By Meagan IngersonThe Daily Northwestern
Starting in July, Evanston Health and Human Services Department will no longer offer a range of services – including free HIV/AIDS tests – because of cuts in the city’s budget.
Evanston’s family planning program, its HIV/AIDS counseling and testing program and its clinic for sexually transmitted diseases will be discontinued July 1, along with several other health services currently offered at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
The department will refer individuals to other community organizations such as St. Francis and Evanston hospitals, said Health and Human Services Director Jay Terry.
“We see our function now as making sure the residents of Evanston have as much information as they can get on the types of services available at both hospitals,” he said.
City Manager Julia Carroll included the cuts in the 2007-08 budget, which was passed unanimously by the City Council on Feb. 26. City officials had been facing a $3 million deficit.
Eliminating the programs will save the city $461,000 this fiscal year, said Donna Stuckert, community information coordinator in the city manager’s office, with savings expected to increase to $863,000 the next fiscal year.
Terry said the department has offered HIV/AIDS testing for at least 20 years, and the family planning service and STD clinic for even longer.
There are 1,200 visits a year to the STD clinic, and about 1,400 people use the HIV/AIDS counseling services annually, according to health department statistics from October 2006.
HIV/AIDS testing and counseling is free, while the STD clinic costs $10. Residents pay for the family planning program based upon income level.
The Cook County Department of Public Health will offer STD screening services “on a limited basis in Evanston,” said Terry, adding he does not know where such services would be located. The county already operates free STD testing centers in three other suburbs.
The city also will outsource school physicals and immunizations; family case management and home visits; flu shots and beach water testing starting in July, Stuckert said. The department will continue to offer other services such as the children’s dental clinic and the issuing of birth and death records.
Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) said shutting down these programs wouldn’t hurt the city.
“Closing any of them shouldn’t have a negative effect because the services will still be provided in the community,” she said.
The changes shouldn’t make accessing these services difficult, she said, because “Evanston’s pretty small.”
Evanston resident Doree Stein, a former city employee, said she knows people who have used some of the services offered by the department. She said she was concerned that outsourcing these programs would affect the poorer residents.
“At least before if you had a problem you could walk over and talk to someone at the health department and they could make a phone call for you,” she said. “Sure (local hospitals) say they’ll take it on, but where do you go to complain?”
But Stuckert said, offering the services through the city just doesn’t make financial sense, given the presence of hospitals.
“We have hospitals and other agencies that are either already providing those services where we can direct our clients or they are capable of creating those services because that’s what they do already,” she said.
Reach Meagan Ingerson at [email protected].
