sinai in the news
SINAI URBAN HEALTH INSTITUTE TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS NOVA AWARD
AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION RECOGNIZES 5 PROGRAMS IN THE U.S.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2010
Chicago IL - Awarding the Sinai Urban Health Institute its NOVA Award, the American Hospital Association (AHA) announced yesterday that it will honor this hospital-led community effort that educates families to help prevent and reduce the severity of pediatric asthma in the Lawndale area of Chicago. Established in 1993, the AHA NOVA Award recognizes hospitals and health systems for their collaborative efforts toward improving community health.
The Illinois Hospital Association has found children in the North Lawndale area of Chicago are 1.5 times more likely to be hospitalized with asthma problems than their peers in other parts of Chicago. “We knew we had to do something about it,” said Sinai Health System president and CEO, Alan Channing. “We are honored to receive this award and believe that efforts such as this serve as models for health reform.”
Sinai Children’s Hospital and the Sinai Urban Health Institute partners with other organizations in the pediatric asthma program in order to reduce the frequency and impact of childhood asthma. Evidence-based interventions improve child and family knowledge about asthma, build caregiver confidence in their ability to manage a child’s asthma, reduce asthma triggers in the home and environment, and improve children’s medical management. Program prevention and education efforts are systematically evaluated for family and child outcomes and on cost savings.
Specifically, the pediatric asthma program, “Healthy Home Healthy Child,” provides in-home visits and education for participating families. During the visits community health educators, trained lay educators from the neighborhood, help identify and eliminate asthma triggers in the home such as mold, mice, household pets, cigarette smoke, cockroaches and cleaning products. They also review the use of asthma medications, nebulizers, and inhalers in order to assure that the asthma-afflicted child benefits the most from his or her treatment.
The awards will be given at a July 24 ceremony during the association’s annual Health Forum Leadership Summit in San Diego. Other winners are the Community-Based Alternatives to the Emergency Room in Fort Myers, Fla., Health-e-Access Telemedicine in Rochester, N.Y., Healthy Futures in Traverse City, Mich., and Healthy San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif.
About Sinai Health System
For 90 years the hospitals and caregivers of Sinai Health System have
provided medical care and social services to communities in west and south Chicago. The
Sinai Hospitals, including Mount Sinai Hospital, Sinai Children’s Hospital,
and Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital offer general acute, specialty, and rehabilitation
care as well as home health. Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital has an award winning
therapeutic rooftop garden. Mount Sinai Hospital’s Emergency Department
is a Level I Trauma Center (highest level of care) and the Sinai Children’s
Hospital neonatal intensive care unit is a Level III (also highest level of care). Sinai
Community Institute provides social service outreach for the lifestyle issues
that contribute to health while Sinai Urban Health Institute researches the prevalence
of chronic disease in Chicago neighborhoods.
Collectively these organizations and the caregivers who staff them support the
Sinai vision of being the national model for urban health care. Sinai Health
System has an unwavering commitment to quality as evidenced by Mount Sinai Hospital
being in the top ten percent nationally on over 75% of the CMS Core Measures
for quality and Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital’s 25 plus years of CARF
accreditation.
About the AHA
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations
and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities.
The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 5,000
member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, and nearly
40,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health
care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends.
For additional information about Sinai Health System, contact Dianne Hunter,
Director of Public Relations and Communications, Sinai Health System, 773.257.5228.
