It’s a typical day for Carmen Velasquez, executive director of the Alivio Medical Center. Her phone rings madly as she searches through a neatly stacked pile of papers on her desk, looking for a document explaining how much it will cost to expand the center at 2355 S. Western. She’s talking to this reporter after just concluding an interview with another. She’s got a staff meeting after lunch and a business meeting with funders after that. Meanwhile, the reception area downstairs is bustling with patients. “It’s always kind of hectic in my life,” says Velasquez. “With the award it’s got even more hectic.”
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Velasquez comes from one of the city’s more ambitious families: Her father, Arturo, founded Velasquez Automatic Music, a highly successful jukebox company. Her brother Arthur oversees Azteca Foods, a tortilla-making operation. Two other siblings, Edward and Maria Elena, now oversee most of the day-to-day operations of the jukebox company. Along with her mother, Shirley, they are all prominent fixtures in southwest-side political and social organizations.
Velasquez herself is a former member of the Chicago Board of Education and part owner of Decima Musa, a Mexican restaurant in Pilsen. Like her parents and siblings she has close ties to the Daley administration. “When Mayor Daley sees my family at gatherings he will publicly recognize the energy and work my parents have given to the city,” says Velasquez. But she’s no brownnoser. “I’m a little more confrontational than the other members of my family. I have that reputation. If you mess with me, I’ll mess with you right back.”
“We had a good partnership with Mercy,” says Velasquez. “Their development person, Za Noorani, is good at what she does. She does the research. She identifies all the sources for grants and contributions. She makes the calls, and then we come in and do the dog-and-pony shows.”
“Someone who came here said, ‘Is this the Taj Mahal?’ Meaning that it was so nice for a not-for-profit clinic,” says Velasquez. “I said, ‘What do you want, a storefront?’ Why can’t a clinic that serves low-income Latinos look nice?”
The whole staff was invited downtown to receive the award. At an afternoon reception, they mingled with corporate hotshots who told them they were doing a wonderful job. “Our award recognizes Alivio Medical Center because of its leadership in providing superior health services to a population that has been severely underserved,” said Robert Lauer, president of the Sara Lee Foundation, as he presented the award. “Alivio’s success as a facility owned and operated by the Latino community is an inspiration to other communities throughout the state.”
