About Us
Access to Care is a model, cost-controlling primary health care program specifically targeting low-income, uninsured individuals living in suburban Cook County, Illinois and northwest Chicago. (North of North Avenue AND west of Pulaski Road)
The program is a unique public/private partnership making primary health care and the ancillary pharmacy, laboratory and radiology services available to low-income individuals. Access to Care provides affordable diagnosis and treatment for illness to individuals and families for a small co-payment per visit, procedure or prescription medication.
Access to Care contracts with local providers throughout Cook County and pays them a discounted rate to provide services. Physicians volunteer to participate and choose the number of patients they will add to their practice. They are nominally compensated.
Over 90,000 people in suburban Cook County and northwest Chicago have been served in the 20 year history of Access to Care.
The need for the services of Access to Care continues to increase. It is estimated that there are nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance. Almost 400,000 of those individuals live in suburban Cook County and Northwest Chicago. The program annually serves about 13,000 low income individuals.
Joseph P Flanagan Jr.
Chairperson
JP Flanagan Enterprises, Inc.
Christine R Blue BSN, RN, MHA
Secretary
Park Forest Health Department
Michael B King MA
Treasurer
Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council
Mark Grach MBA
Immediate Past Chairperson
DLK Solutions, LLC
Jeffrey Schmidt
Chairperson Elect
Humana, Inc.
Venoncia M Bate'
Alexian Brothers Medical Center
Christine R Blue BSN, RN, MHA
Park Forest Health Department
David N Carvalho JD
Illinois Department of Public Health
Joseph P Flanagan Jr.
JP Flanagan Enterprises, Inc.
Rommel Garcia MBA
Maranon Capital, L.P.
Mark Grach MBA
DLK Solutions LLC
Steve Hamman MBA
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
Maurice Lemon MD, MPH
John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County
Stephen A Martin Ph.D.
Cook County Department of Public Health
J. Paul O'Keefe MD
Loyola University Medical Center
Margaret Saunders MS, RD, LD
Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc.
Jeff Schmidt
Humana, Inc.
Rob Tannenbaum
The AXL Partners, LLC
Catherine Tymkow ND, APN
Governors State University
Robert Wharton MPA
Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc
Arnold Widen MD, MACP
Office of the Illinois Attorney General
Lois Coxworth-Gallagher RN, MS
The Coxworth Group
James A DeNuccio CHE, MBA
American Medical Association
The Honorable Mary McDonald
Cook County Board of Commissioners (retired)
Charles David Hughes Jr.
Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County, Inc. (retired)
Access to Care Staff
Left to right, Back row, Kate Barnickel, Laverne Jones, Claire Ducote, Gladys Marshall, Zavala Ward, Ronald Petersen, Lori Henkel
Front row, Beatriz Ortega, Kimberly Mertz, Victoria Bigelow, Susan Decker, Linda Paz, not pictured Kathryn Franklin
Victoria Bigelow
President
Kathryn R. Franklin
Chief Operating Officer
Lori Anderson Henkel
Chief Financial Officer
Kate D. Barnickel
Public Relations Manager
Claire Ducote
Senior Program Coordinator
Kimberly A Mertz
Seinor Program Coordinator, Provider Relations/Credentialing
Susan Decker
Vendor/Client Specialist
Ronald Petersen
Network Administrator
Beatriz Ortega
Case Manager
Laverne Jones
Program Coordinator
Linda Paz
Data Entry Clerk
Gladys Marshall
Data Entry Clerk