Heidi Ortolaza-Alvear, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Esperanza Health Centers, moved from her native Puerto Rico to Chicago as a child.
“My father was a security guard, the hardest working person I know,” she recalls. “But we struggled to make ends meet.”
She then won an academic scholarship to a prestigious West Coast boarding school. Traveling between those two worlds introduced her to wealth inequality in America. “I thought something’s really wrong here,” she says.
Thus, Ortolaza-Alvear’s passion for addressing social inequities at the systems level was born. Her journey has inspired young professionals with perseverance, dedication, and unwavering passion for social justice.
Armed with dual graduate degrees in social work and public policy from the University of Chicago, she joined EverThrive IL as director of the Child and Adolescent Health Initiative, then deputy director of strategy and impact.
In 2020, she joined Esperanza Health Centers, where she led strategic initiatives to open three new community health centers and a family medicine residency program. She also secured state approval to establish one of Illinois’ first PACE programs to help seniors thrive in their communities and avoid nursing home placement. She also pushed to establish a community engagement department to integrate community voices into organizational planning.
Word of Wisdom: “We can’t think narrowly of our role as healthcare providers,” she says. “What happens in the exam room contributes a fraction to someone’s health. Patients and community members know what’s most effective in their lives. We have to listen.”
