Sawtooth Mountain Clinic provides updates on federal funding, strategic planning, and behavioral health
On Feb. 24, the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Board met for its monthly board meeting. Among the various items included in the agenda was an update regarding disruptions from federal grant funding.
After a brief funding interruption at Sawtooth Mountain Clinic following the federal grant freeze from the Trump administration, CEO of Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Kate Surbaugh said funding has been restored, and the clinic is “getting the funds as normal” now.
“At this moment, there’s nothing that has changed for Sawtooth,” Surbaugh said. “We’re still operating under our usual federal grant.”
Looking ahead, Surbaugh said, “We are working with our state and federal partners to keep track of and monitor the changes.”
Surbaugh said the clinic would update the public if anything changes, but “We don’t anticipate anything soon.”
Another item discussed during the board meeting included an update on the strategic planning process. The clinic began the strategic planning process in December and will complete it in April.
Surbaugh said the main areas of focus for the clinic as it looks ahead for the next three years are to maintain financial stability, improve primary care and the quality of services, and continue to recruit and retain quality professional staff.
“We really need to make sure that whatever we do, it focuses on bolstering that access to primary care,” Surbaugh said. “That is the one thing the clinic does that isn’t replicated any place else in the community.”
In the past week, the clinic hired Cecilia Bloomquist, the new behavioral health director. Surbaugh said Bloomquist’s role will include administrative time and direct patient care.
“She will continue to be working as a therapist while also spending some of her time working on the behavioral health services expansion grant that started this fall,” Surbaugh said.
Expanding the behavioral health services at the clinic has been a priority in recent years. In a March 2024 interview with WTIP, Surbaugh said the intent is to build capacity at the clinic for mental health services in Cook County. “We want to make sure that we also have locally available in-person access to mental health services, and that’s one of the clinic’s major strategic goals. To make sure that we are meeting that community need as best we can.”
WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with Sawtooth Mountain Clinic CEO Kate Surbaugh following recent strategic planning meetings and the Feb. 24 board meeting for an update on the clinic. The audio from the interview is below.
Kalli Hawkins March 6, 2025
