Erie Family Health Center

ERIE FAMILY HEALTH CENTER RECEIVES GRANT FROM KOMEN CHICAGO AFFILIATE TO INCREASE ACCESS TO SCREENINGS FOR LOW-INCOME LATINAS

Chicago, IL – April 2010 – The Chicagoland Area Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® has awarded a $15,000 grant to Erie Family Health Center to support efforts to increase breast and cervical cancer screenings for low-income Latinas in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago.

At Erie, the grant from Komen for the Cure® will support the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at Erie Helping Hands Health Center, an initiative that provides free women’s health exams to uninsured women, including clinical breast exams and pap smears. The program will involve screenings, referrals for screening and diagnostic mammograms for those women who need them, and targeted community education about the importance of breast and cervical cancer screenings.

“Erie is committed to reducing the health disparities experienced by our community, and early detection of breast and cervical cancer is so important to these efforts. Erie is grateful for the support of the Chicagoland Area Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® in ensuring that our predominately low-income, Latina patients have access to screening and education,” said Dr. Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center.

Susan G. Komen® for the Cure is the world’s largest breast cancer organization, and the Chicagoland Area Affiliate is one of 125 Affiliates on the front lines dedicated to ending breast cancer in their communities. Komen Affiliates fund innovative programs that help women and men overcome the cultural, social, educational and financial barriers to breast cancer screening and treatment.

“At the Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate, we conducted a needs assessment of our community and discovered the need to address breast health disparities in underserved communities,” said Executive Director, Michael Ziener. “We are confident that through the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at Erie Helping Hands, Hispanic women in our community will have low-cost access to the care they need.”

About Erie Family Health Center
Founded in 1957, Erie Family Health Center’s mission is to provide accessible, affordable, high quality health care to those in need. Erie provides primary care medical services including: pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, women’s health and podiatry to approximately 33,000 low-income Chicagoans each year at nine health center locations. Erie also provides HIV/AIDS care, behavioral health counseling, case management services, health education, oral health services, and eye care. For more information on Erie Family Health Center call 312-432-7414 or visit www.eriefamilyhealth.org

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Chicagoland Area Affiliate
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever, and in 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Chicagoland Area Affiliate is part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Through events like the Komen Chicago Race for the Cure, the Chicagoland Area Affiliate has invested over $9M in community breast cancer programs in five counties.  Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stays in the Chicagoland Area. The remaining 25 percent funds breast cancer research. For more information, call 773-444-0061 or visit www.komenchicago.org

Erie Family Health Center Receives Lumity Technology Leadership Award

On Thursday, March 18, 2010 Erie Family Health Center was honored at the Lumity Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel. Erie is honored to have received the 2010 Not for Profit Technology Leadership Award.

The Lumity Technology Leadership Award, presented by Accenture, recognizes innovative uses of technology in the nonprofit sector. Projects submitted had to exemplify the ways in which creative application of technology produces measurable, sustainable impact in the community. There were 22 organizations submitted for this honor and 13 judges. The judging of the final four organizations took place Friday, March 5^th. The four finalists were: Corporation for Supportive Housing, Erie Family Health Center, Onward Neighborhood House and Thresholds.

Erie Family Health Center submitted the Electronic Health Records System (EHRS) Project, a multi-year technology project through which Erie implemented electronic medical records at all 9 of its sites. In 2002, Erie’s Board of Directors decided that electronic health records would help achieve the organization’s goal of providing the highest quality of care to underserved populations. Therefore, the EHRS Project was written into the organization’s strategic plan and business plan. Eight years later, in January 2010, Erie proudly completed the project a year ahead of schedule.

Left-to-right: James Bowler, Lumity Board Member; Kara Kennedy, Executive Director, Lumity; Lee Francis, MD, MPH—President and CEO, Erie Family Health Center; Kate Sanserino—Manager, Quality Improvement, Erie Family Health Center; Neil Gissler, North America Technology Managing Director, Accenture

Using EHRS, medical providers have remote access to a patient’s medical record, allowing them to respond to patient health concerns from any location, any time of day. It also reminds medical providers when a patient is due for preventive services or lab tests, and alerts them to drug interactions and allergies. All 9 of Erie’s health centers are now linked by an electronic medical record system; paper medical records are a thing of the past.

