Thank you, South Side community members – we did it!
Coming together over the past year to listen, dialogue, create ideas and plan solutions has been recognized and now rewarded by the state.
We are thrilled to announce the State of Illinois has awarded health transformation funds to the South Side Health Transformation Project for our healthy community model! We are excited to soon learn the official dollar award, which we will then share with you and the community who worked hard to make this happen.
We are grateful to the Governor, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, every state legislator who unanimously voted to authorize the use of these transformation dollars, and especially our South Side legislators who empowered this project. Your input, participation and support has made a huge difference, and we are excited, humbled and ready to roll up our sleeves and start having an impact on health and health equity in our community.
As we all know, for decades, the 900,000 residents of the South Side of Chicago have experienced health disparities ranging from materially higher disease incidence and co-morbidities to significantly lower life expectancy. These health disparities reflect a history of racial inequities and underinvestment – both of which have contributed to a fragmented healthcare delivery landscape with limited resources.
Today, over 50% of all South Side residents leave the South Side to receive their care.
This unprecedented initiative – designed to address the many health challenges faced on the South Side, which have only grown more acute during the pandemic – is supported by healthcare providers including a comprehensive coalition of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), safety net hospitals and health systems – driven by community input and dedicated to fundamentally advancing health care access, health equity and better health outcomes for all of Chicago’s South Side residents.
The coalition now plans to start by establishing a new, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization – the South Side Healthy Community Organization (SSHCO) – as the vehicle by which it will facilitate, in partnership with the community, healthcare transformation on Chicago’s South Side.
As we move into implementation planning, one of our priorities will be establishing a Community Advisory Council designed to continue the collaborative efforts of identifying the needs and resources to support our Healthy Community model. This model includes hiring additional primary care physicians and community health workers, increasing access to specialists, building on community partnerships around social determinants of health like access to food and transportation, the development of a well-connected technology platform, and much more.
How we involve community organizations and roles for continued engagement are very important to this work. Once we build and staff our organization, we will begin developing the processes for ongoing and robust community input and participation.
Again, thank you for your role in making this remarkable collaborative vision a reality. As always, we will keep you posted on next steps and ways to stay involved.
South Side Health Transformation Project
