Infant Welfare Society of Chicago

The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago's (IWS) mission is to provide a continuum of integrated, quality, and preventive healthcare services to children and their families, enabling them to lead healthy and productive lives.

IWS has pioneered innovative pediatric care practices and led community health clinics for more than a century. In 1911, IWS established a series of “milk stations” across Chicago to provide nutritional support that successfully reversed high rates of infant mortality. The “milk stations” evolved into well-child clinics, and IWS continued to grow, pioneering practices to lead community health clinics. Notably, IWS incorporated child development and behavioral health counseling in 1924, pediatric dentistry services in 1970, pediatric orthodontic care in 1991, and pediatric optometry in 1995. In 2005, IWS opened the doors to the Angel Harvey Family Health Center in the Chicago Logan Square neighborhood, a community surrounded by families with significant need. In 2015, IWS renovated the clinic to create dedicated space for the Child-centered Health and Advanced Therapies (CHAT) program that provides developmental delay assessment and treatment. In 2017, IWS began serving men and made a strategic operational pivot to a team-based and patient-centered Care Coordination model that assists patients in managing social determinants and eliminating barriers to care. In 2018, IWS launched a Centering Pregnancy™ program, an evidence-based group prenatal program, and the Comer Sano! (Eat Healthy!) program that provides families of children at-risk of pediatric diabetes or with high body-mass index curriculum-based nutrition and exercise best practices. Now, IWS serves all ages, which solidified our effort to “nest” the whole family, creating a healthcare home where accessible, integrated, and coordinated health care services are available to all.