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Office of Community Engagement IU Indianapolis

LISC Indianapolis receives IUPUI Spirit of Philanthropy Award

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Susan Kigamwa

 The Office of Community Engagement recognized the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis during the 2017 IUPUI Spirit of Philanthropy Awards Ceremony held on April 4, 2017.

This university-wide event honors individuals, corporations and foundations that have contributed to IUPUI programs through gifts and voluntary services.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis is the local office of the country’s largest community development corporation dedicated to transforming distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities—good places to work, do business, and raise children.

IUPUI Office of Community Engagement has received more than $100,000 in the last two years to support the development of the River West Great Place on Michigan Street a mile west from the IUPUI campus; working together to make transformational change, improving the quality of lives in the community.

To receive the award on behalf of LISC Indianapolis was Deputy Director, Tedd Grain.

Students from IUPUI and beyond bring health and legal services to an underserved Indianapolis neighborhood

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Jennifer Boehm

The IU Student Outreach Clinic (IUSOC) was created half a decade ago to bring medical services to Indianapolis’s poor and underserved. But it’s hard to say who’s gotten the most out of the arrangement – the near-eastside neighborhood that receives everything from free medical checkups to physical therapy to dental work, or the Indiana University students who provide them.

Headquartered at the Neighborhood Fellowship Church on the Indianapolis near eastside, the clinic offers free primary care to the area’s underserved and uninsured. The surrounding community contains approximately 15,000 homes, with 50 percent of residents living at or below the poverty level. Not surprisingly, medical services can be spotty, due to everything ranging from lack of insurance to transportation.

The seed for the facility was planted in 2008, during the darkest days of the Great Recession. Dr. Javier Sevilla-Mártir, Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Director for Hispanic Health and Global Health in the IU Department of Family Medicine, struck up a friendship with James Strietelmeier, pastor of the Neighborhood Fellowship Church. The activist minister had turned his place of worship into a de facto community center, offering everything from a clothing bank to free Sunday dinners, which led Sevilla-Mártir to ask if they might have room for one more community project.

“I said, ‘Hey Jim, what do you think about having a student-run free clinic in this church?’” Sevilla-Mártir recalled. “He couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘We have been praying for this for 12 years.’”

The IU Student Outreach Clinic came to fruition shortly after this conversation and has developed into a successful program that truly assists the community.

The IUSOC sees patients every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Treatment is overseen by IU faculty, but most of the clinic’s day-to-day operations are handled by boards composed of student volunteers. There’s a myriad of university departments and outside agencies contributing to the project, including IU School of Nursing, IU School of Medicine, Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, IU School of Dentistry,  IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Science Department of Physical Therapy, the University of Indianapolis Krannert School of Physical Therapy, Department of Occupational Therapy, IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indiana Legal Services, and IU School of Social Work.

Jason W. White, fourth-year medical student and 2014 Medical Board Chair of the IU Student Outreach Clinic, says he “got hooked” by the project as a first-year student. The early years of medical school are mostly filled with book learning, but he longed for a chance to help patients. White said. “I volunteered and I really loved it and I kept going back. I’d love to continue working with the underserved. I could even see myself working in a clinic like this, where I could really do some good.”

Dental work also plays a big part in the clinic – so big, in fact, that dentistry students operate from a separate location a few blocks from the Neighborhood Fellowship Church and offer services every-other-Saturday which include, among other things, free cleanings, filling and extractions for roughly two-dozen patients.

“I feel that we’re really developing a dental home for the community,” said Virginia Young, fourth-year dental student and the clinic’s Student Chair. “We’re seeing a lot of patients come back for continued care. One of the most rewarding aspects is relieving people of pain, either with a filling or a tooth extraction. Relieving pain is wonderful.”

There’s already anecdotal evidence that IUSOC care is both improving community health and cutting medical expenses. Pastor Strietelmeier reported that before the clinic opened, he found himself shuttling parishioners to receive medical attention frequently and since the clinic arrived he has only had so two or three times.

