our priority - securing the insecure, our method - access and investment
Supporting Loretto Hospital’s strategic plan and expansion goals, Loretto Hospital Foundation’s key funding focus and priorities include:
Physician Recruitment
Representation matters. Research shows that physicians of color provide better care to patients of color - improving health outcomes and saving lives. Committed to increasing life expectancy rates, Loretto Hospital with the Loretto Hospital Foundation will implement strategies to recruit and retain African American and Hispanic attending physicians and residents.
Free Grocery Store
Food is medicine. Not curable by vaccine or booster, hunger is the unwanted tenant housed in resource-deficient communities. In Fall of 2025, Loretto Hospital will open the first free grocery store located on a hospital campus in Illinois. An extension of the existing ‘Community Cupboard Food Pantry’ that distributes nearly 1,000 individual, single-serve bags of food each month, the store will flood the community with nourishment and provide resources to remedy hunger. The store will offer free food to nourish community residents, provide accessible relief in a food desert, and serve as a vital resource to combat hunger. Together, these initiatives aim to tackle the multifaceted challenges of food insecurity.
Women’s Wellness Clinic
HER healed. Women are the predominant heads-of-household in the Austin Community, the second largest zip code in the city of Chicago. If women are not well, the entire community suffers. Loretto Hospital has recently opened a full-service clinic providing customized care and treatment for women, led by renown surgeon, Dr. Pierre Johnson. Our funding priorities also include the enhancement of technology, equipment, facilities, and community programs.