Physicians, social scientists team up to reduce health disparities in Chicago

CHICAGO - Individuals are born with their own personal health potential, yet social factors like a lack of access to quality care can negatively affect their health. A new collaboration between DePaul University and Rush University — the Center for Community Health Equity — seeks to improve health outcomes and contribute to the elimination of health inequities in Chicago.

A public event to officially launch the center will be held Oct. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Searle Conference Center, 1725 W. Harrison St., in the Room 500 lounge. RSVP to asosina1@depaul.edu by Oct. 22.

The event will include opening remarks from the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University; Dr. Thomas Deutsch, provost of Rush University; and Dr. David Ansell, senior vice president of system integration and a professor of internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center.

There will also be a discussion on health equity in Chicago, including panelists Jaime Dircksen, managing deputy director of the Chicago Department of Public Health; Wrenetha Julion, professor of nursing at Rush University; and Magdalena Nava, acting director of the Humboldt Park Community Diabetes Empowerment Center. Nava is also a student in DePaul’s Master of Public Health program.

Center brings together public health efforts throughout Chicago

DePaul and Rush will work to identify disparities, train health care workers and develop ways to collaborate in rapidly evolving health fields. DePaul social science faculty members will work with Rush health professionals to develop projects with the community’s needs at the forefront, evaluate student experiences in community-based clinics and programs, and analyze epidemiological data from Chicago and other cities.

“Both Rush and DePaul are dedicated to social justice and engaging communities in meaningful ways. This center takes these principles and integrates them into scholarship, education and community engagement,” said Fernando De Maio, center co-director and associate professor of sociology at DePaul.

“We hope that the center will be a convener and focal point that will help the entire health ecosystem in Chicago improve the quality of life of our residents,” said Dr. Raj Shah, center co-director and associate professor of family medicine with the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center.

‘Your zip code should not determine your life expectancy’

While there are many organizations in Chicago that address health disparities, DePaul and Rush are asking: What is it about location that matters to our health?

“Your zip code should not determine your life expectancy,” said De Maio. “No one should be disadvantaged from achieving their full health potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.”

But the fact is that where one lives has an effect on health, he stressed.

Through the new center, students in DePaul’s Master of Public Health program will have new opportunities for community-engaged health equity research and service. The following are the center’s initial projects:

• Contribute to Rush's community health needs assessment. Rush has invited DePaul social scientists and students to work on its community health needs assessment. DePaul faculty and students are participating on a methodology task force to shape data collection and analysis, helping the hospital meet its obligations under the Affordable Care Act. Public health graduate students have helped to facilitate focus groups in 11 Chicago community areas, and the center is now working on analysis of the transcripts.
• ompare health disparities in Chicago to other global cities. Researchers will compare data from Chicago with cities around the world, including Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, to understand how each addresses health disparities. De Maio wondered, “Might it be that 'poorer' cities have been able to achieve more equitable outcomes with diabetes, asthma, heart disease?”
• Understand the history of health disparities. Faculty affiliated with the center are working on a book that will compile essential health disparities studies from Chicago. The center hopes to use the book as a foundation for new health equity courses at both institutions.
• Study community service in the health fields. Social scientists will examine how both medical and liberal arts students change as they become more involved in community service experiences. When students working in the field takes a homeless patient’s blood pressure, De Maio hopes that the students will learn the social context as well as the medical one.

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