For the community, the benefits of the clinic go far beyond affordable medical care. Sevilla-Mártir thinks it also reassures residents that they have a lifeline to get help, and gives them a chance to build relationships and friendships with the young professionals staffing the facility.

Sevilla-Mártir would also like to see the clinic concept expand its geographic reach by opening other Indianapolis facilities. And why stop there? The South Bend and Terre Haute satellite IU campuses have already set up their own, and Bloomington is looking into the idea. Sevilla-Mártir would like to see one at every IU-affiliated campus around the state.

“So now we just wish and hope that one day all nine campuses will have a student clinic,” Sevilla-Mártir said. “Expansion is the main plan for the future.”

SOURCE River West Entrepreneurship Center facility opening this spring

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Source River West logoWritten by Teresa Francis

SOURCE River West Entrepreneurship Center is a catalyst project of the River West Great Place initiative. Its goal is to create an environment where entrepreneurs are welcome and contribute to an equitable and thriving neighborhood business sector by fostering place-based entrepreneurship through coaching, education, training, and resources to support aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.

While IUPUI serves as founding partner and fiscal agent for the launch of this work, the intent is for this project to stand on its own in the River West area. SOURCE River West has partnered with the local Westside Community Development Corporation, with support from LISC Indianapolis, to rehabilitate the new space at 2230 West Michigan Street that will serve as a physical hub for aspiring and existing business owners in the area. An open house for SOURCE River West is being planned for May 2, 2017 from 5-8pm during Small Business Week.

Through partnership with the Indy Chamber’s Business Ownership Initiative (BOI), foundational business courses and coaching have already begun with the first Kauffman Business Owner Education Series course completed last fall and the next course to kickoff April 13. For more information or to register for the Kauffman course, click HERE.

New Director of SOURCE River West

IUPUI is pleased to announce the hiring of Mark A. Roger as the first director for the SOURCE River West Entrepreneurship Center.  Mark was chosen after a four-month search by a committee that included members from the Near Westside, LISC, and IUPUI staff and faculty, and began his work as director on February 20, 2017.

Mark’s expertise is entrepreneur education and assisting those aspiring to be small business owners throughout Indiana.  Since 1993, Mark has worked with entrepreneurs from “start-up plan” to “right-size plan” to “succession plan.”  He is a graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington (4th generation Hoosier), a Myers-Briggs Certified Instructor, and past columnist for the IBJ.  His personal experience as a small business owner provides a unique perspective to help his clients identify real opportunities, risks, and timing to make sound decisions.

Most recently, Mark worked as a franchise broker providing entrepreneur due diligence and business principle education for the SBA, the ISBDC and SCORE statewide.  He founded the E Round Table – a public-private entrepreneur educator collective and recently began his second season leading the successful Entrepreneurship Carmel Discussion Series at the Carmel Public Library.  Mark is an active civic leader, both locally and nationally, focusing on economic development, leadership development, and servant leadership.

“We are looking forward to creating a space where business ownership inspiration, education and coaching are readily available – from start-up to scale-up,” Roger said. “One of my favorite sayings is that the entrepreneur is the artist of the business community – and it’s important for artists who have actually done the artwork to work with younger artists on their business plan. A passion of mine is introducing promising entrepreneurs to the brushes, canvases and techniques for them to create their own work of art.”

For more information on the SOURCE River West Entrepreneurship Center, visit http://www.sourceindy.org/ or contact Mark Roger at maroger@iupui.edu.

IUPUI partners to host Community Health and Resource Fair in the Martindale Brightwood area

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Teresa Francis

IUPUI students, a faculty member, and a community advocate collaborated to create the Martindale-Brightwood Community Health and Resource Fair to improve access to and raise awareness of resources in the neighborhood. The fair will be held Saturday, March 25, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm at 37 Place, 2605 East 25th Street in Indianapolis.

