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Abstract #154181

Steven Rothschild, MD, Departments of Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, 1700 W. Van Buren, Suite 470, Chicago, IL 60612, (312) 942-3476, Steven_K_Rothschild@rush.edu, Jaime Delgado, Community Outreach Intervention Project, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, 1602 W. Taylor St. (MC 923), 859 SPHPI, Chicago, IL 60612-4394, and Steven Whitman, PhD, Sinai Urban Health Institute, 1500 S. California Avenue, Mount Sinai Hospital, K439, Chicago, IL 60608.

In a recent study of a Puerto Rican community in Chicago, the Sinai Urban Health Institute documented diabetes prevalence and mortality rates that were three times the reported US rates. Several months before journal publication in December 2006, findings were shared with community-based organizations (CBO's) and leaders that participated in the study. Community representatives asserted that these devastating findings should not be announced without proposing some type of immediate public health action. A city-wide Task Force composed of CBO's, NGO's, healthcare providers, and researchers was formed to produce a plan for amelioration of this huge burden of morbidity and mortality.

Both the journal article and the Task Force plan were shared with the broader community and released to the media together at a well-attended (> 200 people) community event. This in turn has led to a rapid and vigorous community response, as virtually every elected official from the area, every community-based organization and many professional groups have sought to participate in this unfunded collaborative effort. Such enthusiastic and wide-spread participation is generally viewed positively, but is not without disadvantages and risks.

We will discuss how epidemiological findings have been turned over to the community, how community representatives have responded, and the subsequent response of academics and health professionals. Although the ultimate impact of this process is not yet known, we can share the process by which statistical data have been transformed into a robust community organizing effort.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how health data can drive public health policies and practice.
• Discuss how community members, researchers and health providers collaborated to address the burden of diabetes morbidity and mortality in one Chicago community.
• Present the advantages and challenges of taking community action to improve health.

Keywords: Diabetes, Community-Based Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No