Our History
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The Libertas Center was founded in 2006 by Dr. Lars Beattie and Dr. Rajeev Bais, who provided services to survivors of torture through Elmhurst Hospital’s Emergency Room on a voluntary basis.
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In March 2010, the Libertas Center opened in its new clinic space at Elmhurst Hospital, with full time staff, to provide comprehensive care and advocacy for torture survivors .
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Our Philosophy
- Using a model of care coordination, the Libertas Center offers survivors of torture access to healthcare, psychological care, medical affidavits, and social and legal services.
- In addition, the Libertas Center raises awareness about torture survivors to medical providers and physicians-in-training, and has initiated research projects to quantify the scope of their needs in our community.
- As the Libertas Center engages in service provision, we aim to place torture survivors and their communities at the center of our work, taking guidance from them and recognizing their great capacity for resilience.
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Who We Serve
- People who have been tortured outside of the United States by someone in a position of power may be eligible for our program.
- If the act of torture was intended to cause severe physical or mental pain or suffering.
- If the person inflicting the torture was an official authority such as a government, police or de facto government or militia group.
- If the act of torture is tolerated by one of these groups and goes unpunished.
- Secondary survivors of torture, who have experienced severe physical or mental pain or suffering because their family members were tortured may also be eligible for our program.
