Community initiatives center on educational public outreach and providing medical support during city events. The department proactively raises awareness of hands-only CPR through training and education, provides emergency medical services during mass events through logistical planning and execution, as well as volunteerism. The Department continuously focuses on improving public health and safety in conjunction with several Chicago based organizations.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital is among only 5% of the nation’s hospitals designated as an Academic Medical Center (AMC) hospital by the Association of American Medical Colleges. AMC hospitals in aggregate deliver a vastly disproportionate share of the nation’s trauma, intensive care and tertiary services, account for 21% of all hospital hospitalizations, 18% of all Medicare hospitalizations, 24% of all Medicaid hospitalizations, and underwrite 33% of all charity care. NMH is committed to providing healthcare to all members of our community regardless of their ability to pay. Every three years, NMH completes a comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment, the most recent of which was completed in 2016, in order to identify the highest priority health needs of residents in our community.

One priority health need identified by NMH’s 2016 CHNA is Access to Care. NMH collaborates with multiple FQHCs in the greater Chicagoland area to help expand access to health care, including Erie Family Health Center. Through support from NMH, Erie was able to continue to enhance their efforts to expand access to health care across all of their sites, continue to improve their chronic disease care coordination and outreach programs, and improve access to optometry and ophthalmology services. By continuing outreach, establishing new collaborations and care coordination, and re-engaging patients, Erie was able to increase the number of patients that received access to care as well as improve the number of adults receiving preventive screenings and health education. During FY2017, Erie served more than 70,000 patients throughout its organization, and provided outreach to more than 6,000 patients with diabetes and nearly 3,000 patients who were overdue for services. Part of the grant funding provided by NMH to Erie in FY2017 included support for a pioneering project that will provide travel vouchers for public transportation and rideshare companies. This support helps further Erie’s work towards improving access to care for underserved patients across the Chicagoland area from the City of Chicago to Lake County.

Dr. Chiampas, NUEM faculty, co-founder of Chicago Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Education Service (CCARES), and US Soccer Medical Director (photo courtesy of U.S Soccer by John Dorton/ISI Photos) 

For more information about these initiatives, contact the Department of Emergency Medicine at 312-694-7000.