Health

United Way fights for a healthier community

Whether it is a neighbor without health insurance, a victim of abuse, or someone struggling with mental illness or an addiction, United Way is working to ensure everyone has access to affordable and quality care.

Almost 50% of adults in Champaign County report that they experience multiple days a month when their mental health is not good. More than 7 million Illinois adults are coping with a diagnosable mental illness. Healthcare providers voiced concern that the capacity of available mental health services is simply not adequate. A local particular cause for alarm is the lack of mental health services for children. 

Our Strategy

United Way is actively working to increase the number of services available to the uninsured, underinsured and Medicare/Medicaid patients. We facilitated the fundraising for and connected community partners around the Frances Nelson Dental Clinic, which sees patients who may not otherwise be able to afford dental care. This clinic helps keep hundreds of people out of the emergency room each year. As we move forward, United Way is holding community conversations and bringing hospitals, providers, local government, and key community leaders together around the issue of access to mental health care. We want to make sure that everyone in our community has quick access to mental health care when they need it.

Impact Goal

• Individuals/families have access to healthcare and improve their health.

TARGET ISSUE

• People have improved physical and behavioral health.

How United Way is Helping

In Champaign County, we Live United against barriers to good health. United Way has named mental health one of our top Health priorities for the next several years, recently helping save mental health services for over 1,200 patients. We fight for everyone to have healthy food through our Farmers Feeding Families program. We fight for increased access to independent living supports. And we fight for everyone to have affordable access to healthcare so they can live a long, healthy life.

We provide Community Impact Fund grants totaling $632,577 to 16 health-focused programs in fiscal years 2019-2020.