Gina,

Your best option is to call one of the federally funded health clinics, although they are not in our county.  Elgin has one - the greater Elgin Family Care Center at 847 608 1344.  There is also one in Belvidere called Crusader Clinic.  Their Rockford number is 815 490-1600 and they can give you the Belividere number.  Good luck.

Suzanne Hoban

Cathy -

I'm sorry, I cannot give you the name of someone who would do the reconstructive sirgery.  My breast answer would be to call the Department of Public Aid and see if they have someone on their roster that they can refer you to.  As a primary care Clinic, we really don;t have acces to those services.  I'm sorry we can;t be of more help.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2/2009.  I have since had my left breast removed and gone through 18 weeks of intense chemo-therapy.  My husband is in the trades and gets very little work.  Chemo has not treated me well and therefore I do not work.  Needless to say I am uninsured.  I have a Medicaid card which has allowed me to have my breast removed and chemo treatments.  I was told I could start looking for a doctor to do re-constructive surgery.  As you can imagine, I've made numerous telephone calls and have not found a single doctor to do re-constructive surgery.  Can the clinic help me in anyway? 

theres special days for latino breast, pap etc no fees mentioned but reg breast ,pap, a fee why do latinos get the whole package cancer doesnt know race also you cant been seen in this program with medicre/medicaid but i called 27 doctors no one will take me and we have breast cancer cerival colon in the family also hpv i was to seen every 3 months 2 years now

i have the illinois healthy women card, do you know any doctors or clinics that do accept them???

Vanessa,

We do not accept the Illinois Healthy Women Card.   Centegra Health System and Mercy Health System do. 

I was wondering, does the clinic accept the Illinois Healthy Women Card(pink card)?

Not even having good insurance can protect you from teh devastating financial toll of a serious illness.  The kAiser Family Foundation recently came out with a study that illustrated the problems of well insured people who were diagnosed with cancer. http://www.kff.org/insurance/7851.cfm  This article contains heartbreaking stories of people who are having to forego treatments and medication in order to avoid fiancial ruin.  And these are people who had good coverage.  The co pays and deductibles simply because too much for them to handle.  While we spend our time with the uninsured, we also realize that the health care system needs serious overhauling in order to meet the needs of those in our community - evn those with insurance.

For the first time in the Clinic's 13 year history, we have had to temporarily close the door to new patients.  The overwhelming demand for services, the loss of a few of our valued docs and the economy has made for a perfect storm.  Luckily, we are bringing on five new physicians in February, and we hope that this will help alleviate the frustration at trying to get into the clinic.  We apologize to everyone who has had to wait for service - or couldn't get in at all.  We share your angst.  For those of you who wonder what you can do for the Clinic, here's a simple task.  The next time you go into your own doctor for an appointment, ask if he or she volunteers at the clinic.  We ask for only three hours a month.  The more docs we get, the more people we can keep healthy in our community.

My own recent bout with a serious illness udnerscores the incredible need for a significant answer to the health care problems of the country.  Our Clinic is but a bandaid that does the best it can with what we have, but we are all frustrated by the overwhelming need versus the capacity issues.  Even though our physicians are volunteers, lab costs, facility costs and other staff costs are huge.  A typical visit costs the cost around $100, but the patient pays about $15.  With that visit, the patient usually gets most of the lab tests, and medication included.  It is very frustrating to patients when they cannot get in, and it's frustrating to our staff who know there are so many people out there who need us.  We can only hope that a broader solution can be crafted so that we are not having to turn away patients when we literally have no place to put them.  It is the biggest challenge we face.