A new health center opened in West Garfield Park at the beginning of February. The Erie Sankofa Village Health Center provides similar comprehensive care services as other Erie health centers, now to a community that has long been without them.  

Kawana Tharps, Erie Sankofa Village’s site medical director, shares the story of one of the health center’s first patients who lives in the neighborhood.  

Kawana Tharps, Erie Sankofa Village Health Center’s site medical director | Provided

“She hasn’t been involved in care in a long time, and she spoke a lot about medical mistrust throughout the multiple visits where I saw her,” Tharps said. “She was saying, ‘My sister said I don’t have excuses anymore. I’m right around the corner, so I’m coming back.’ It really spoke to the convenience of having a clinic in the community.”  

The Erie Sankofa Village Health Center at 4305 W. Madison St. will offer affordable, quality medical, behavioral, dental and reproductive care to 6,000 patients a year, regardless of their insurance status, income level or immigration status. In its first month of operation, the center saw over 160 patients. 

The health center also provides patient support services, like case management, transportation to and from appointments, and connecting patients with specialty resources outside the health center. Starting in April, the health center will also have in-house WIC services, or federally funded resources for Women, Infants and Children through free breastfeeding support, nutrition education, health screenings and referrals.  

The Erie Sankofa Village Health Center is just the first part of the Sankofa Village Wellness Center, which broke ground in 2024. Other tenants will soon move into the center, which will have a grand opening in April and aims to address the 20-year gap in life expectancy between Garfield Park and the Loop, where the city’s average life expectancy is highest. 

Sankofa Wellness Village Center 

The Sankofa Wellness Village Center’s grand opening will take place next month.  

The center will also host the business incubator “K” Entrepreneurship Development Hub, the Community Grocer Initiative to bring healthy food to West Garfield Park, and the MAAFA Center for Arts and Activism — a spot for workforce development and arts inside the New Mount Missionary Baptist Church on West Washington Boulevard. There will also be a YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, a credit union, workforce development programs and childcare inside the center. 

The Sankofa Village Wellness Center is largely funded by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, which awarded $10 million to the center’s ownership team: the West Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative, the Community Builders, and the MAAFA Redemption Project.  

Contributing to this disparity in life expectancy, West Garfield Park has higher rates of cervical cancer than most of the city. The neighborhood also has a higher prevalence of HIV, but a lower engagement of care, and there are fewer breast cancer screenings than most other neighborhoods, but breast cancer mortality is higher, according to Tharps. 

“There are more health care disparities that are contributing to this life expectancy gap,” Tharps said. She added that Erie keeps track of metrics like rates of diabetes compliance and high blood pressure, hypertension outcomes and breast cancer screening rates. “We can look at that to see how the community is engaging, but also how well-controlled those health care metrics are. And ideally, if we were to improve that with the care that we provide, those numbers will improve.” 

Geoyia Nightengale, director of health center operations at Erie Sankofa Village Health Center | Provided

A majority of Erie Sankofa Village Health Center’s patients are on Medicaid, said Geoyia Nightengale, director of health center operations. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center gets money from the federal government to cover Medicaid patients, as well as from a diverse array of supplemental funding sources. The health center also accepts many commercial medical insurance plans and has resources to help pay for patients who aren’t eligible for any insurance. 

“Regardless of what our patient’s insurance status is, we do not turn them away from services. Whether they’re able to pay or not, we will see them, no matter what,” Nightengale said.  

Building medical trust  

An exam room at Erie Sankofa Village Health Center | Provided

Before the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center broke ground, officials surveyed the community to hear what they wanted inside. 

West Garfield Park had a WIC office that closed, so the health center included one that’s open to everyone, not just Erie patients. Locals also expressed high interest in oral health services. 

“Dental was a huge one of those services because they haven’t had a dental provider in the community,” Nightengale said. She added that dental services have been one of the most accessed since the health center opened, and that appointments are booked through the end of the month.  

Since opening, the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center has continued community engagement by requesting feedback on their services, plus educating locals about their services and on certain health topics.  

“We did a lot of listening, and we’re hoping that is reflective in what they see when they walk into our doors and receive the care that they deserve,” Nightengale said.  

Erie also offers substance use services at Erie Sankofa Village, which can be integrated into primary and behavioral care. 

“We are aware of the special circumstances that occur in this neighborhood, and substance use disorders are one of them,” Tharps said. She added that, though Erie provides similar services at other locations, the ones at the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center are tailored to the community. “Those are Erie standards, but they are still very specific to this community. It’s not different from what we’re doing, but we know it is still necessary because it doesn’t exist in this community.” 

The waiting room at the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center | Provided

The waiting room at the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center | Jessica Mordacq

Erie aims to build medical trust with its patients, largely by hiring providers who are from West Garfield Park or believe in the mission of the health center.  

“A key part of recruitment was hiring providers who want to be in this community,” said Tharps, who helped with the process. “There are going to be specific challenges in opening a new clinic in a community that hasn’t had one, where there is a lot of medical mistrust.” She added that, though Erie has been around for nearly 70 years, “Erie is not known in this community. So, we’re facing a lot of barriers in that piece. But the provider team we built wants to be here, and they feel like the needs of this community attracted them to work in this clinic.”  

“For some people, having a provider that looks like you or that can relate to where you come from, whether that’s from lived experience or learning, is very helpful in building trust,” Tharps added. “So that was also taken into account in the hiring process.” 

To make an appointment at the Erie Sankofa Village Health Center, call (312) 666-3494 or walk in at 4305 W. Madison St. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

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