The Narratives Behind Avicenna Community Health Center: Volunteers Reducing Healthcare Disparities and Promoting Wellness in Champaign County

Iyer, Chitra; Magerko, Katherine; Thakkar, Janki; Daniel, Claire

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/90210 Copy

Description

Title

The Narratives Behind Avicenna Community Health Center: Volunteers Reducing Healthcare Disparities and Promoting Wellness in Champaign County

Author(s)

• Iyer, Chitra
• Magerko, Katherine
• Thakkar, Janki
• Daniel, Claire

Contributor(s)

• Ahmad, Irfan
• Kouadio, Yao Bertin

Issue Date

2016

Keyword(s)

• healthcare
• non-profit organization
• academia-community partnership
• healthcare disparities
• community health
• volunteerism

Abstract

Despite the plethora of academic research and education, and wealth of other resources, and cutting-edge technology available at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; there are still many underprivileged members living in the communities surrounding this prestigious institution of higher learning. Even when considering the advances facilitated by the Affordable Care Act, the latest statistics show that approximately 13,000 residents of Champaign County continue to lack healthcare coverage (IllinoisHealthMatters, 2015). Since opening in 2010, Avicenna Community Health Center has been committed to providing uninsured and underinsured members of the Champaign Community with completely free preventative and curative health care. In addition, Avicenna provides medications through its pharmacy assistance program, caseworker services, and nutrition and exercise counseling. In order to provide this array of services, Avicenna works in an academia-community partnership, as it engages with many individuals from the University including undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty members. Students who volunteer at the clinic not only gain valuable experience within a healthcare context and have direct access to practising healthcare providers, but also provide critical services to the larger community as a whole. Avicenna has saved the community $400-600k in emergency department visit costs and has provided over 2,500 patient visits. The poster highlights the narratives and statistics behind the passionate volunteer workforce that empowers Avicenna. Who are the current and past students and faculty that volunteer at Avicenna and what motivates them to volunteer? What do they gain from their experience? How are they making an impact within our clinic, and in our local community? What does it tell us about the next generation healthcare workforce?

Type of Resource

image

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90210

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016, Iyer, Magerko, Thakkar, and Daniel

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