On Wednesday, March 4, about 50 protesters gathered outside the Center for Women and Families to picket and rally against the clinic’s closure. The University of Illinois at Chicago plans to close the clinic by June 2009, blaming the closure on a budget deficit.
UIC operates 10 community clinics across the city. Last year, the Center for Women and Families handled approximately 6,400 patient visits. The clinic serves predominantly low-income women and families by offering services on a sliding scale. It is located in the Pilsen neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community just south of the university with a high percentage of immigrant families.
The protest and rally were organized by UIC campus unions, such as the Service Employees International Union, and a neighborhood coalition called the Pilsen Alliance. Elia Maria Arenas, an unemployed clerical worker, spoke at the rally, explaining that her family and others in the neighborhood rely on the clinic for care. A number of other organizations attended, including ANSWER Coalition—Chicago (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
UIC is guilty of gutting services to working-class communities and raising tuition, making a college education and health care less accessible to working families. Protesters demanded that UIC Chief Executive Officer John DeNardo “chop from the top” and use university resources to save the clinic. The multinational crowd shouted militant chants such as, “Que queremos? Clinica abierta! Cuando? Ahora!” (“What do we want? An open clinic! When do we want it? Now!”) and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”
UIC is not alone in threatening workers with less access to medical care. The City of Chicago threatened to close 12 mental health facilities by April, and all of them serve predominantly African American communities on the city’s south side. Instead of spending money on health care for all, city officials have backed an Olympic bid that is expected to cost $4.8 billion.
