The Proviso Partners for Health was awarded a grant from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to support their efforts to improve community health. Proviso Partners for Health (PP4H) is comprised of Loyola University Health System, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing as well as Proviso-Leyden Council for Community Action (PLCCA), Proviso East High School, Triton College, Cook County Department of Public Health and several other community organizations.
"We are thrilled with the energy that has resulted from PP4H and look forward to the resources and support from IHI," said Joanne Kouba, PhD, RDN, LDN, associate professor and director of dietetics education programs at Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
PP4H is one of 24 communities that is part of the spreading community accelerators through learning and evaluation (SCALE) imitative which is made possible by a $4.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"The SCALE initiative will help to share the knowledge and experience of health equity solutions that benefit community transformation," said Lena Hatchett, PhD, assistant professor and director of Community and University Partnerships at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
SCALE helps communities further their capability to improve the health of targeted populations and develop ways to share and spread community-driven approaches across the country.
"After reviewing hundreds of impressive applications, we are pleased to welcome these 24 communities to the SCALE initiative and to bring them together to deepen their ability to create effective improvement and to generously share what's currently working in various locales," said Soma Stout, MD, MS, principal innovator in SCALE and external lead, health improvement, IHI.
"We are excited to be awarded the grant and look forward to supporting PP4H," said Armand Andreoni, director of community benefit at Loyola University Health System.
SCALE is designed to jumpstart an unprecedented community-to-community learning system right out of the gate in that the initiative matches four "mentor communities" - those with a recent track record of achieving better health - with 20 "pacesetter communities" that are seeking to accelerate their pace of change. PP4H has been named a pacesetter community and will support policy, systems, and environmental change through the Proviso East High School Wellness Committee, Mujeres Unidas Job training, and the Proviso East Entrepreneurial garden.
"PLCCA understands the health disparities in the community we serve, therefore we are excited to know we can build health equity within our community by evaluating the positive results of healthy environmental change," said Andrew Martin, vice president PLCCA.
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