According to SAVI from the Polis Center at IUPUI, in 2013, the average income in the Martindale Brightwood area was $23,825 compared to $41,361 for all of Marion County. Additionally, the community had 25% less employer-based health coverage, 10% more deaths by accident, and 9% more persons with a disability across all age ranges, indicating a need for greater access to health prevention and early intervention resources.

In acknowledgement of the social determinants of health that impact members of the Martindale Brightwood community, Registered Nurse to Master of Science in Nursing students Lindsey May and Emily Wolf, faculty member Dr. Wanda Thruston, and IUPUI Office of Community Engagement staff member Mary Studley identified key stakeholders in the community.

“Our approach was to look at the assets that are currently available in the community and to build on what was already there,” said Studley. “This event is an effort to build relationships between the residents and community-serving agencies so they better serve the community. It’s about building engagement so it’s not a one-time thing.”

The community resource fair will provide access to multiple health prevention and early intervention resources with an emphasis on pediatrics and geriatrics in response to the needs of the community. Proposed direct services include immunizations for kids, booster immunizations for middle school students as well as podiatry checks and neurology checks for senior citizens. Additional services that will be provided will include services hosted by IUPUI student outreach programs. “Good foot care for senior citizens is a front line of defense to prevent falls and to improved health,” said Studley.

This event will not only provide direct services to the community, but will also serve to increase visibility of resources and help lay the foundation for partnerships among resources to better serve their constituents.

“From a university standpoint, my hope is to create a storyboard that can be presented to other faculty to spark ideas to become more involved in the community,” said Thruston.

Thruston is working to establish an ongoing relationship with the Martindale Brightwood area to address health disparities and to conduct focused research.

“Community members are confirming the need for the health fair. They have expressed to me that they are really glad that it’s happening,” said Studley.

For more information on the fair, please contact Lindsey May at ljmay@iupui.edu or Emily Wolf at estorkma@iu.edu.

Dr. Joan Duwve: Addressing the complex challenge of substance abuse

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Jennifer Boehm

Social scientists have a word for the complex and difficult issues that face our society. They call them ‘wicked problems.’ One of the wicked problems that challenges our society today is substance addiction. Fortunately, we have faculty members like Dr. Joan Duwve who are actively involved in, and making progress on, addressing this complicated issue.

Dr. Duwve serves in dual roles – as the Associate Dean of Public Health Practice at the Fairbanks School of Public Health and Chief Medical Officer at the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). At the ISDH she works on a range of projects including outbreak investigations and co-chaired, with the former state’s Attorney General, a Task Force on prescription drug abuse.

In January 2015, warning signs started coming in to ISDH from Scott County, Indiana. The ISDH received reports of three diagnoses of HIV linked to injection drug use. In response, disease investigation specialists were sent to the area to confirm the tests and identify risk factors and patterns of contact.

“On average, Scott County would see fewer than one new case of HIV in a year and 11 were diagnosed in a month,” said Duwve. “We quickly started to see connections between those infected who named the same contacts.”

As a microcosm of an alarming national trend in opiate addiction, Scott County became home to a significant number of people who had started with prescription painkillers, namely OxyContin, and transitioned to the injection of drugs. When OxyContin was reformulated so it couldn’t be injected, a stronger opioid named Opana quickly filled the void.  The sharing of needles to inject drugs led to the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV. Between November 2014 and November 2015, 181 cases of HIV infection were diagnosed in Scott County. Of them, 87.8% had reported using the opioid oxymorphone (Opana) and 92.3% also had Hepatitis C virus.

Then-Governor Pence issued an executive order on March 26, 2015 declaring a public health emergency in Scott County. The order called for a coordinated, multi-agency response to provide means to address the outbreak of HIV. The order also allowed for a needle exchange program and a regional public awareness campaign called “You Are Not Alone” which focused on drug treatment, infection prevention, safe sex, needle disposal, and HIV testing and treatment.

“One of the particular challenges of Scott County is that there was nowhere to get treatment for HIV or drug addiction,” said Duwve. “They have only one family doctor and there weren’t any addiction treatment providers in Austin, the community most affected.  Half the people we interviewed in Austin reported they had bought Suboxone [a drug used to treat opioid addiction] on the street to stop using.”

