Friday and Saturday, August 2-3, marked the final events of the long-awaited program, held this year for the first time.

The six-week summer program is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate health profession college students interested in urban health. Unlike typical health and medicine curricula, it helps students learn about and investigate many of the community-level factors that impact the health of urban populations.

In the online portion of the experience, all participants took the introduction and community assessment modules, and then could choose two more. The menu included items such as access to care, infectious diseases, or exploring an environmental incident, including the Crawford Power Plant implosion, the botched smokestack demolition in 2020 that coated the Little Village neighborhood in a massive cloud of dust and debris.

To conclude the program, each student developed a capstone project applying what they learned about public health interventions to a real-world problem.

The program focuses on the unique aspects of health disparities and health care delivery in underserved urban areas. This kind of exposure to the realities of health care in areas with acute needs helps build an understanding of these communities and is a core mission of the AHEC program.

The two-day culmination events, held at the UIC School of Public Health, added some real-life skills to the toolkit of knowledge and resources they had acquired via the modules. Friday the class was joined by students from the UIC Urban Health Program for a daylong course in Mental Health First Aid; participants received their MHFA certificates at the end. Saturday morning consisted of training in administering Narcan (nalaxone) to reverse and opioid overdose, and participants were given NARCAN supplies. Both courses were provided by Rincon Family Services.

Dr. Murray

For lunch, participants were joined by public health advocate Dr. Linda Rae Murray, a former Bureau chief at the Chicago Department of Health, chief medical officer for the Cook County Department of Public Health, and president of the American Public Health Association, among many other titles. She heard the students’ capstone presentations, asking questions and shar ng her experiences.

Dr. Murray spoke informally to the group about her journey and the importance of “connecting with the reality of what is going on in the world.” In asking questions of the participants about their work, she mentioned several times the importance of practical knowledge and understanding the context of a situation. “You know more” about what is going on in the community “than the studies,” she said. After the presentations, she stayed and chatted with the students, offering personal and individual advice on their presentations and their career plans.

Summing up her career advice, she said “Don’t be afraid to apply – and don’t be afraid to reapply.”

The UHE was a joint production of the three Chicago-area AHEC centers – Chicago, Chicago South, and Northeast Illinois. Primary care is in short supply in 47 of Chicago’s 77 community areas, with extreme shortages in 12, and in five of the nine counties of northeastern Illinois. Mental health care is in short supply throughout the city and in five of Northeast Illinois counties.

The nine students who completed the UHE were a diverse group, including undergraduates, and graduate students, including MPH and clinical students. They came from four area schools – four from UIC, three from Northern Illinois University, one from Loyola, and one from Northeastern Illinois University.From top left:
Shivany Saluja just graduated from UIC and is starting to work toward her MPH degree at Yale in the fall.
Hillary Arteaga, who attends UIC and is on the pre-health track, was an assistant at a family medicine practice in Lake County.
Alexis Chappel, a graduate of NEIU, recently did a postbac and is now studying for the MCAT.
Ayona Ghosh is a rising senior at Loyal majoring in neuroscience.
Emma Hastings is an incoming freshman at NIU.
Omari Hughes is a junior at NIU.
Tatiana Reeves, who will be a sophomore at NIU this fall, is a pre-nursing major
Jessica Schlotfeldt, PharmD, a student in the UIC MPH program with a focus on health policy administration, particularly pharmacy.

Kimberly Sankar-Panchal, who was unable to join in-person, recorded her presentation.

The UHE was also an opportunity for UIC MPH candidates Kishori Raj and Jasmine Cross, who chose to work with AHEC as the applied practical experience for their MPH. Essentially serving as Chicago AHEC interns, they helped provide guidance for the students, monitored their progress, and helped organize the final events. “It’s been a really good experience for me,” said Kishori.

This Urban Health Experiences is the first of what is to be an annual summertime learning program. If you are interested in participating next year – or have students who might be interested, please contact Judith Sayad (jvsayad@uic.edu).