SINAI Urban Health Institute

2nd Annual Vision for a Health North Lawndale Family Health and Wellness Fair

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 DuShuna 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. 

 

Sinai's 2011 Avon Walk Cheering Station

Over 60 people joined the Sinai Cheering Station this year at the 2011 AVON Breast Cancer Walk in downtown Chicago.  Family members, neighbors, children, and friends gathered at Buckingham Fountain to provide walkers with one final boost before they crossed the finish line of their 39 mile/two-day walk!  The Cheering Team then headed over to AVON's emotional and moving closing ceremony where AVON representatives and others celebrated the accomplishments of the Chicago Avon Walkers, honored survivors, and presented checks to various organizations around the city, including a check to the Helping Her Live Program for $1.25 million.

 

Helping Her Live Launches "My Pink Agenda" Kiosks

The Helping Her Live Project 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.

The Humboldt Park event was also featured in the Humboldt Park Portal.  Click here to view the story.

 

Helping Her Live featured in BET documentary

The Helping her Live Project was recently featured in a documentary on the BET channel discussing the breast cancer disparities in Chicago and ways to address this disparity.  Click here to view the documentary.

 

Helping Her Live Coordinator Featured in La Raza

Giselle Vasquez, one of the coordinators of the Helping Her Live Project, was featured in La Raza Newspaper.  The article covered topics such as access to mammorgram screenings and treatment options for uninsured and undocumented women.  To read more, click here.

 

Past Community Events, 2010

North Lawndale October Breast Cancer Forum

The 2010 North Lawndale Community Forum was held in partnership with the United Baptist Church on Saturday October 23, 2010 from 9:00am-12:30pm. Due to the event being held in a church, the program began with an opening prayer by the associate pastor of the church, praise dancing by the church’s dance ministry and several testimonies by four African American breast cancer survivors. The program also included distinguished guests such as President Emeritus of the Cook County Board of Commissioners Ms. Bobbie  L. Steele and Dr. Angell Jones, breast surgeon from Mount Sinai Hospital. In an effort to support community businesses breakfast was catered by Alice’s Restaurant, a soul food restaurant from the Austin area. Several volunteers from the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, Greater Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, United Baptist, and other community members supported the event by decorating, serving breakfast, and registering attendees. Women who were interested in a mammogram were given the opportunity to sign up for an appointment on site with an HHL staff member. Overall, the large breakfast forum was very successful. One hundred and twenty women attended and were very engaged with the program. The survivor testimonials were powerful and unforgettable. Due to the success of this program and the community’s anticipation of this annual event the Health Minister of United Baptist would like for this event to be repeated in 2011. The vision is that next year’s event will have the theme “North Lawndale Churches United Against Breast Cancer”. The date is tentatively set for Saturday October 29, 2011.

Humboldt Park October Breast Cancer Forum

Helping Her Live held a second breast health forum at Community Health Clinic (CHC) on Tuesday, October 26^th, 2010 from 6:00pm-8:30pm. Program Speakers for the evening included an internal medicine physician, Dr. Kimbra Bell from Northwestern Memorial Hospital and a three year breast cancer survivor Floridalma Rivera. Guests of the event enjoyed a free dinner catered by Passions Cuisine. Additionally, each guest was presented with a gift bag filled with educational brochures, pamphlets, planners, breast cancer ribbons, and AVON jewelry. One distinctive feature of this year’s Humboldt Park breast health forum is that guests were able to receive a clinical breast exam and their mammography referrals the very same day at the event by a primary care provider or nurse practitioner who donated their time. If guests were not an existing patient of CHC then they had an opportunity to sign up for a primary care appointment on site with one of the HHL’s community health educators.

Both forums created a community space for women, family members, friends and neighbors, to learn and ask questions about breast cancer and sign up for breast health services. Furthermore, both forums were tremendously successful in galvanizing the communities HHL serves. We are very proud of the collective efforts that were made to make these events a success and look forward to continuing to partner with the community to have equally successful events next year.

A Day of Action: “Call to Action to Save Women’s Lives”

The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force held its 3rd Annual Report Back to the Community on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at First United Methodist Church in Chicago, IL. This event brought together health care professionals, advocates, community support groups and the general public to support the need for increased funding for breast cancer screening through the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program. Hundreds of participants rallied to call for more state funding to the IBCCP Program which has been severely underfunded.

SUHI epidemiologist who have documented breast cancer disparities say that if the disparity in breast cancer mortality rates did not exist in Chicago about 100 Black women’s lives would be saved each year. Dr. Whitman spoke about the disparity at the rally saying, “What we want today is to kick into motion a campaign to eliminate this disparity, not just for black women but for Hispanic women and Asian women. We want everyone to get the same benefits we have to offer for health care.”

