Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Access Community Health Network (ACCESS) is a serving more than 170,000 patients annually serving more than 170,000 patients annually at 35 health center sites throughout the city of Chicago and nearby suburban communities in Cook and DuPage Counties in Illinois. ACCESS’ mission is to partner with patients at all points of care, providing high quality, patient-centered health services accessible to all in their own communities. Since 1991, ACCESS has focused on expanding access to health care in some of the most impoverished neighborhoods while delivering culturally relevant services to address health disparities. ACCESS serves communities with some of the worst health outcomes in the country. The demographics of our patients reflect the communities served, with 86 percent of patients living 200 percent below the federal poverty level and approximately 37,000 patients without health insurance. Over half of ACCESS’ patients are Hispanic and almost a third are African-American. Rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, low birth weight, infant mortality, HIV and other STDs, cancer mortality, mental health and substance use disorders disproportionately impact our communities. Description of Proposal: Westside Healthy Start (WHS) is a national Healthy Start leader with a 26-year history of integrating medical care, social supports and community action to improve birth outcomes and reduce infant mortality. Our urban project area consists of the densely populated community areas of Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. The area has a legacy of poverty that has perpetuated racial and ethnic health disparities. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in our target population of Non-Hispanic Black women living in this area was 8.94 deaths per 1,000 live births (n=48) between 2019-2021, compared with the Chicago rate of 5.95 and a national rate of 5. 4 (2021). Noted nationally for its basis in a medical home with access to a full continuum of care, WHS is anchored by its longstanding partnership between ACCESS and Lawndale Christian Health Center, two predominant FQHCs in the project area. Our social-medical approach to improving perinatal health outcomes encompasses community outreach and education, a case management approach that is embedded in a medical care team, and clinical care. Our collaboration with key safety net hospitals and other critical community service providers allows us to support mothers, fathers/male partners, and children in optimizing health outcomes. The WHS evaluation team provides continuous, independent feedback to program staff to support improvement of both process and health outcomes. WHS will serve 450 participants annually through direct and enabling services and an additional 250 participants annually through group education.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