Erie is grateful for its partnership with the Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services. The Alliance is a partnership between fellow community health centers: Near North Health Services Corporation, Heartland Health Outreach, Howard Brown Health Center and Erie. The Alliance centrally hosts EHRS, proves technical support and training, and numerous other services including the polling of health outcome data with other federally qualified health centers—the first databank of its kind for Chicago’s medically underserved. The Alliance now works with over 20 health centers from coast to coast.

The EHRS Project has transformed the way health care is provided at Erie. Erie can help reduce health disparities—in area such as diabetes, asthma and cancer—experienced by low-income, uninsured, minority Chicago residents. Every Erie medical provider has health outcome goals for their patients. These data reports, extracted from EHRS, are provided to them each quarter. They use the data to improve the level of care they give every day, allowing Erie to have a greater impact on the health of the community, one patient at a time.

And EHRS facilitates timely care which can ultimately be life saving. Clinicians can immediately identify critical situations based on medical history accessed through EHRS. Patients are directed to appropriate level of care (ER vs. Health Center). Life-saving decisions are sometimes made because vital information is readily available.

Lumity has been successfully helping to build a strong and healthy nonprofit sector in the Chicago region for over a quarter of a century. By providing vital technology, financial support services and training, Lumity promotes the development of high-performing nonprofits by making their resources go father. This once-a-year fundraising event offers a wonderful opportunity to network with technology and financial leaders, while helping multiple organizations.

Erie Family Health Center is honored to have received this award. Dr. Lee Francis, President/ CEO and Kate Sanserino, Quality Improvement Manager, were at the Lumity Dinner to receive the award.

View the finalists of the Nonprofit Technology Leadership Award:

Erie Family Health Center is the First Organization to Ever Receive the Oral Health Champion Award

At the National Primary Oral Health Conference held November 2-4, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee, Erie Family Health Center received the distinguished Oral Health Champion Award. The honor was given as part of the National Network for Oral Health Access (NNOHA) Outstanding Achievement awards at the annual conference. In the past, this particular award has been presented to individuals; however, this year Erie Family Health Center was honored as the first organization to receive the Oral Health Champion Award. Each year NNOHA presents awards to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to high quality oral health care for underserved populations. The four awards honor presented are the Lifetime Achievement Award, Oral Health Champion Award, Outstanding Leadership Award and Outstanding Clinician Award.

-Oral Health Champion Award: Erie Family Health Center (Accepted by Dr. Lee Francis, CEO, and Dr. Ghassan Souri, Dental Director); Lifetime Acheivement Award: Dr. Neal Demby; Outstanding Leadership Award: Ted A. Kay; Outstanding Clinician Award: Dr. Charles Connell (not pictured)

Erie Family Health Center was presented the Oral Health Champion Award which honors the vision, leadership and contributions of the organization “I’m honored/excited that NNOHA is recognizing the hard work of the people who went from ‘zero to sixty’ with launching Erie’s oral health services over the past five years,” says Dr. Gus Souri, Oral Health Program Director and dentist.

Erie was selected because of its efforts in prioritizing oral health programs, a dedication to the Health Center community, continual partnership building and an ongoing promotion of oral health as part of overall health. “Five years ago, Erie had no dentists, no state of the art dental health centers and no access to oral health care for our patient population,” says Dr. Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center. “When I heard about the award, I felt a sense of great accomplishment on behalf of the achievements of our staff and the communities we serve.”

Erie Family Health Center’s Oral Health Program increases access to affordable, culturally competent oral health care for low-income Latinos on the West/Northwest sides of Chicago. Its target population is children, pregnant women, diabetic adults, their nuclear families and people with HIV/AIDS. The Program has increased access to dental care; is innovative in its use of technology and the latest oral health techniques; improves the field of community dentistry by training dental students; and has excellent internal leadership. Erie’s dental centers are state-of-the-art and provide our patients the same level of care found at the most expensive private dental offices. “This is the first national recognition for our oral health programs,” says Dr. Francis. “Although we are still growing our oral health services, this award indicates we are doing it in innovative ways.”

New Erie Helping Hands Health Center

Opened October 26, 2009

Changing lives for the better is what Erie’s new, expanded health center is all about. Designed with the Erie family – including patients, families and staff – in mind, the new health center inspires positive transformation for all who passed through the doors on October 26, the official opening day of Erie Helping Hands Health Center at 4747 North Kedzie Avenue.

