988.

"We've been fundraising, we've been applying for grants, and some grants have already been approved," Grochowski said.

Medical Director Constance Pachucki, who was hired in September, was a driving force behind the upcoming move, he said.

Pachucki oversees both clinics; she previously worked at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Maywood and is a professor of medicine at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine.

The current location poses challenges including heating and air conditioning, Grochowski said. Also, the clinic is split among the sixth floor and parts of the third and seventh floor.

"We need a more modern facility that accommodates more modern clinic resources, and we need a larger space."

The move will also facilitate the agency's goal of becoming a "patient center medical home" where patients get wraparound services through a coordinated care plan among medical providers, he said.

"We're almost there," he said. "Once we get the new electronic records medical system and implement it, and everything will be easily accessible on the same floor, we will be home."

Anyone interested in donating to the new facility can purchase memorial bricks at $100 each by calling Lynne Kennedy at (847) 695-1093 ext. 19 or by emailing lynnek@opendoorclinic.org.

Also, donations can be made through the annual Elgin Valley Fox Trot run/walk on May 24. Information is available at opendoorclinic.org.