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Reducing Health Disparities Among Hispanic Elders: Lessons from a Learning Network

TEAM CHICAGO

AHRQ Annual Meeting 2008September 10, 2008

Washington, DC

Susan VegaSenior Advocate

Alivio Medical Center

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Why is your community doing this? Address chronic diseases in Latino seniors Adult onset diabetes negatively affecting quality

of life for Latino seniors and their families Need to work together to develop and

implement interventions that have long-lasting effects

Develop plan that depends less on clinical interventions and more on community resources

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Chicago Area Latinos 1,071,740 Latinos in Chicago and Suburban

Cook County – 22.2% of population

73% of Latinos in Chicago / Cook County are Mexican immigrants or of Mexican descent

One in four will develop adult onset diabetes

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Team Chicago’s Target Communities Little Village in Chicago – southwest of

downtown Cicero in suburbs– just west of Little Village Largest number of Latinos in all of Chicago

community areas and largest numbers in suburban Cook County

Almost 10,000 residents 65+ 72% of Latinos 65 + in Little Village and 63%

of Cicero Latinos 65+ live with families

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What is the plan you hope to implement? Tomando Control de Su Salud, Stanford’s

CDSMP in Spanish Additional programming, Improving Latino

Health, focused on one-on-one coaching, community resources, and individualized needs

Targeting two contiguous largely Mexican / Mexican-American communities - one city and one Suburban

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Partnership Members and RolesChicago Dept. Senior Services Convener

AgeOptions / Rush Training / Planning

AgeOptions / Alivio Program Implementation

Chicago Dept. Public Health Data / Support

Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition Policy

Rush Evaluation

Sinai Community Institute Leadership / Support

AARP Group process

Mercy Support

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How did the team build capacity before engaging clinical partners? Key organizations brought resources to process

Alivio – Compañeros en Salud Rush – Experience connecting clinicians with CDSMP

Age Options, Chicago Department of Senior Services, and Rush already funded through AoA and NCOA for CDSMP

Leveraged resources to build Team Chicago’s capacity for implementing Tomando Control de Su Salud

Helped to focus Team Chicago’s choice of intervention

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How is the team engaging clinical providers? Alivio Medical Center will pilot intervention

Senior Advocate pitched intervention to clinical staff

Alivio process may serve as model for other clinical settings

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Accomplishments Development of Core Working Team Development and refinement of Team Charter Development of Implementation Plan Training in Take Charge of Your Health and Tomando

Control de Su Salud Schedule of Tomando Control de Su Salud classes in

target communities to meet objectives of Implementation Plan

Site agreements with Alivio Medical Center Tentative agreements with two additional healthcare

providers

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How was the Learning Network helpful to Team Chicago and their project?

Provided impetus to take on the effort Provided assistance in focusing efforts Served as “reality check” Provided framework / template Kept project “on-track” through process, e.g.,

monthly Team Chicago calls and All-Teams calls Provided forum for problem-solving Provided resources, e.g, October 2007 Workshop,

AHRQ Data Chartbook, NCOA-ASA HEP adjunct meeting, Site Visit, additional calls

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Most Challenging Aspect Team process / collaborations Group learning curve Getting buy-in from sponsoring organizations Helping clinicians understand role of

intervention Helping clinicians understand usefulness of

lay health promotion / interventions Developing resources to meet community

needs

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Lessons Learned Take nothing for granted Everything takes longer than you think it will Be open to new ideas Be mindful of individual, group and

organizational processes Keep plugging along There is no substitute for working together Remember the vision thing

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For More InformationSusan VegaSenior AdvocateAlivio Medical Center966 W. 21st Street, Chicago, IL 60608Tel. 312-829-6017Fax 312-829-6822svega@aliviomedicalcenter.org