OSF HealthCare and UIC partner to improve health and wellness in urban communities
Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare is partnering with the University of Illinois Chicago to establish the Community Health Advocacy (CHA) applied research program to address health and wellness challenges in urban communities. OSF HealthCare has committed $1 million for each of the next five years and UIC will match OSF’s gift with a mix of royalty income and in-kind contributions to provide about $2 million in grants annually to support multidisciplinary projects.
The efforts will leverage grants and additional resources available from local, state and federal dollars aimed at improving access to care and removing barriers, particularly in low-income, under-resourced communities. OSF HealthCare brings expertise in driving digital innovation in health care, and together with faculty researchers in UIC’s 16 colleges and health sciences system, the CHA program will lead to innovative solutions to health-related problems that improve clinical outcomes and quality of care.
The CHA program builds on the success of the OSF Innovation Lab at the UIC Innovation Center, where interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students work together to find new solutions to combat problems in health care. Additionally, a longstanding partnership between OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s Grainger College of Engineering, known as Jump ARCHES (Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation), further demonstrates OSF HealthCare’s commitment to accelerating health innovation by connecting academia and medicine.
With the recent final approval of the agreement, the CHA steering committee will begin reviewing funding requests for existing projects and will announce the request for proposals process within a few weeks.
OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare employs nearly 24,000 Mission Partners in 150 locations, including 15 hospitals – 10 acute care, five critical access – with 2,098 licensed beds, and two colleges of nursing throughout Illinois and Michigan. The OSF HealthCare physician network employs more than 1,500 primary care, specialist and advanced practice providers. OSF HealthCare, through OSF Home Care Services, operates an extensive network of home health and hospice services. It also owns Pointcore, Inc., comprised of health care-related businesses; OSF HealthCare Foundation, the philanthropic arm for the organization; and OSF Ventures, which provides investment capital for promising health care innovation startups. More at www.osfhealthcare.org.
Jump Simulation, a part of OSF Innovation, is a collaboration between University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria and OSF HealthCare. The center replicates a variety of patient care settings to ensure novice and seasoned clinicians can practice handling medical situations in a life-like environment. Boasting six floors and 168,000 square feet, the center is one of the largest of its kind and provides space for conferences, anatomic training, virtual reality and innovation. For more information, visit www.jumpsimulation.org.
OSF Innovation, launched in 2016, is a multidisciplinary innovation center focused on internal and external innovation to solve the largest health care challenges. More at www.osfinnovation.org.
University of Illinois Chicago is a hub of innovation and cutting-edge research with a commitment to discovery and solving real-world problems. UIC is the city’s largest university and only public research institution with 16 colleges and more than 33,000 students. UIC is recognized as one of the most ethnically rich and culturally diverse campuses in the nation, a leader in providing access to underrepresented students. With one of the largest colleges of medicine in the nation, and colleges of dentistry, pharmacy, public health, nursing, social work, and applied health sciences, UIC is also the state’s principal educator of health professionals and a major healthcare provider to underserved communities. More at www.uic.edu.
As seen in UIC Today