MacNeal Hospital Receives Housing Forward Award for Efforts to End Homelessness

MAYWOOD, IL — MacNeal Hospital received a Housing Forward Ending Homelessness Impact Award this past weekend “for embracing the intersection between housing and health care, and disrupting the cycle of homelessness.”

MacNeal Hospital, located in Berwyn, Illinois and part of Loyola Medicine, has been providing quality health care in the near western suburbs and Chicago for nearly 100 years. In 2018, Charles Bareis, MD, chief medical officer at MacNeal, sought a way to address the housing needs of homeless patients, who often seek health care in the emergency department and then need somewhere to safely recuperate and live.

The result was a partnership between MacNeal and Housing Forward, a Maywood, Illinois social service organization committed to transitioning individuals and families from homelessness to housing stability. Together, the two organizations established the first medical respite program in suburban Cook County.

In August 2019, Sojourner House opened in nearby Oak Park, Illinois, providing three dedicated apartments exclusively for persons who are homeless and in need of “healing and recuperation post hospital discharge.” Sojourner House provides both MacNeal and Loyola Medicine patients with an innovative bridge to housing that is helping to end homelessness in the near western suburbs.

Dr. Bareis accepted the award during Housing Forward’s Have-a-Heart Gala, on Saturday, February 29, 2020, at Navy Pier.