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DEAN’S MESSAGE WARD ROUNDS NEWS RESEARCH FEATURES ALUMNI NEWS UPCOMING EVENTS
Article Title:
Quest to Assess the Health of
Chicago Communities
Written by:
Sarah Plumridge and
Michele Weber
The health assessments of Chicago
neighborhoods included a review
of resources to support community
well-being, like Alternatives, AN
agency in Uptown that provides
services for at-risk children.
For some local neighborhoods, it’s not
exactly “Sweet Home Chicago,” especially
in communities that are plagued by
violence, lack fresh and healthy food
choices, offer insufficient health care
resources, have limited access to
recreational activities, or suffer from
compromised air and water quality. That’s
important information for doctors to have
when treating patients.
In early fall, 166 first-year medical
students from Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine converged
on 21 of Chicago’s 77 communities in
search of a better understanding about
these challenges. Working in groups of
seven or eight, each student researched
different elements that may affect the
health and well-being of the people who
live and work there.
“
Having an understanding about the state of the
patient’s community, environment, and family
life can add a broader perspective about their
health issues.
“
Each team met with a community
representative such as a police officer,
cleric, or social worker to learn more
before exploring the area on foot,
gathering information on local grocery
stores, bars, and restaurants, and
evaluating the state of schools, community
centers, churches, and parks. They
also gathered details from online
resources to create a “wiki page”―or
digital database―with crime, education,
population, and other statistics from U.S.
census data, as well as information about
prominent health conditions.
“I now know it takes a lot of energy to
learn about someone’s health, and having
an understanding about the state of the
patient’s community, environment, and
family life can add a broader perspective
about their health issues,” says medical
student Sam Harvey. “For example, there
used to be coal-fired energy plants in
South Lawndale, and as physicians we
should think about how that might factor
into the quality of health in that area.”
Part of the Foundations segment of
the new MD curriculum, the Community
Health Assessment Project aims to build
a health resource database for all
Northwestern medical students, which
may one day be made available to all
Northwestern Medicine physicians. Over
the next few years, students will continue
to populate the database with information
from all 77 Chicago communities.
Rebecca Wurtz, MD, MPH, associate
professor in preventive medicine,
developed and oversaw the community
assessment project, which required the
student groups to meet two hours a week
for seven weeks with a faculty mentor.
Coupled with the community assessments
were a variety of discussions,
including how difficult it can be to set
personal health goals and stay motivated
enough to change behavior.
“I’ve learned so much about the
different communities by working on this
project,” says Wurtz, director of the
Master’s in Public Health Program. “You
can literally ‘stroll around the city’ by going
through the wiki pages. It’s really important
for our students to understand what
things pose obstacles and how difficult it
can be to modify behavior, especially
without access to the proper resources.”
p.4 — wardroundsonline.com