For the past 30 years and through months of uncertainty following the temporary loss of its nonprofit status with the IRS, the Community Health Care Clinic in Normal has continued providing free health services to a largely uninsured population — and plans to keep doing so.
But it's going to be under new leadership since executive director Mike Romagnoli is now gone. Romagnoli, who was with the clinic for nearly two decades, resigned Friday to pursue a new opportunity, according to a news release from the clinic. An interim leader has since been appointed.
Board President Jamie Mathy said Romagnoli's departure wasn’t a surprise to the clinic.
“It was something that we had been setting things up for a little while on, and, you know, Mike did a bunch of amazing things for the clinic, and we’re absolutely overjoyed for his prospects for the future,” he said.
Last year, the clinic lost its nonprofit status with the IRS after it failed to file the proper tax forms for three consecutive years. Losing tax-exempt status can put a nonprofit's funding in jeopardy.
Before he left, Mathy said Romagnoli was able to find and file paperwork to the IRS that would get the clinic reinstated as a nonprofit.
“He absolutely was essential and critical to make that happen,” Mathy said of the former executive director. “We're happy that part got done, and now we're just waiting. You know, the IRS is not a fast-moving entity.”
The interim executive director of the clinic is Sonja Reece, who is on the McLean County Board of Health and the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council. She previously served as interim executive director for a stint in 2002 when the organization was in a similar situation, and she said it’s been an adjustment. In the past two decades, everything has been transitioned to a digital platform, but she said she’s adapting.
She’s already got a priority list going. Filling open positions ranks high. The clinic is currently short a nurse and will require part-time pharmacists for March when the full-time pharmacist is away.
Determining how changing eligibility requirements impacts current or potential clients is also of interest, Reece said.
“We're finding, we have people that may qualify and not realize they do,” Reece explained. “They may not qualify and not realize they do.”
As for who will take over as permanent executive director for the clinic, Mathy said the search is in progress. Applications haven’t launched yet, but he’d love to fill the role soon.
“In my perfect world, we find the right person and they're at the clinic within the next 90 days,” he said. “There's a lot of competition for good candidates for every profession, every job role in the medical field right now, and, you know, I don't know if that's realistic, but that's my that's my perfect world.
Reece said she won’t be applying.
“There's lots of good people in this community that can do this,” she said.
OSF HealthCare will be the one to post the job application when it is available, and Mathy said the search will likely extend beyond McLean County. A discussion is ongoing about whether it will be an internal or external search, he added.
In the meantime, a language services void has opened at the clinic. Romagnoli and the nurse who left in December were two of five total clinic staff who speak Spanish. Romagnoli previously told WGLT that Spanish speakers account for 90% of the clinic’s clientele. There’s also a dearth of bilingual therapists in the area already.
Mathy said the clinic is interested in having bilingual (English and Spanish) speakers assume the open roles, but it won’t be a requirement. The primary goal is to get them filled — despite the health care workforce shortage.
There are other tools the clinic can use to bridge the language barrier gap as well, including translation services and the pursuit of volunteers with secondary language knowledge.
Mathy and Reece encouraged anyone interested in an open CHCC role — as executive director or a nurse — to reach out.
Regardless of who takes over, Mathy said his expectation would be for the clinic to maintain all of its current services. This includes programs like the dental clinic and mental health counseling, both pioneered by the former executive director and, which have remained in his absence.
“I would hope that a new executive director can continue that path,” Mathy added. “And then who knows what the future brings? I mean, we just keep trying to find what the folks in McLean County need help with, and then what we can do to provide those services to them.”
