Erie Family Health Center

This month is National STD Awareness Month. According the CDC, this month is ‘an annual observance to raise awareness about the impact of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) on the health of Americans and the importance of individuals discussing sexual health with their healthcare providers and, if sexually active, their partners.’ As mentioned yesterday by Beats Per Minute, STDs are on the rise in Illinois (and around the country).

To promote the importance of initiating open dialogue and to promote testing for STDs, Erie Teen Health Center and Erie Clemente Wildcats Student Health Center participated in the national campaign, Get Yourself Talking, Get Yourself Tested (GYT). GYT is the result of an ongoing partnership of MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation to help young people make responsible decisions about their sexual health. For over a week, both Erie health centers have been providing special education on the importance of getting tested and even wore GYT t-shirts to remind our patients to talk to their medical providers about getting tested for STDs. For more resources on GYT and how to initiate a conversation with your medical provider about getting tested, check out these sites.

Let’s give it up for the Erie staff who worked hard this month to increase awareness about the importance of getting tested!

Beats this week:

1) Did you know that this week is National Infant Immunization Week? Well, it is! Illinois public health officials took this week to remind everyone to get their infants vaccinated. In Illinois, approximately 80% of children receive the recommended vaccinations by age two.

2) Reports and sex education experts have drawn one conclusion about the sexual health of Illinois residents: sexual transmitted infections remain high (and have increased) while sexual health knowledge continues to decrease. For example, Illinois currently ranks 8th out of 50 states for highest rate of gonorrhea infections. A 2009 survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy seeks to explain these alarming rates of STIs and points to a variety of misconceptions people have about sex, pregnancy and preventing STIs.

3) A  free clinic in Los Angeles treated 1,200 people on the opening day of the clinic. The clinic, which is a temporary clinic set up for one week in the Memorial Sports Arena, utilized around 300 medical volunteers to provide health, dental and eye care.

4) A study released this week reported that parental involvement is key in maintaining the health status of adolescents with Type I diabetes. The study found that when parents did not closely follow their child’s condition, the child often experienced complications related to their disease.

5) Governor Quinn and other Illinois legislators are working to move thousands of people with mental illnesses out of nursing homes and into community settings in order to provide them with better quality of care. This move would provide these individuals with the intensive counseling and other treatment they need in order to lead more independent lives.

Earlier this week, Beats Per Minute took you into the world of a very important public health issue: health disparities in underserved communities. Cancer, diabetes and oral health – all of these issues hit very close to home for the communities served by Erie Family Health Center. For Erie, creating a healthier America begins at the community level, where care and prevention interventions are specifically designed to meet the needs of our patients and community members. Today, in honor of National Public Health Week, Beats Per Minute would like to give you the inside scoop on those Erie programs designed to reduce and eliminate health disparities experienced in our community.

Cancer

For the patients in Erie’s communities, early screening for breast and cervical cancer can be problematic, especially for those who are underinsured or uninsured and without the funds to pay for the procedures. Erie has a long-standing commitment to educating women on the importance of getting screened and working to provide better access for screening, either through Erie or external referrals. In early 2008, Erie became a lead agency for the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP). Through this program, Erie can provide either through our facilities or outside agencies free screening for breast and cervical cancers to women who qualify for the program. In the first half of this fiscal year alone, Erie enrolled nearly 400 women in the IBCCP program and provided culturally competent education about the importance of screening to nearly 12,000 people.

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With all the buzz about health care reform, the curious are asking: What does the new law mean for community health centers like Erie?  Some even wonder if the need for community health centers will vanish. In honor of National Public Health Week, Beats Per Minute is breaking down the ins and outs of health care reform and what it will mean for community health centers around the country.

Millions more to seek primary care by 2014

With the ink of President Obama’s signature barely dry on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a transformation is about to happen over the next decade.  For the first time in our country’s history, there will be a major effort to make health insurance available to almost all Americans – nearly 32 million will be added to the health insurance rolls. 

