Two Suburban Nonprofits Exploring Merger

LA GRANGE, IL — Two of the largest and longest-running organizations in the western suburbs—Pillars and Community Nurse Health Center—are currently exploring the possibility of a merger or some other form of enhanced partnership.

According to a release, Pillars is the largest nonprofit provider of mental health and social services in the western and southwestern suburbs. The agency serves 10,000 people each year through 30 different programs across Mental Health, Addictions, Domestic and Sexual Violence, and Child and Family Services (including a Head Start program). Pillars dates back to 1928 through predecessor agencies.

Community Nurse is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides medical, psychiatric, behavioral, and dental care as well as health education and eligibility assistance for over 5,000 low-income residents of the western suburbs. According to a release, the organization dates back to 1921.

According to the release, several other affiliations or mergers of this type have already occurred nationally and in Illinois, for the same reasons Community Nurse and Pillars are exploring partnership.

“We anticipate that enhanced collaboration would allow us to serve more people in the western suburbs, give our existing patients access to a larger array of services, and produce better health outcomes,” Angela Curran, JD, LLM, president and CEO of Community Nurse, said in a release. “The breadth of such an organization should also make it easier to generate more forms of revenue and attract funders, which would help sustain both organizations into the future.”

According to a release, Community Nurse and Pillars have a long-standing collaboration. Pillars runs one of its 15 mental health programs out of Community Nurse in La Grange; and Community Nurse provides medical services at Pillars’ domestic violence shelter, Constance Morris House.

“The integration of primary medical care and behavioral health care is ideal, as it means people with overlapping needs can be addressed with a continuity of care,” Ann C. Schreiner, AM, LCSW, president and CEO of Pillars, said in a release. “Integration of our two organizations would create an expanded organization with an impressive breadth of outpatient services.”

Negotiations are in progress and a final decision has not yet been made. According to a release, leaders from both organizations will be meeting through mid-July, when it is anticipated that a recommendation on enhanced partnership or potential merger will be presented for consideration to both organizations’ boards of directors.

Learn more about Pillars at www.pillarscommunity.org. Learn more about Community Nurse at www.communitynurse.org.

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