CHC to Partner with Smart Chicago Collaborative

On Friday, November 2, 2012, the Smart Chicago Collaborative will partner with the Chicago Health Corps to introduce the Smart Health Center pilot project to community members in Humboldt Park and patients of Erie Family Health Center. The Smart Chicago Collaborative has partnered with the City of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology, the Otho S. A. Sprague Institute, Alliance of Chicago and the Erie Family Health Center to create the Smart Health Centers project. This pilot places trained health information specialists— known as Health IT Navigators— in non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) clinics to assist low-income patients in connecting to their own medical records and finding reliable information about their own conditions. Smart Health Centers will target residents in digitally- and medically-underserved communities. The most immediate goal of the project is to expand access to online health and wellness information. Another goal is better identification and aggregation of trusted online health information, including a set of identified Web-based resources and tools that can be promoted to consumers.

About the Smart Chicago Collaborative

The Smart Chicago Collaborative is a civic organization devoted to using technology to make lives better in Chicago. We were formed to address the challenge of the lack of broadband Internet access for all Chicagoans. More broadly, we work to apply the transformative power of technology to solve problems for the people of Chicago. We are a startup that was founded in part by our municipal government and nurtured by some of its most venerable institutions. Our founding partners are the City of Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The Chicago Community Trust. As a funding collaborative, we help bring together municipal, philanthropic, and corporate investments in civic innovation. For more information, please contact Executive Director Daniel X. O’Neil at 312-565-2867. www.smartchicagocollaborative.org

 

 

Lessons in Health Literacy

Post written by CHC Member Melissa Rothman:

        Health literacy, or the capacity to understand health information and services, make informed decisions about your health, and follow instructions for treatment, is a serious issue contributing to health disparities today. Even if patients with low health literacy can pay for their doctors’ visits, they may struggle with taking the correct pill at the correct time of day because they cannot read the directions on the prescription bottle.  They may consent to surgeries or procedures that they do not understand. This can be as traumatic as learning post-surgery you unknowingly consented to a procedure.

While not all health literacy complications are as serious as having an organ removed without a patient’s knowledge, misunderstanding health information is still a fundamental issue in our healthcare system.  The US Department of Health identifies “[using] health communication strategies and health information technology (IT) to improve population health outcomes and health care quality, and to achieve health equity[1]” as one of its main goals for 2020.  As a health educator, health literacy is an important theme in my service. The majority of patients I serve are Hispanic, so creating bilingual promotional flyers and class materials is a crucial step towards health literacy.  However, creating materials at the appropriate reading level for patients is also important.  Often, health information pamphlets are written at a college level. As a result, to increase health literacy, creating visual, clear and simple materials is necessary.  For example, to explain to diabetic patients how to balance blood sugar, we use a worksheet with a scale and sugar cube graphic. Many of the diabetic patients that come to our education classes may have been diagnosed with the disease for years, but still do not understand how it works and how to properly control it.  Especially with chronic diseases like diabetes, overcoming health literacy barriers so patients can learn to manage their diagnoses correctly is crucial to patients’ health, wellbeing and happiness.

So far, focusing on health literacy issues at my host site seems to be an area where I can really have an influence. We are encouraged in Chicago Health Corps to take pride in the small changes.  Along with that idea, my latest project is to design nutrition and medication sheets for women coming to the center for prenatal care.  While I may not be making a groundbreaking discovery, if even one patient’s birth outcome is improved because of more accessible nutrition and medication information, I will consider my service a success.

For more information on health literacy, check out these great resources:

·         http://www.npsf.org/for-healthcare-professionals/programs/ask-me-3/

·         http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/19/prsa0319.htm

·        http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/community/health_it_tools_and_resources/919/health_it_literacy_guide/27873

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[1] http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=18

Speaking of the great things that our Chicago Health Corps members are up to...

Check out what aired on WTTW Chicago Tonight.  Click to watch: See what Jenny & Melissa are up to at ACS!! 

The video and article highlight CHC members Jenny Carson and Melissa Akinlawon's service with the American Cancer Society and colorectal cancer screenings.

Enjoy and shout out to Melissa and Jenny - great service!

Health Educators Making Change in the Latino Community

Post written by CHC member Amanda Casas

On Sept. 26, 2012, there was a Latina Health Policy Briefing for Promotores de Salud (Health Promoters) at the White House in Washington, D.C.  The policy briefing reviewed the affordable care act, and also brought together key Latino health care providers, researchers, stakeholders and promotores to discuss successful evidence-based Latino research initiatives utilizing promotores.

Promotores (or health educators), like myself, lead health education programs with topics ranging from diabetes, nutrition, exercise classes, how to better identify and manage depression/stress, etc.  This education is bilingual and can be conducted with individuals or groups.  Promotores can communicate with the patient’s native or preferred language and often identify with culture nuances, they can make a difference in creating awareness, increasing knowledge, and creating a sense of empowerment concerning the patient’s health. Organizations such as my host site, Erie Family Health Center, utilize these valuable promotores to improve the Latino community’s perspective towards health and physical activity.

For more information about the role of promotores in the Latino community or other information about current health issues concerning the Latino community, check out this excellent blog: Salud Today Blog.

“We are not employees, we are not interns. WE ARE MEMBERS. We are not working, we are not volunteering. WE ARE SERVING!"

Post written by CHC Member Melissa Akinlawon:
Anyone can volunteer their time for community service, but it shows a unique type of passion to dedicate an entire year of service to tackle the mission of improving access to health services and addressing health disparities in underdeserved communities. That type of PASSION is what you will encounter with the new members of the 2012-2013 Chicago Health Corps, an AmeriCorps program, part of the National Health Corps.

As we discovered during Pre-Service Orientation (which began September 4^th), we are a diverse, inquisitive, and of course, passionate group of young individuals from all over the country anxious to be pioneers and leave our footprints in the “dirt” of service (it’s not always peachy clean and pretty!). We all have amazing and often quite hilarious background stories—some have lived in exotic countries, others are fanatics for certain music artists, we have some diehard Chicago natives, and even a member otherwise known as “Pollo Frito”! You will definitely have to join us in this year-long journey to meet all of us and hear about our experiences of service at our host sites.
And speaking of host sites….the members of CHC are serving at some truly amazing sites this year, such as:

·         American Cancer Society

·         Erie Family Health Center

·         Heartland International Health Center

·         Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago

·         Seven Generations Ahead

·         Illinois Eye Institute at Princeton Elementary School

This is merely the beginning! We hope you are just as amped as us! But, if you simply cannot contain your excitement until next week’s blog entry then keep in touch via our Facebook and Twitter pages.