The HHL program had a strong presence at the event educators Wanda, Celevia, Naomi, Regina, and Pauline worked hard to gather women from our targeted communities. Staff from the HHL program arrived at the event with a busload of women and SUHI members were equipped with signs and our banner. The HHL program would like to thank all of the SUHI staff members who were able to attend and support us during this rally.

Leamington Foods presents a Vision for a Healthy North Lawndale Family Health and Wellness Fair

On June 5, 2010 Leamington Grocery Store, located in the heart of North Lawndale, provided space for this health fair.  We invited over 15 vendors to participate and provided over 15 different screenings and/or other health services.  Greater Chicago Food Depository provided over 150 lbs. of produce to give away to the community.  Leftover produce was given to customers shopping at the store at the end of the day.  Click here to view a photo from this event.

Sinai's 2010 Avon Walk Cheering Station

The Sinai Cheering Station had over 50 participants from different departments throughout the Sinai Health System.  Several breast cancer survivors and Sinai patients came out to join the Cheering team.  Ami Shah of SUHI along with over 3,400 walkers including over 300 breast cancer survivors walked 39.3 miles to raise money for breast cancer initiatives in the Midwest.  Together they raised $7.7 million.  Kristi Allgood, evaluator of the Avon funded Safety-net Navigation Program, accepted a check for $250,000 on behalf of the Sinai health System at the closing ceremonies of the Walk.  Despite the rain, the weekend was fun and exciting and several Sinai caregivers and family were inspired to walk next year (June 4-5, 2011).  Click here to view additional photos from the event.

32nd Annual Puerto Rican Cultural Center's People's Parade

On Saturday June 19, 2010 the Puerto Rican Cultural Center continued its tradition of the state’s largest gathering in support and celebration of the island of Puerto Rico and its people. Approximately 1, 500 people gathered and watched community leaders, dignitaries, floats and marching bands proceed west down Paseo Boricua (Puerto Rican passageway) in Humboldt Park. This year’s HHL marching group handed out 640 leaflets to women who were of mammogram age as survivors, clients and volunteers of the HHL program held signs with educational messages on our decorative float. This parade was a vehicle for all Puerto Ricans and friends to express their pride and connection to the Puerto Rican culture and spirit and presented a creative and exciting method for SUHI’s breast cancer and diabetes program to raise awareness about pressing health issues affecting the Humboldt Park community.  Click here to view pictures from the event.

Past Community Events, 2009

Breast Cancer Month Awareness Community Forums, October 2009

In October 2009, HHL hosted four community forums to reach out to women about the importance of breast cancer screening and to raise awareness about HHL program.  At each forum, HHL staff spoke about the serious disparities plaguing the North Lawndale and Humboldt Park communities, reported back on the results from the HHL Community Survey administered with 2,200 women the previous year, and provided opportunities to sign up for breast cancer screenings.  We reached several hundred women during October. 

Highlights from the four forums are summarized: HHL Community Forums

Community Walk, August 2009

On Saturday, August 1, 2009, the Helping Her Live (HHL) program joined together with Open Streets Chicago to hold its very first Community Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. Close to 200 women, men and children who lived in North Lawndale, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and other Westside communities and suburbs walked 3K in celebrating survivors and women who get routine mammograms, while remembering our angels.

Highlights of the day are summarized:  HHL Walk Summary

Photos from HHL Community Walk: Snapfish photo album.  **NOTE:  If you do not already have a free Snapfish account, you will have to create one.  To do so, click ‘Start Here' from the Snapfish homepage.

Helping Her Live Outreach Activities

Free Breast Health Awareness Educational Workshops
HHL Community Health Educators are available to make 1 hour presentations and lead a discussion for anyone in the community interested in learning more about breast health. Workshops present information on breast health, how to get low cost or free mammogram in your area, what to do if you have an abnormal mammogram, how to resolve suspicious results, how to obtain necessary follow up treatment services and what to expect at every step to ensure optimal breast health for all women.

Community Events

We also attend various community health fairs and events to get the word out about the HHL program and its services. By partnering with local city councilmen, community leaders/advocates, writing articles for local newsletters and participating in local fairs, we are spreading key health messages about getting a mammogram and sharing information on how to obtain preventative health screenings. If you know of an event and would like to involve HHL, please contact us.

Hotline – 1-877-HER-LIF2 / 1-877-437-5432

The HHL Hotline is designed to help women navigate the healthcare system in their area and find services that are accessible to them.  The Hotline serves as a tool for scheduling mammography appointments, assisting callers in receiving free or low-cost mammograms (if the caller is uninsured), assisting callers in understanding the results of their mammograms, serving as a reminder for their annual mammograms, and providing callers with answers to any questions or concerns they may have about breast health. 

Community Partners

HHL is a team of dedicated health educators and epidemiologists prepared to help women receive the breast health services they need and deserve. Our community partners include the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Sinai Community Institute and the West Humboldt Park Development Council.