1 Reducing Health Disparities Among Hispanic Elders: Lessons from a Learning Network TEAM CHICAGO AHRQ Annual Meeting 2008 September 10, 2008 Washington, DC Susan Vega Senior Advocate Alivio Medical Center

2 Why is your community doing this? Address chronic diseases in Latino seniors Adult onset diabetes negatively affecting quality of life for Latino seniors and their families Need to work together to develop and implement interventions that have long- lasting effects Develop plan that depends less on clinical interventions and more on community resources

3 Chicago Area Latinos 1,071,740 Latinos in Chicago and Suburban Cook County – 22.2% of population 73% of Latinos in Chicago / Cook County are Mexican immigrants or of Mexican descent One in four will develop adult onset diabetes

4 Team Chicago’s Target Communities Little Village in Chicago – southwest of downtown Cicero in suburbs– just west of Little Village Largest number of Latinos in all of Chicago community areas and largest numbers in suburban Cook County Almost 10,000 residents % of Latinos 65 + in Little Village and 63% of Cicero Latinos 65+ live with families

5 What is the plan you hope to implement? Tomando Control de Su Salud, Stanford’s CDSMP in Spanish Additional programming, Improving Latino Health, focused on one-on-one coaching, community resources, and individualized needs Targeting two contiguous largely Mexican / Mexican-American communities - one city and one Suburban

6 Partnership Members and Roles Chicago Dept. Senior Services  Convener AgeOptions / Rush  Training / Planning AgeOptions / Alivio  Program Implementation Chicago Dept. Public Health  Data / Support Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition  Policy Rush  Evaluation Sinai Community Institute  Leadership / Support AARP  Group process Mercy  Support

7 How did the team build capacity before engaging clinical partners? Key organizations brought resources to process Alivio – Compañeros en Salud Rush – Experience connecting clinicians with CDSMP Age Options, Chicago Department of Senior Services, and Rush already funded through AoA and NCOA for CDSMP Leveraged resources to build Team Chicago’s capacity for implementing Tomando Control de Su Salud Helped to focus Team Chicago’s choice of intervention

8 How is the team engaging clinical providers? Alivio Medical Center will pilot intervention Senior Advocate pitched intervention to clinical staff Alivio process may serve as model for other clinical settings

9 Accomplishments Development of Core Working Team Development and refinement of Team Charter Development of Implementation Plan Training in Take Charge of Your Health and Tomando Control de Su Salud Schedule of Tomando Control de Su Salud classes in target communities to meet objectives of Implementation Plan Site agreements with Alivio Medical Center Tentative agreements with two additional healthcare providers

10 How was the Learning Network helpful to Team Chicago and their project? Provided impetus to take on the effort Provided assistance in focusing efforts Served as “reality check” Provided framework / template Kept project “on-track” through process, e.g., monthly Team Chicago calls and All-Teams calls Provided forum for problem-solving Provided resources, e.g, October 2007 Workshop, AHRQ Data Chartbook, NCOA-ASA HEP adjunct meeting, Site Visit, additional calls

11 Most Challenging Aspect Team process / collaborations Group learning curve Getting buy-in from sponsoring organizations Helping clinicians understand role of intervention Helping clinicians understand usefulness of lay health promotion / interventions Developing resources to meet community needs

12 Lessons Learned Take nothing for granted Everything takes longer than you think it will Be open to new ideas Be mindful of individual, group and organizational processes Keep plugging along There is no substitute for working together Remember the vision thing

13 For More Information Susan Vega Senior Advocate Alivio Medical Center 966 W. 21st Street, Chicago, IL Tel Fax