RUSH Adolescent Family Center & the Foundlings Home
The story of the Rush Adolescent Family Center didn’t actually begin in 1974. The foundation of what would become the AFC was laid in the mid 19th century with the establishment of Rush Hospital and the Chicago Foundlings Home. Both institutions were charted to serve the needs of Chicago’s growing population. The Rush Adolescent Family Center was established in 1974 with the signing of a historic agreement between the Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center and the Chicago Foundlings Home Foundation.
The Rush Adolescent Family Center was a bold experiment in using a multi-disciplinary approach in working with pregnant teens and not everyone was convinced it would be successful. The AFC staff was composed of doctors, nurse midwives, nurses, a social worker and support staff who took a holistic approach to providing prenatal care to low income pregnant teens.
One of the many innovations of the AFC program was it’s incorporation of social workers as an integral part of the treatment team providing counseling and prenatal education to the AFC’s teen patient population. The Adolescent Family Center began as a small unit on Rush’s Labor and Delivery floor, providing prenatal care, prenatal education, counseling and postpartum follow-up care to pregnant teens, most of whom lived on the Westside of Chicago. In the beginning most of the medical care was provided by nurse midwives under the supervision of Rush attending physicians. In conjunction with Rush nurses, nutritionist, social workers and physicians the program established a multi-disciplinary team concept that stressed a holistic approach to prenatal care.
What made the Adolescent Family Center so unique was that the program took the name family seriously. Patients weren’t just patients to AFC staff they were part of an extended clinic family and they were treated that way. Staff took a personal interest in the lives of their patients and their babies. One of the special ways that the AFC embodied the concept of family was through the Center’s annual Patient Christmas Party. The party was organized each year by AFC staff for Center patients and their families. The AFC Patient Christmas Party remained a holiday tradition for the next 30 years.
No history of the Adolescent Family Center would be complete without a tribute to the private foundations, the Rush Women’s Board, the Medical Center and the Illinois Departments of Public Health and Human Services who, over the years, have provided the necessary financial support to keep the Center operating and true to its mission of providing care regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. Number one on this list of financial supporters has to be the Chicago Foundlings Home.
Over the years the definition and needs of Chicago teens have changed dramatically and in response the programs and services offered by the Adolescent Family Center have also changed. Today the AFC:
Serves twice as many non-pregnant patients than pregnant patients
Serves patients from over 100 different zip codes within Chicago and its suburbs
Provides medical services to almost 1,000 patients each year
Provides testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections to over 700 patients yearly
Provides health exams and STD testing for male patients
Provides community education to over 8,000 public school students each year.
Provides enrollment assistance for the Illinois Medicaid and Moms and Babies programs.
Serves young people up to age 25
As one of the original signatories on the agreement to create RUSH’s Adolescent Family Center, the Chicago Foundlings Home has provided essential funding and guidance to the Center throughout its 40 year history and will continue to do so!