The Family Health Partnership Clinic, which opened in 1996 to provide healthcare services to the uninsured in McHenry County, has changed locations from Harvard to Crystal Lake, expanded its services, and added patients during its 25 years of existence.

One thing that hasn’t wavered, those at the clinic say, is their commitment to patients.

The clinic’s founder and executive director, Suzanne Hoban, said she is stunned that, 25 years after the clinic first opened, it is still needed.

“We had hoped that we would have solved the issue of health care access by this point,” she said. But these days, “our mission is still critical within our community,” Hoban said. “And our community has been very supportive and very responsive.”

Cathy Patenaude, manager of development and social media for the Family Health Partnership Clinic for 16 years, said circumstances keep the clinic necessary.

“We’re just privileged to be to provide access to care, and we have such a phenomenal, strong, deep commitment from the community,” Patenaude said.

Family Health Partnership Clinic had about 1,700 clients in the last year, with many of them making multiple visits.

With COVID-19, Patenaude said the clinic has been even busier as people lose their jobs and insurance. They’ve still been able to keep the clinic open every day, however, with the help of volunteer doctors and nurses, and by increasing nurse practitioner hours.

“We’ve adapted just like everybody else. It’s a learning curve for everybody,” Hoban said. “So we have learned to be much more flexible.”

For instance, the clinic implemented Telehealth and lots of precautions, such as screening before people come in, staff wearing N-95 masks, putting in air filter systems and bringing people in a separate door if they’re exhibiting symptoms.

When the clinic first started, the challenge was getting people to understand that there were uninsured people in McHenry County, Hoban said.

“Many people believed that the county was a relatively well-off county and that everybody had insurance and this wasn’t an issue here,” Hoban said. “But in fact, it was an issue here. And it really puts a strain on our health care systems. Because if people delay care, because they don’t have insurance or they can’t afford it, and they end up in the hospital, then all of those costs get passed on to everybody else.”

Patenaude said she’s learned so much from Hoban.

“She’s focused, fair, impassioned, very energetic,” Patenaude said.

Richard Ahrens, a former Woodstock City Council member and one of the clinic’s board members, said Hoban has been excellent to work with.

“She’s very thoughtful. She’s passionate about her mission to help people, and she does everything in a very thoughtful and deliberate manner,” Ahrens said.

Dr. Michael Lesser, a volunteer with the clinic for about 20 years who provides medical services to patients, said it fulfills a need in the county.

“They do a wonderful job. Suzanne is a pleasure to work for,” Lesser said. “When there’s a problem that comes up, she solves it.”

Lesser called Hoban “one of those special people.”

“She’s really the heart and soul of the clinic,” Lesser said.

As for the future, Hoban said the Family Health Partnership Clinic is in the middle of a couple of “really fun and exciting projects.”

Throughout the years, a lot of services have been added on to the clinic, including a dental clinic, and mental health. Before the pandemic, the clinic would go to two different homeless shelter sites to provide care, and they are now doing that in a more reduced form, Hoban said.

“We are right now in the process of putting together a very big, county-wide, collaborative with a number of other organizations to bring resources to get the marginalized in our county who might not have computers to get information or to get services, people who have lost their jobs who are in unstable living conditions, due to all this COVID and the economic upheaval,” Hoban said.

People can donate to the clinic on its website, though Hoban said an even better way to help would be to refer people to their services who need them.

“We want to be here for the people who really need to get access to health care services,” Hoban said. “I would love for people to go on the website and then just think of three people who could use this.”