Most community health centers like Erie care for high volumes of patients without insurance (34% at Erie) or covered by Medicaid (62% at Erie). Medicaid is the federal-state partnership to provide health care coverage for those living at the federal poverty level or below.  Starting in 2014, some 16 million more people  will become eligible for Medicaid as the income limits to qualify are raised from 100% of the federal poverty level (about $22,000 per year for a family of 4) to 133% of the federal poverty level (about $30,000 per year for a family of 4). 

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The American Public Health Association has designated this week National Public Health Week. Since 1995, the United States has used this week to highlight the importance of public health and the need for improved health in our country. This year’s theme is ‘A Healthier America: One Community at a Time.’  This theme resonates with community-based health organizations, like Erie Family Health Center. For Erie, creating a healthier America begins at the community level, where care and prevention can be designed specifically for the needs of the local community.

For Erie and other public health advocates around the country, one of the most important health issues facing America today are the  health disparities that exist in medically underserved communities. That means that certain groups of people in our country—like those with lower incomes—experience health problems at greater rates than the general population.  At Beats Per Minute, we would like to highlight a few of the health disparities that hit home in the communities that Erie serves.

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Erie Beats

Check out Erie Family Health Center’s 2009 Annual Report. Click, flip and read all about what Erie was up to in 2009!

California.  The Golden State.  Hollywood.  Movie Stars.  Disneyland.  The Redwood Forest.  If the United States was a class of fifty high school kids, California would be the Prom Queen, class president and valedictorian.  It’s a place where stars are born, the surf is always high and the sun always shines.

So even when the news coming out of this sparkling gem out West isn’t positive, it certainly still remains center stage.  We’ve read, seen and listened to all the reports that have covered the California budget crisis.  As legislation continues to pass hands between Governor Schwarzenegger and Californian lawmakers, the press continues to write all about it.

Meanwhile, the state of Illinois sits at the back of the class, averting its eyes and twiddling its thumbs.  Us Illinoisans don’t want to brag (really, we don’t) but Illinois has its very own budget crisis – one that rivals the state of California. This comes as shocking to many, but by the time the Times Magazine article, “The Great California Fiscal Earthquake” hit the presses, Illinois was staring down the barrel of its own financial meltdown.

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Erie Beats

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.

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

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. Erie was specifically recognized for its innovative use of health outcome measures to improve patient care. (more…)

Beats this week:

1)  Today, the Chicago Tribune covered health care reform and its potential impact on low-income individuals in Chicago. Erie Family Health Center and other community health agencies were featured in the story by Judith Graham.

2) Four community health centers in Milwaukee received $1 million from GE to increase primary care services to uninsured and underinsured individuals. This is the second city to receive GE Developing Health funding – a three-year program providing funding to health centers.

3) According to a new report, one in four Californians under the age of 65 are without health insurance.  In the last two years, the state’s number of uninsured individuals has increased by nearly 2 million. Despite these alarming statistics, California does not actually have the highest rate of uninsured but follows closely behind Texas.

4) The story of health care reform continues to unfold. Currently, the Obama administration is putting the pressure on for House Democrats to give the green light on health care. Rep. Dennis Kucinich is the most recent Democrat to ‘flip’ their vote from ‘no’ to ‘yes.’

5) Public Health Officials in Lake County (northern Illinois) have partnered with local churches to make a final push for H1N1 vaccination. Read Beats Per Minute’s coverage on why it is still important to get vaccinated this late in the flu season.

For many, it feels like the flu has gone away. Away from the headlines on TV, the web, radio.  Away from the ERs and health clinics.  After H1N1 influenza ravished an unprepared America in the late spring 2009, and again in the fall and early winter, it has basically disappeared.  But should we let down our guard and stop worrying?

It’s true that most areas of the country are reporting either no or only sporadic (Illinois) flu activity. The most activity is in the South and in Maine.  All of it is well below epidemic levels and it’s all H1N1, not other strains of flu virus that we sometimes call the “seasonal flu.”

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