sinai in the news
Sinai Pediatric Asthma Program chosen as finalist for national award for serving children with asthma and their families
CHICAGO (February 2, 2011) – Sinai Pediatric Asthma Program (www.sinai.org) of Chicago, has been recognized by the Premier healthcare alliance and its member hospitals for serving nearly 1,000 children with asthma and their families since inception.
Since 2000, the Sinai Pediatric Asthma Program has implemented four successful pediatric asthma interventions using community health educators and/or case managers and well-defined study designs. Through these efforts, they collected extensive process measures describing different aspects of the community health workers’ activities, such as number of home visits, time spent in visits, activities during the visit, time spent on medication instruction, and referrals made. They have also collected, analyzed, demonstrated improvements, and disseminated results in outcome measures such as emergency room visits, hospitalizations, quality of life indices, and cost-effectiveness.
Sinai Pediatric Asthma Program was one of six organizations nationally recognized as a finalist for the 19th annual Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award. The Cares Award, sponsored by Premier and its member hospitals, honors exemplary efforts by not-for-profit organizations to improve access to healthcare for the underserved.
"It is an honor to be recognized for a decade of work on eliminating asthma disparities. Sinai Urban Health Institute’s work in this area exemplifies our commitment, and that of our parent organization, Sinai Health System, to serving as a national model for the delivery of urban health care," said Helen Margellos-Anast, Senior Epidemiologist and Program Director.
Representatives from the Sinai Pediatric Asthma Program were presented with a cash award of $24,000 during Premier’s annual Governance Education Conference, which took place in Hollywood, Fla., January 31-February 2.
A panel of national healthcare leaders selects the winner and five finalists, which all receive cash awards for use in further improving their programs. The Cares Award program spotlights these community-based healthcare initiatives and helps other organizations learn to replicate these best practice programs by featuring information about them on the Cares Award website.
"These organizations represent the spirit of what social responsibility truly means," said Susan DeVore, Premier’s president and CEO. "Each program truly makes a difference in their communities by helping medically underserved populations gain access to healthcare and knowledge that they may not otherwise receive. The Premier healthcare alliance is honored to recognize them for transforming the way healthcare is delivered."
About the Premier Cares Award
Premier has presented the Cares
Award annually since 1992, when it was created by Dr. Monroe E. Trout, former CEO of American Healthcare Systems, one of Premier’s heritage organizations. The program has provided more than $3 million to more than 100 organizations nationwide. The Cares Award winner receives a cash grant of $70,000, while five runners-up receive $24,000 each. The competition is open to not-for-profit organizations that have been in existence for more than two years, are providing creative solutions to health status improvement, can provide documentation of outcomes and impact on a specific population, and have programs that can be replicated in other communities.
