The Joshua Carter Center is an HIV/AIDS clinic in Chicago, Illinois, founded by John Carter in 2005. It was officially opened in summer 2009.
History[]
Pre-founding[]
In 2003, John Carter worked in the Congo with the Allíance des Médicine, treating victims of civil warfare and local illnesses. He met AIDS worker Makemba Likasu there. The two fell in love and became pregnant. Their child, Joshua Carter, died in utero in 2004. The two were devastated and temporarily split, after which a distraught Carter struggled to find a new purpose.
2005-2009[]
In 2005, Carter received grants from County General and the state of Illinois to purchase a parcel in Chicago where the clinic was to be built. Carter envisioned it as a treatment facility for the underprivileged, those he had seen "falling through the cracks" during the previous 11 years as he worked at County.
After reuniting with Kem soon after, Carter worked in Africa (including the Darfur region) for several years which delayed work on the clinic. Most of the funds of the Carter Foundation, whose focus had shifted from arts and culture to social causes in 2004 under John Carter's new leadership, went into the completion of the clinic (Carter mentioned his grandfather would be "spinning in his grave" at this).
In 2009, Carter officially opened the center, named after his and Kem's stillborn son. His former colleagues Susan Lewis, Kerry Weaver and Peter Benton were present for the opening ceremony.
Post 2009[]
With ER ending in 2009, the center's future prospects are unknown. Financially, the post-2008 recession could potentially threaten it as the state of Illinois may be forced to scrap budgetary costs.