What We Do
At Esperanza Health Centers, we are dedicated to providing high-quality medical care to all residents of our Southwest Side service area, regardless of their immigration status, race or ethnicity, income level or insurance status. All of our full-time providers and all of our clinical staff are bilingual and bicultural.
We want residents of Little Village (South Lawndale), Pilsen (Lower West Side), Brighton Park, Archer Heights, Gage Park, Chicago Lawn and the suburb of Cicero to come to our health centers for their medical needs.
But we need to do more to have the kind of impact on our community that our residents deserve. That’s why we step outside the clinic, bringing health programs and services to people where they are. All our services and programs are carefully tailored to the needs and culture of the communities we serve.
Our Services
We are dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare to all residents of our Southwest Side service area. But let’s be clear: we don’t mean just the residents who can afford to pay for their care. And “high quality” is not shorthand for “not really very good care but good by urban community health center standards.”
It’s quite the reverse, actually. We offer high-quality healthcare to all who seek it, and we think our care is as good as our patients could find anywhere. In fact, half of our board members are Esperanza patients because they believe so strongly in what we do and have so much confidence in our medical providers.
As Esperanza pediatrician and medical director Dr. Alejandro Clavier says, “An important part of what we do is respecting our patients. We offer great quality in a great setting so they feel comfortable, reassured and satisfied with their care.”
Family Medicine
Family medicine physicians can treat all family members, from the youngest to the oldest. Many patients enjoy feelings of trust and confidence when the same provider gets to know and care for their entire family over an extended period of time. To learn more about our specific services, see Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.
Providers : Miguel Peña, MD | Maria Silva, MD
Internal Medicine
Internal medicine physicians provide primary care to adults. Internists focus on diagnosing, treating and managing chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity. Esperanza’s adult health providers also have expertise in geriatric medicine, pain management and bariatric (weight loss) medicine. We also offer annual exams, immunizations, employment physicals, HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing and counseling, and much more.
Providers : Diego Remolina, MD
Pediatrics
Our pediatricians provide sick- and well-child checkups. We also offer immunizations, TB tests, obesity counseling, school physicals and more. We’re especially proud of our Pediatric After Hours Clinic, which lets your child be seen until 8:00 pm Mondays through Thursdays, 7:00 pm on Fridays and 6:00 pm on Saturdays. Our after-hours pediatric service helps to both prevent unnecessary ER visits while allowing us to direct truly urgent cases to Saint Anthony Hospital’s nearby Emergency Room. Not sure if we’re still promoting this as we didn’t break it out in the brochure.
Providers : Nina Akalis, MD | Alejandro Clavier, MD, MPH | Federico Herrera, MD | Ester Kirov, MD* | Tanveer Y. Shamsi, MD*
Social Work
If you are feeling anxious or depressed please know that Esperanza has a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who speaks your language and shares your culture. Our social worker is readily available for on-site counseling services. She also conducts a variety of education/support groups in the community.
Providers : Sonia Cruz, LCSW
Women’s Health/Obstetrics
We employ a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist and several certified nurse midwives, who are registered nurses with extensive additional training in well-woman care. Our services include annual exams, breast exams, mammograms, Pap smears, prenatal care, and HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing and counseling and free pregnancy testing. We offer an exceptional standard of care for women in our community, including two diagnostic and early treatment procedures for cervical cancer: colposcopies and Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedures (LEEP).
Providers : Christina Tanner, CNM | Tracy Vera, MD | Fran S. Bender, MSN, APN, WHNP | Maria Reyes, APN* | Linda Simon-Price, MSN
Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
Allergies and asthma are common among children, so we offer allergy testing and allergy shots under the guidance of a pediatric allergist/immunologist from the University of Illinois at Chicago Hospital.