Erie staff and friends of Erie on the opening day of the new Erie Helping Hands

For Erie’s patients and their families, we promise comfort and healing by offering 17 spacious exam rooms covering over 8,500 square feet. The new site has twice as many exam rooms than the previous Helping Hands location, allowing us to provide care to double the number of patients. For Erie staff, we promise a state-of-the-art facility utilizing breakthrough technology, enhanced facilities and an intelligent design to maximize efficiency in patient care.

Located in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, the new facility is situated on the corner of Kedzie and Lawrence, only one building down the former location of the Health Center. Its design will ensure it meets the unique requirements of health care providers and the patients Erie serves.

Erie Helping Hands Health Center aims to serve all its patients by providing high quality health care and treatment including Adult and Senior Services, Women’s Health Services, Behavioral Health Counseling, Case Management, Health and Wellness Programs, Children’s Health Services and Prenatal Health Services. Not only will the expanded site help patients with their health needs and concerns, but provide educational and outreach programs.

With the support of funders including, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Bowman C. Lingle Trust, Cudahy Fund D & R Fund and The Ravenswood Foundation, Erie Helping Hands will be able to offer these services to patients in over13,000 visits at the new location, which includes 4,000 additional visits a year.

Erie is opened its doors to patients at Erie Helping Hands Health Center on October 26. Look for additional information regarding the official grand opening ceremony taking place in early 2010. We look forward to seeing friends of Erie at the celebration to tour the facility and see first-hand the newest addition to Erie’s network of health care.

Orthodontics Services at Erie Humboldt Park Health Center

Erie Family Health Center is proud to announce its expanding oral health services for children by launching a new orthodontics project at Erie Dental Health Center—Humboldt Park in December 2009.  With a generous grant donation from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation, Erie will offer orthodontics to its pediatric dental patients.  Dr. Gus Souri DDS, a board certified pediatric dentist and current Vice President of Oral Health Services at Erie, has over fifteen years of extensive orthodontic training and will be the director of Erie’s newest program.

Orthodontics is an extremely costly, but needed health care service. “Even patients who have dental insurance still cannot afford to pay the out of pocket cost,” says Dr. Souri. “For example the average cost of orthodontic treatment is $5,000 most insurance companies only cover $1,000.” Only 2% of Illinois orthodontists accept Medicaid and these services are largely unavailable to children of low-income families.  Crowded teeth and misaligned bites can lead to tooth decay, gingivitis and jaw joint pains, directly affecting patients’ health more than any other chronic infectious disease. Untreated tooth decay causes pain and infections that may lead to problems eating, speaking, playing and learning. Crowded or crooked teeth can lead to speech and chewing problems, while also contributing to low self-esteem, shyness and embarrassment, especially in children.  By preventing these problems earlier in a patient’s life, more serious oral issues can be prevented from developing.

Using a high quality and self-sustaining orthodontics program developed by Dr. Souri as a model, Erie will implement the program at its dental center in Humboldt Park for patients under 19 years of age.  The program will involve staff training, community outreach, education and treatment plans for each individual patient.  The goal is to enroll 120 children in the program by its third year. Since 2005 Erie has provided oral health care to over 5,000 patients while consistently working to provide patients with high quality and affordable health services. Dr. Souri believes “by providing professional orthodontic treatment for pediatric patients, the goal is to provide better oral health and create beautiful smiles, more confident profiles and healthier bites using state-of-the-art technology.”

Erie Family Health Center Receives $25,000 from the Walmart Foundation to Assist with Healthy Women Pre-Diabetes Program

Donation to help Humboldt Park community

Chicago, IL, Sept. 17, 2009 – Erie Family Health Center today received a $25,000 contribution to assist with a Healthy Women Pre-Diabetes program for low-income, at-risk Latino women. The grant – which was given through the Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program – will work to educate Latino women about diabetes risk factors.

Ivonne Silva Erica Plaisier Amy Valukas John Bisio (Walmart) Lee Francis Margarita Sanchez Mary Sommers Nancy Serrata

“Walmart Foundation’s grant will help us to promote positive lifestyle changes to women who are at-risk for developing diabetes. This program provides health education and support to a medically underserved population in an economically challenged neighborhood,” said Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center. “Walmart is helping us change the lives of women facing unimaginable challenge and we cannot thank them enough for their support.”

The grant was presented to Dr. Francis during a check presentation ceremony held today at the Erie Family Health Center on North Avenue in Humboldt Park. During the ceremony, John Bisio of Walmart presented the check.

