Pillars and Community Nurse Health Center Announce Merger

LA GRANGE, IL — Pillars and Community Nurse Health Centers have announced they will merge, effective Jan. 1, 2018. According to a release, the merging was approved after a vote from both boards of directors on Sept. 12.

Pillars is the largest nonprofit provider of mental health and social services in the western and southwestern suburbs. According to the organization, the agency’s 244 person staff serve 10,000 people each year through 30 programs across mental health, addictions, domestic and sexual violence, and child and family services Community Nurse is a Federally Qualified Health Center, and the agency’s 60 person staff provide medical, psychiatric, behavioral, and dental care as well as health education and eligibility assistance for over 5,000 low-income children and families in the western suburbs.

According to the release, several other mergers of this type have already occurred nationally and in Illinois, as organizations seek to better integrate primary and behavioral health care and sustain themselves financially.
Angela Curran was also voted to be the president and CEO of the merged organization and Helen Stewart will be senior executive vice president. According to the release, Curran has served as president and CEO of Community Nurse since 2007.

“During my leadership tenure at Community Nurse, the partnership between Community Nurse and
Pillars to integrate the health care and supportive services provided by each organization has
deepened and grown,” Curran said in a release. “Board members and staff from both organizations who have been involved in that integration, including myself, have witnessed the powerful impact that integration of
services has made for the people and communities we serve. This merger provides us with an
opportunity to expand access to those high-quality services in a more systematic manner. It is simply
the right thing to do for the people we are so privileged to serve.”

Zada Clarke, current board chair of Pillars, will become chair of the merged board of directors, according to the release.

“In my 10 years serving on the Pillars board, I have never seen a more exciting and hopeful time, as we
seek to expand the level of health and social services we can provide to our communities,” Clarke said in the release. “This merger will expand opportunities to provide exceptional care to all who walk through our doors,
treating both the body and mind as needed. The dedication of our staff has been one of the driving
forces of this merger, as we work to ensure the most successful treatment outcomes.”

In addition, board executives have been announced including Nick Chancellor as vice chair, Sheila
Eswaran as vice chair, Annika Pangan as secretary, Edward Farrell as treasurer, and Mark
Greifenkamp as assistant treasurer.

A new brand identity and mission statement will be unveiled in the coming months, according to the organizations.

Photo provided by Pillars.