Planned Parenthood of Illinois to reopen health centers

Planned Parenthood of Illinois will reopen most of its health centers statewide next week, the organization announced Wednesday.

Nine centers will reopen on Monday, joining the six facilities that have remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Four Chicago centers are reopening, as well as centers in Orlando Park, Waukegan, Bloomington, Champaign and Ottawa.

“Throughout this crisis, our staff has proven to be flexible and innovative as we’ve worked to provide safe and uninterrupted access to essential healthcare,” said Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “We are thankful for the progress Illinois has made in slowing COVID-19 and are grateful to be reopening most of our health centers this month. As an essential healthcare provider, PPIL is equally committed to caring for our patients and keeping our teams safe and healthy.”

Safety measures will be taken at every center, including symptom and temperature screening of both patients and staff, a universal masking policy, remote check-in to reduce the amount of time patients spend inside the health center and other social distancing measures.

Decisions about reopening the organization’s remaining three health centers will be made at a later date.

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