The program will consist of classes in Spanish that promote positive lifestyle changes to women who are at risk for developing diabetes. Erie Family Health Center will provide 150 low-income Latino women access to education about diabetes risk factors, nutrition counseling, physical activity, wellness programs, motivational tools and healthy foods.

Program participants also will receive a record of their activities and health status indicators as part of their “passport to health.” This donation also will help fund community outreach activities for local residents.

“Walmart is very pleased to be supporting Erie Family Health Center and their pre-diabetes program, and are committed to helping those in need in the communities where we serve,” said John Bisio, Walmart representative. “Through this grant, we are hopeful that these women in the Humboldt community will increase their knowledge about nutrition and exercise before the onset of diabetes.”

The contribution to the Erie Family Health Center was made possible through the Walmart Foundation’s Illinois State Giving Program (SGP). Through this program, the Walmart Foundation supports organizations that create opportunities so people can live better. The Walmart Foundation State Giving Program strives to award grants that have a long-lasting, positive impact on communities across the U.S.

Last year, the Illinois State Giving Program awarded more than $14 million to local organizations such as Special Olympics of Illinois and the Illinois Food Bank Association.  In Illinois, a team of local associates determine needs within each state, review eligible grant applications and make funding recommendations to the Walmart Foundation.

To be considered for support, perspective grantee organizations must submit applications through the Walmart Foundation State Giving Program’s online grant application.  Eligible applicants must have a current 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in order to meet the program’s minimum funding criteria.  Additional information about the program’s funding guidelines and application process are available online at www.walmartfoundation.org/stategiving.

From February 2008 through January 2009, Walmart and its Foundations awarded more than $423 million in cash and in-kind gifts, an $85.6 million increase over its global giving in the previous year.  Walmart’s FYE 2009 giving breakdown:

• In the U.S., Walmart gave more than $378 million in cash and in-kind gifts, up from $296 million in 2007.
• In international markets, Walmart gave $45.5 million in cash and in-kind gifts, up from $41 million in 2007.
• Globally, Walmart’s customers and associates gave more than $106 million through in-store giving programs that benefit local charities.
• In total, Walmart, its Foundations, its customers and its associates supported communities around the globe with nearly $530 million in charitable contributions during FYE 2009.

About Philanthropy at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support the charitable causes that are important to customers and associates in their own neighborhoods. Through its philanthropic programs and partnerships, the Walmart Foundation funds initiatives focused on creating opportunities in education, workforce development, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. From February 1, 2008 through January 31, 2009, Walmart – and its domestic and international Foundations – gave more than $423 million in cash and in-kind gifts globally. To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.

Community Health Care Executives
Complete Business Management Program at UCLA

By: Diana Hernandez, UCLA Anderson School and Joanne Fillweber, Johnson & Johnson

Community Health Care Executive Completes Business Management Program at UCLA

LOS ANGELES (August 7, 2009)—Families and individuals who receive medical services from Erie Family Health Center will be the ultimate beneficiaries of specialized management training completed by the organization’s CEO/President, Lee Francis, one of this year’s 82 graduates of the UCLA/ Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program.  The intensive two-week program, conducted at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is designed to enhance the management and leadership skills of community-based health care organization executives.

Johnson & Johnson, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and UCLA developed the program in 2002 in response to the need for community-based health care organizations to be better equipped to confront the mounting challenges in our nation’s health care and the rising cost of providing medical services.  Community-based health care organizations provide doctors, basic health services and care facilities to millions of people, particularly the medically underserved and those living in vulnerable communities.  Since the program’s inception in 2002, almost 500 executives have graduated with enhanced management and leadership skills.  Eighty-two participants, representing organizations that serve over one million patients and clients annually at 475 sites nationwide, will have graduated from the two programs in 2009.

Participants are selected through a competitive application process and all expenses and materials are fully funded by the program.  Eligibility is limited to organizations that are currently funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that assures the availability of quality health care to low-income, uninsured, isolated, vulnerable and special needs populations and meets their unique health care needs.  HRSA-funded health care organizations provide comprehensive primary and preventive medical care to more than 9 million patients and clients each year at more than 3000 sites nationwide.

“The UCLA Anderson School of Management is delighted to partner with Johnson & Johnson and the Health Resources Services Administration to bring needed management training to community-based health care organizations in order to ensure the viability of our country’s community health care providers,” said Victor Tabbush, faculty director at UCLA Anderson for the Health Care Executive Program.

