A group of black medical professionals have joined forces in order to prioritize the health and well-being of Chicago’s Southside residents.
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The Chicago Crusader reports that Premier Health Urgent Care, possibly the first and only black-owned urgent care facility in the city of Chicago, has officially opened its doors in Southside’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
“We are happy to open an urgent care in Hyde Park because the community needs it. I see so many urban professionals who either delay or go without care because of time constraints,” Dr. Reuben C. Rutland, one of its founders, said. “No one has 8 hours to wait in the emergency department for a minor illness or the flexibility to wait three weeks because their primary care doctor is booked solid. We are here to help fill that gap,”
The facility also boasts an impressive lineup of founders.
Premier’s founders include board certified emergency medicine physicians Airron Richardson, MD, MBA, FACEP and Michael A. McGee, MD, MPH, FACEP and board-certified trauma surgeon and United States Navy veteran Reuben C. Rutland MD, MBA. The facility was launched in partnership with Dr. Gregory Primus, former Chicago Bears wide receiver and the first African American trained in orthopedic surgery at the University of Chicago.
Priding itself on its principles of integrity, service and compassion, the facility provides basic wellness and prevention services, urgent care and occupational health. They’re more than equipped to help patients with everything from scrapes and abrasions to urinary tract infections.
“We are not in competition with the doctors’ offices or the emergency department,” Dr. Rutland said. “We are a supplement to them both, to help relieve the stress on those two facilities.”
Additionally, Premier is committed to actively addressing the looming violence in its surrounding areas. A portion of its profits are donated to Project Outreach and Prevention, an organization that provides resources and education to at-risk youth in order to provide them with guidance to make better life choices.
As often as Chicago is vilified in the news, it’s great to hear stories like these about the Windy City.
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