PEORIA, Ill. — An upcoming series of healthcare discussions will be lucrative for voluntary participants, while also helping to possibly bring grant dollars to Peoria.
The Healthcare Collaborative, a local group of organizations and healthcare agencies whose focus is health equity, has scheduled a series of such discussions for people who live in the 61603, 61604, and 61605 zip codes.
“Those are the zip codes in Peoria that house our most vulnerable populations,” said Sarah Donohue, Director of Research Services at University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria.
“Those are where the immediate income is the lowest. There’s a lot of homelessness in that area, as well, and we’re basically specifically targeting the most vulnerable populations in Peoria, to try and get them healthy and better access to healthcare.”
Topics covered will include cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, and mental health.
“These were identified through a series of conversations with the public health department. They do needs assessments every three years in Peoria to determine the top issues,” Donohue said.
“We’re really excited about it, because we can speculate all we want about what we think the problems are, but until you talk to the residents, and a lot of different residents, you just don’t know for sure.”
Each participant will receive a $30 Walmart gift card. Space in each group is limited to 10 people, and a person may not sign up to participate in more than one discussion.
Interested parties should contact Dr. Sara Kelly at skelly88@uic.edu or call 309-671-8454.
Donohue talked about the endgame for these discussions.
“Our hope is, once we have the input and understand what the problems are in our area, we’re going to apply for funding to bring money into the area to actually make changes that are effective,” she said.
“And of course, we’ll be monitoring these processes to ensure whatever we’re implementing is going well and, if not, what can we do to change it along the way?
“The goal is really to create health equity in Peoria.”
Meenakshy Aiyer, Dean of the U of I College of Medicine Peoria, will lead each discussion.
The Healthcare Collaborative includes the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine Peoria, Peoria City/County Health Department, OSF Healthcare, UnityPoint Health, Heartland Health Services, Heart of Illinois United Way, AMT, and Bradley University, Carver Community Center, Hult Center For Healthy Living, East Bluff Community Center, Friendship House, St. Paul Baptist Church, Peoria Public Schools, Greater Peoria Family YMCA, and the East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services.
Full information from Donahue:
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