Addressing Lupus Health Disparities in the Latino Community through Collaborative Partnership

The goal of REACH LUPUS, “Roadmap for Education and Access to Care for Chicago Hispanic LUPUS ”, is to reduce health disparities in a Hispanic-Mexican community in Chicago’s Pilsen community. Our aim is to increase or improve lupus awareness among individuals where there is little knowledge of this condition. The project grew from historical self-reported lupus health disparities reported by the community.  As part of the project, a collaborative partnership was formed between four entities: Northwestern University, Salud Latina/Latino Health, Casa Michoacan, and Lower West Side Mercy Medical Clinic. All four partners played distinct roles in the project. Northwestern University served in the management and coordinating role for project oversite,  data collection and regulatory requirements;  Salud Latina/Latino Health was the primary community contact and facilitator in the design of the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) curriculum; Casa Michoacan furnished the location for support groups and community-based lupus educational events; and Lower West Side Mercy Medical Clinic provided low to no cost care to individuals diagnosed with lupus in the Pilsen community who could otherwise not afford care due to residency status, financial difficulties or difficulties with local or country of origin medical systems that were not capable of effectively providing proper follow-up or treatment for the lupus diagnosis. The focus of the presentation will be to highlight the successes and barriers of effective university-community collaboration in Pilsen with partnering organizations in this unique pilot project.