Community Healthy Lifestyles Partnership Project (C-HeLP)
Health disparities, or health differences, among different races and ethnicities are receiving increased attention as an important problem in our society. Within Chicago, Illinois, the Austin community is the most densely populated area with nearly 118,000 residents, 54% female and 46% male. Residents in Austin are 89% African American with known high rates for heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.
The Westside Health Authority is partnering with Northwestern University on a community-based research project to find out about the health needs of Austin and to help design and carry out programs to help our residents live healthier lives. Our specific goals in collaboration with this project are to build a sustainable partnership between the Austin and Northwestern University communities, design and administer a questionnaire door-to-door to determine the health issues of Austin community residents, build community-based research capacity in the Austin community, and design and implement a health intervention to address health disparities in Austin.
An important part of this program will
include recruiting Nine Community Health Advocates, Austin
residents trained by WHA and NU staff, will be conducting
300 household surveys about various health topics during the
months of March-April 2007.
For more information, please contact Tara Kato at 773-786-0249.
