EDGEWATER — After over 35 years on the Far North Side, the Edgewater/Rogers Park Planned Parenthood health center location begins a new chapter Tuesday.
The office moved slightly farther south from its former spot at 6353 N. Broadway, which had been inside of the Woodruff Arcade since 1983, an indoor shopping and office center slated to be torn down.
Now at the site of a former medical office at 5725 N. Broadway, the long-time women's health organization said it's able to accommodate more patients with another doctor, larger space and 12-car parking lot.
Before the center's Tuesday reopening, officials from Planned Parenthood Illinois joined nurses and Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) and state Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) to ceremoniously cut the ribbon at the new location Monday.
Osterman welcomed the group into its new home and said when he heard the organization would need a new home, he wanted to find a way the health center could stay in the community so it could "help women for many, many years to come."
Cassidy welcomed the center at a time when Planned Parenthood has "never been under more attack," she said. Monday's event was a celebration of the health group "making an investment in the community," the legislator added.
The North Side location now serves about 5,000 of the state's 65,000 patients, said Yamelsie Rodriguez, chief operating officer for Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
The health center offers WiFi, screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections, HIV prevention and testing, birth control, resources for abortion, transgender health services and more.
In fact, the Edgewater/Rogers Park location was one of two pilot locations in the state for transgender health services, and is its most popular branch for such services, officials said. Now those services are offered at nine of the state's 16 centers.
The new location at 5725 N. Broadway will allow it to see more patients. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
The location currently serves about 5,000 patients. [DNAinfo/Linze Rice]