The UCLA Anderson School is recognized as one of America’s premier graduate business schools. Its preeminent position is based on internationally acclaimed research, an innovative and distinguished faculty and exceptionally bright, highly motivated students chosen from one of the largest and finest applicant pools in the nation.

Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of health care products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical and medical devices and diagnostics markets. The more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies employ approximately 121,000 men and women in 57 countries and sell products throughout the world.

For more information about the UCLA/ Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program, including future program dates and application information, visit http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/healthcare.xml

Erie Family Health Center Receives the 2009 Award for Performance Measurement from the National Quality Center

August 4, 2009- CHICAGO—The Lending Hands for Life program at Erie Family Health Center has been selected as the winner of the National Quality Center’s 2009 Award for Performance Measurement. “As a program with about 150 patients, we are one of the smaller HIV programs and are honored to be recognized for the high quality care each patient in our program receives,” says Dr. Rachel O’Mara, lead provider of The Lending Hands for Life (LHL) program.

Angela Rogers, Maria Menizabel, Esther Morales, David Velez and Cindy Nguyen

The National Quality Center (NQC) created the Quality of Care Award Program to recognize Ryan White Program grantees, organizations and individuals that have demonstrated outstanding progress in improving the quality of HIV care. NQC aims to acknowledge excellence among Ryan White Program-funded grantees and promote these quality champions to further spread quality improvement. The NQC, a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau, recognizes organizations that have made exceptional improvements in the quality of HIV care in the following four categories: Performance Measurement, Quality Improvement Activities, Quality Management Infrastructure Development and Leadership in Quality.

For 2009, Erie won the Award for Performance Measurement for its outstanding efforts with The Lending Hands for Life program. This award honors Erie for significantly strengthening its ability to measure the quality of HIV care and demonstrating a strong ability to collect and share data. “This award shows that we have the clinical and Quality Improvement (QI) leaders within Erie who can put theory into practice.  They measure, they make a plan to improve a challenging issue, and then they measure again, “says Dr. Lee Francis, President and CEO of Erie Family Health Center. “Building on 20 years of our program, we have shown even more fantastic results under new leadership in just the past three years.”

In 2007 Dr. Rachel O’Mara became the director of The Lending Hands for Life (LHL) program and has vastly improved the program’s performance measurement tools. The development of accurate, innovative, user-friendly performance measurement tools has significantly advanced the LHL program’s ability to provide first rate care. “Our team is approaching quality improvement in just the right way,” says Dr. Francis. “By using accurate clinical data directly from the patient’s record, the LHL staff is taking steps to improve care. Then they measure again and see the results. It’s a great model that we are already applying to our other clinical programs at Erie.”

The participation of every LHL team member in the development and execution of the quality management and improvement program reflects commitment to excellent clinical care. “This award is important because it recognizes the change in quality of care our patients receive and I consider it a template for larger programs within Erie to make quality changes,” says Dr. O’Mara.

Dr. O’Mara will be invited to Washington D.C. on September 25 to receive the award.

Erie Family Health Center Receives $7,500 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois to Fund Outreach Efforts

CHICAGO, IL- July 7, 2009- Erie Family Health Center announced today it has been recognized by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois for its success in expanding its Women’s Health Program, and has been awarded a $7,500 grant to continue its important efforts. This will mark the third straight year of funding from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois.

“We are proud to support Erie Family Health Center,” said Clarita Santos, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Director of Community Health Initiatives. “Our mission is to promote the health and wellness of our members and our communities through accessible, cost-effective, quality health care. By supporting organizations like Erie Family Health Center, we are able to reach out to the people most in need.”
Erie is one of the 240 organizations to receive a grant in 2009 from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, which focuses its giving in three key areas: health services for the uninsured and underserved, human services and education.

Erie Family Health Center was first established in 1957 as a volunteer clinic by doctors from Northwestern Memorial Hospital. It has been Erie’s mission to ensure that all Chicagoans have access to high quality, culturally sensitive, bilingual health care services — regardless of their ability to pay. Today, Erie serves about 30,000 patients annually at ten sites, including four school-based health centers, a teen health center and two oral health centers. Erie’s mission is to provide accessible, affordable and high quality health care for those in need. We believe health care is a right, not a privilege.