Chicago-based alliance receives national recognition for efforts to boost community health.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 1995--Advocate Health Care and its partners in the Metropolitan Chicago Community Care Alliance have been recognized as one of 25 finalists in a national competition for innovative leadership and ongoing initiatives to improve community health.

The alliance will receive a three-year demonstration grant of approximately $225,000. Alliance partners include: the Cook County Department of Public Health; Northeastern Illinois University; the Chicago Synod; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Chicago Metropolitan Association; Illinois Conference; United Church of Christ; and Advocate Health Care.

The alliance's vision for the communities surrounding each of Advocate's eight Chicago-area hospitals is that they become supportive of healthy behaviors, responsive to individuals and families in crisis, and able to provide medical, social and spiritual services in an accessible, timely and efficient manner to all of their citizens.

The alliance is the only Chicago-area finalist recognized in the competition. Winners were announced Aug. 22 at the Annual Convention and Exhibition of the American Hospital Association (AHA) in San Francisco.

As part of the grant, the alliance will build upon activities and partnerships already implemented in Park Ridge, Des Plaines and Niles -- the communities surrounding Lutheran General Hospital -- and then expand to work with the communities surrounding Advocate's seven other hospitals.

In the Lutheran General Hospital area, the alliance promotes good health through six partnership programs: the Des Plaines Health and Empowerment Program; congregationally-based services; the Corporate Risk Reduction Group; Healthy Community Partnerships; the Chronic Care Network for Older Adults; and continuums of care.

Partnership programs include some that focus on overall community health needs and others that target the health needs of specific populations, including Hispanics, older adults and employees.

The Des Plaines Health and Empowerment Program addresses the health needs of underserved populations and is focusing initially on the area's substantial Hispanic community.

Hispanic community members and individuals representing community organizations such as schools, police and park districts have been involved in every aspect of the program since it began in 1993. They have been active in the planning and implementation of community-based activities, including a door-to door assessment of community needs and strengths.

Under this program, Advocate Health Care and the Cook County Department of Public Health are jointly staffing programs at the Genesis Center of Health and Empowerment, a bilingual primary care center that opened in July 1995. A county nutritionist is available to all center clients, who also have access to primary care physicians supported by Advocate. The health department will also provide WIC nutritional services and case management services at the center.

Through 36 interdenominational congregations, the alliance promotes health and healing through parish nursing, primary prevention screenings, health promotion programs and pastoral counseling.

The Corporate Risk Reduction Group (CRRG), operated jointly by Northeastern Illinois University and Advocate Health Care, works with area employers to reduce employees' health risks and hold down health costs. The CRRG identifies the major drivers of health-care costs, involves physicians in improving treatment planning and provides health education for employees.

Healthy Community Partnerships involving Park Ridge, Niles and Des Plaines are intended to enhance the quality of life for all citizens. In partnership with the mayors' offices, these programs assess community health needs through telephone surveys. The partnership with Park Ridge has implemented programs that focus on vaccination, stress reduction and bicycle safety.

Advocate's Chronic Care Network for Older Adults links hospital, home health, physician, adult day care and nursing home services to continuously improve care for their clients. Staff from each site work together to develop best practice guidelines that provide continuity of care as older adults move from one site of care to the next.

The Chronic Care Network is an example of Advocate's implementation of a continuum of care -- a linking of services to decrease fragmentation in the delivery of health-care services. The continuum relies on strong physician involvement, emphasizes primary care and operates effectively in a managed-care environment. Advanced information systems are essential to a continuum, which is driven by continuous quality improvement.

"The grant will support the alliance in its efforts to increase the accountability of health-care organizations to the communities they serve and give those communities a greater role in shaping the delivery of health care at the local level," said Stephen L. Ummel, chairman of the board and co-chief executive officer, Advocate Health Care. "We are well along the path to achieving that vision," he added.

The Cook County Department of Public Health has a defined strategy of population-based care in its strategic plan.

Karen Scott, M.D., director of the county's Department of Public Health, said, "Our priority is to increase access to community- oriented primary care in order to promote disease prevention and fill the service gap for many residents of the northwest suburbs.

"What better way to achieve this vision than to pool the resources and expertise of a range of organizations and community members -- linking services and bringing them into community locations easily accessed by all community members."

All grant recipients were selected to serve as models for other communities to observe and follow.

"We are thrilled with the energy and understanding of community health needs demonstrated by the Metropolitan Chicago Community Care Alliance," said Mary Pittman, Dr. P.H., president of the AHA's Hospital Research and Educational Trust (HRET). "Being selected as a grant recipient shows what an asset your partnership is to your community and all those you serve. You are exercising national leadership in reshaping the future of health care in America."

The 25 alliance finalists were selected in a process that began more than a year ago with the announcement of a $6 million commitment from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The foundation awarded the money to the HRET, which is collaborating in the grant program with the Catholic Health Association of the United States and VHA Inc.

Oakbrook-based Advocate Health Care is Chicagoland's ninth-largest employer and one of the largest health-care organizations in the Chicago area. It has more than 20,000 employees, 3,500 physicians and 180 sites of care, including six owned and two affiliated hospitals with more than 3,300 beds.

Advocate is one of the nation's largest religiously sponsored health-care organizations, related to both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ.

CONTACT: Advocate Health Care

Dan Parker, 708/990-5606 (office)

312/465-2542 (home)