248734 DuPage Patient Navigation Project: Community Partnerships at Work

Monday, October 31, 2011

Melissa A. Simon, MD, MPH , Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, ARCC Steering Committee Member, Chicago, IL
Kara Murphy , Executive Director, Access Dupage, Carol Stream, IL
Shaneah Taylor, MPH , Patient Navigation Research Project, Access Dupage, Carol Stream, IL
Nadia Hajjar, MPH , Patient Navigation Research Project, Access Dupage, Carol Stream, IL
Belinda Reyes, MSW , Patient Navigation Research Project, Access Dupage, Carol Stream, IL
Dora Monroe , Access DuPage, Northwestern University/Access DuPage, Carol Stream, IL
Charito Bularzik , Access DuPage, Northwestern University/Access DuPage, Carol Stream, IL
Carmi Frankovich , Access DuPage, Northwestern University/Access DuPage, Carol Stream, IL
Richard Endress, PhD , President, Access Dupage, Carol Stream, IL
Background: The DuPage Patient Navigation Project (DPNP) is a collaborative community based participatory research effort of the Northwestern University Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Access DuPage, the Access Community Health Network, the DuPage County Health Department Why Wait Program, DuPage Community Clinic and the DuPage Health Coalition (DHC). Methods: The DPNP focuses on navigating 600 uninsured suburban women from the point they receive an abnormal result for a breast and/or cervical cancer screening test through a diagnostic resolution. Through communication and sound relationships, the Navigation Team connects patients with the American Cancer Society, local food pantries, local townships for rent and heat assistance, healthcare providers, etc. One of the goals of this partnership is to utilize the strengths of its members to address health care disparities of medically underserved women in DuPage County with a special emphasis on breast and cervical cancer screening, treatment and prevention. Results: Our partnership has implemented various community-campus strategies which center on combining the knowledge, concern, wisdom, and perspectives of people and over 30 local community based organizations in DuPage County with higher level institutions. Conclusion: Tailored integration of this collaboration and community based participatory reserach project into DuPage County will pave the way for a self-sustaining community resource that can be a model for caring for the growing population of under-insured, and medically underserved.

Learning Areas:
Other professions or practice related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Briefly explain the construction of a community based research project whose goals are: preventing and eliminating growing health disparities in a suburban community setting. 2. Briefly discuss the who are the community partners and how they have come together to serve this particular un/underinsured patient population.

Keywords: Cancer Screening, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I am currently a NIH NICHD K12 Women’s Reproductive Health Scholar focused on the social epidemiology of cervical cancer. I am the Principal Investigator on several recent grants from the American Cancer Society on barriers low income women face in obtaining care and treatment for abnormal cervical and breast cancer screens and from the National Institutes of Health (NCMHD and NIA) focused on patient navigation-based interventions to overcome these barriers.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: The role of community partners in community based public health
See more of: Community-Based Public Health Caucus