Guest House offers temporary housing to medical patients, their family members and military veterans. From left to right, executive director Adam Helman, community outreach manager and assistant house manager Art Sims and director of development Dionne Nicole Smith at the community room on April 5, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Equipped with an open-concept kitchen, a living space and an assortment of board games and books to help pass the time, the community room of Guest House might feel like walking into someone’s home.
But those who find themselves staying at Guest House on the Near West Side are reminded that they’re quite far from their own home. Also, that they’re not alone.
The walls of the community room display maps covered with multi-colored pins, representing where guests before them have traveled from. The pins range from within Illinois and other U.S. states to countries on entirely different continents.
Since Guest House was founded 25 years ago, the nonprofit has offered temporary housing to medical patients, their family members and military veterans.
Located in the Illinois Medical District, the lodging offers a way for patients to access advanced care or specialized treatment often only found in major cities at a limited number of hospitals or academic medical centers, according to executive director Adam Helman.
Patients are not turned away from Guest House for their inability to pay.
“People never talk about temporary lodging when they talk about health care equity,” director of development Dionne Nicole Smith said. “Because we’re providing temporary lodging, that takes away that barrier to care.”
Having lodging near hospitals provides an option for patients who might otherwise have to decide whether to travel for hours for care, sleep in their cars, stay in costly hotels or stay in the waiting room of a hospital, Smith said.
The organization’s 47 fully furnished apartments for guests are contained within several floors of a student residence hall that the nonprofit leases from the University of Illinois Chicago.
On an average year, Guest House supports more than 700 families and delivers more than 12,000 nights of service, according to the nonprofit. The length of stay depends on a patient’s needs. Some might stay for a day, while others might stay for more than a year.
Married couple Carolyn Lydia Price McLeod and William McLeod from Buda, Texas, pictured on March 21, 2024, started staying at Guest House shortly after Price McLeod underwent a bloodless heart transplant in September at UChicago Medicine. (Courtesy of Art Sims)
Carolyn Lydia Price McLeod and William McLeod, a married couple from Buda, Texas, started staying at Guest House shortly after Price McLeod underwent a bloodless heart transplant in the fall at UChicago Medicine.
Price McLeod had needed a heart transplant since 2005, but throughout the years, had difficulty finding hospitals near her hometown that would do the surgery without a blood transfusion, a procedure she sought to avoid due to religious beliefs. She and her husband’s temporary move to Chicago came after getting in touch with UChicago Medicine, which specializes in bloodless heart surgery.
Per a doctor’s request, the couple is staying in the city for follow-up medical care to ensure the procedure’s success, McLeod said.
Even before staying at Guest House, McLeod and Price McLeod knew friends with heart transplants living in the building, which was a major factor in their decision to ultimately move in.
“What really sold Guest House for me was the relationship with the other patients who were already living here that I knew,” said McLeod, who has taken on a caretaker role for this wife. “The family relationship that could exist with other heart transplant patients.”
The couple plans to stay at Guest House until September.
Guest House’s 47 fully furnished apartments are contained within several floors of a student residence hall that the nonprofit leases from the University of Illinois Chicago. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
The organization takes in patients through its partnerships with Rush University Medical Center, Stroger Hospital of Cook County, UI Health and UChicago Medicine. It also partners with American Cancer Society and Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, which allows the nonprofit to accept cancer patients and organ transplant patients from any hospital.
During their stay, guests will sometimes connect with other guests and staff, Smith said.
“There’s that mutual understanding and they’re able to really feel like they’re a human being all over again,” Smith said. “They’re able to build this family, and you see these beautiful moments where you have guests that cook for each other, that help each other out.”
Throughout its 25 years, the organization has grown its partnerships to serve more people.
It has also grown its volunteer program, in which volunteers cook dinner and interact with guests, helping to create a more emotionally supportive experience for them, Helman said.
“That individuality, that humanity, that’s such a big piece of what we do,” Helman said.
Guest House is hosting its 25th anniversary gala from 6-9 p.m. Monday at Carnivale in the West Loop. The event will feature WBBM Newsradio anchor Lisa Fielding and special guests actor and screenwriter Tim Kazurinsky and actress Mariann Aalda. Click here to learn more about the event.
Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]
