SINAI Urban Health Institute

Healthy Home, Healthy Child End of Project Celebration Event 

On Saturday, August 27, 2011, the Healthy Home Healthy Child (HHHC) Pediatric Asthma project held an event to celebrate the end to the HHHC Pediatric Asthma project.  The event, funded by a grant from the CDC, kicked off at Douglas Park Field House at 10:00am and was attended by 144 children and 58 adults.  Several HHHC team members were also in attendance, including Helen Margellos Anast, Gloria Seals, Sheena Freeman, Jeanette Avila, Aisha Barnes, Pat Perkins, and Rhonda Lay.  Additional SUHI volunteers included Tangula Jefferson, Linda Sabo, Lowana West and her daughter, Claudia, and Nikiya Pruitt from Lawndale Christian Health Center.

Gloria seals opened the event by thanking everyone for their participation in the asthma project and gave some remarks about the purpose of the celebration event. She thanked all the families that made it to the end with us, supported us, and allowed us into their homes for the duration of the program.  We also wanted to let the parents and children know that without them the project would not have received the data needed to complete the program and document its successes.

Following the remarks provided by Gloria Seals, lunch was served to the families. Subway sandwiches were ordered by HHHC to promote healthy eating.  There was plenty of food to go around twice for almost all the families and staff.  After lunch, the children and parents retired outside where we had hired entertainment to entertain our children with inflatable devices, games and face-painting provided by clowns.

To show our appreciation we had a drawing for the children, with one boy and one girl winning a book bag filled with school supplies. The book bag will be delivered by the CHW (community health worker) to the child’s home as a surprise.

The CHWs, Aisha, Pat and Rhonda, showed their thanks to the parents and guardians by providing a gift for each adult at the event.  The event was a great success and all the hard work and planning paid off as we witnessed the kids having a blast with face-painting and jumping around in the moon walks.

Vision for a Healthy North Lawndale

The 2^nd annual “Vision for a Healthy North Lawndale” was a day of festivities that included music, raffle prizes, and toys for the children.  Held Saturday, July 9^th, over 200 individuals and families converged on the Lawndale Plaza Shopping Center in front of Leamington Foods to take advantage of the free health and dental screenings.  Community health care providers offered a full range of needed services including HIV testing; hypertension, asthma and diabetes screenings; and pediatric dental exams.  The Helping Her Live team showed women how to use our breast health kiosk, and helped them sign up for mammography services, and the Diabetes Team provided a full healthy shopping and food preparation experience.   Participants were able to get information and assistance from Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous; learn how to save on their utility bills with CUB; search for unclaimed funds with Illinois CashDash; save money with Sam’s Club; and receive financial advice from the MasterCard Financial Outreach Program.   Parents also had the opportunity to enroll their children in programs at local charter schools; day-camp and after-school programs and other community family and youth programs.  Of course, the day would not have been complete without the kettlebell and hula-hoop fitness demonstration. A total of twenty-five health and social service agencies took part in the event.  On this day, if a family of 4 visited each vendor, they would have received services with a market value of over $700!  And, this does not include ‘found money’ with CashDash!

The idea for a community fair was originally conceived by Gloria Seals and DeShuna Dickens as a way to expose local residents to all of the services within their own neighborhood.  As the plan took root, Gloria partnered with the management of Leamington Foods to make this a reality.  Sinai Community Institute and Lawndale Christian Health Center also shared this vision, and thus “Vision for a Healthy North Lawndale” was born.  Over 50 staff and volunteers helped to make the day a success.  Leamington Foods has continuously provided unwavering support to SUHI, and is already looking forward to next year’s event. 

Helping Children Breathe & Thrive in Chicago’s Public Housing: Summer Kick-Off Events

The Helping Children Breathe & Thrive in Chicago’s Public Housing (HCBT) project was “kicked-off” at both Lawndale Gardens and Horner-Westhaven, two Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) developments.  The purpose of the kick-off events was to raise awareness about the program in each community, screen children for asthma, enroll those with asthma in the program, and most importantly to have a good time!   Residents from both developments are eligible to participate in the program’s asthma education home visits and bi-monthly building education and parent education sessions.       

Both events were extremely successful!  It was estimated that over 200 people came out for the Horner-Westhaven event on July 22, 2011.  On July 30, 2011 over 100 people came out for the Lawndale Gardens kick-off event.  Each development has one Community Health Worker that will be conducting the asthma education home visits; Myrthis Christopher of Horner-Westhaven and Kathaleen Hadley of Lawndale Gardens.  Other project staff includes Helen Margellos-Anast, Principle Investigator, Melissa Gutierrez, Program Director, Jessica Ramsay, Program Supervisor and Jeanette Avila, Research Assistant. At the events, both children and adults danced, enjoyed food, and learned more about the HCBT program and the Sinai Urban Health Institute.  This was a fantastic start to the 2-year program, and those on the HCBT project look forward to continuing to build a relationship within the communities, while teaching its residents about asthma and how to best manage it for a happy, healthy lifestyle. 

Helping Her Live Launches "My Pink Agenda" Kiosks

The Helping Her Live/Apoyándola a Vivir (HHL) program is beginning a new outreach initiative this spring.  “My Pink Agenda” will utilize computer kiosks to reach women in the North Lawndale (NL) and Humboldt Park (HP) communities. Women who access the kiosk will be able to contact the HHL hotline and staff will assist callers with getting a free or low-cost mammogram. The kiosk generates tailored magazines with information on breast cancer and mammography use. The kick-off event and press conferences were held on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at Mount Sinai Hospital and Rebaño Compañerismo Cristiano Church, the first two sites to host the kiosks. To view pictures from the event, click here.