The ISDH and the local health department set up a community outreach center with testing, counseling, insurance enrollment, and care providers. Several infectious disease doctors from IU School of Medicine worked with the family doctor to start treating people with HIV.  Churches offered transportation and meals.

The Scott County situation highlights the need to address how the medical community deals with pain and overreliance on prescription medications.

“We know we have a prescribing problem,” said Duwve. “The Task Force worked with the state medical licensing board to develop rules and a toolkit for using best practices for prescriptions, to set realistic patient expectations, and to encourage use of alternative methods to address pain.”

As a result, Indiana and Rhode Island led the nation in decreasing opioid painkiller prescriptions.

Another complexity to this issue is the severe shortage of treatment providers for persons with addictions.  One estimate is that one million people nationally aren’t able to access effective treatment. To address this, the federal government increased the limit on the number of patients a physician can prescribe Suboxone to and the Task Force worked with the legislature to permit an expansion of opioid treatment programs affiliated with community mental health centers or hospitals. Most primary care doctors have not been trained to treat addiction. But, that is changing.

“We need to address the stigma of HIV, addiction, and treatment,” said Duwve, who believes that a turning point in the Scott County situation was when Jeanie White Ginder, mother of Ryan White, spoke at the local high school about the stigma of HIV.

Now, LifeSpring community mental health center is co-located with the syringe exchange program run by the Scott County Health Department right in the community so people can get clean syringes and meet with counselors if they are ready to get treatment for their addiction.  The family doctor in the community is treating HIV and Hepatitis C.  Everyone works together to provide food and clothing, and help with other needs of people in the community.

When Dr. Duwve was offered an opportunity to become a faculty member at the Fairbanks School of Public Health, she was intrigued by the prospect of introducing students to public health practice and helping local health departments with academic support.

“It has created great opportunities for students including paid internships with hands on experience,” said Duwve. “And I’ve had the opportunity to connect many colleagues at the university to people at the Department of Health for projects.”

The students and faculty will continue to work on our society’s wicked problems.

Recruitment of diverse nursing students enhances health

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Vernon Williams

Cultural competency in the medical profession is a matter of life and death. IUPUI remains at the forefront in facing the challenge head on.

“Bridging Health Equity Across Communities” is the theme of the 2017 National Minority Health Month in April – orchestrated annually by the US. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the Black Medical Association, blacks remain disproportionately diagnosed with serious illnesses and at a more advanced stage. Sobering statistics still confirm higher mortality rates for African Americans for stroke, heart disease, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and homicide.

The “health bridging” theme articulates the need to raise awareness of efforts across health, education, justice, housing, transportation and employment sectors to address factors known as social determinants of health; specifically, influences of environment as well as social and economic conditions.

The IU School of Nursing is a leading proponent of that broad-perspective mindset, intensifying minority recruitment and efforts to continue to build into curriculum student-community engagement that create better understanding, sensitivity and rapport across the board.

Improved health in minority communities directly correlates with increasing health care providers of color coupled with enhancement of cultural competency throughout the profession, says Marsha Baker, director of diversity and enrichment, IU School of Nursing Indianapolis Center for Academic Affairs.

“More representation of minorities in the health profession will contribute to reduction of disparities,” Baker contends, adding, “The biggest push is to increase diversity among health care team members which will improve the accuracy of health information and raise levels of trust in information and recommendations provided by health professionals.”

Baker said cultural competency is critical, particularly as part of the curriculum because many health care providers have not identified of their own misperceptions and biases about patients of different races, genders, ethnicities, nationalities, religions or sexual orientation.

Baker said, “Not necessarily all, but many health providers’ perceptions are developed from what they were taught in school coupled with their own life experiences. While some widely held may be true, many are myths that hinder minority patients receiving the best possible care.”

A 2015 article in the Huffington Post entitled: “White Doctors in Training Believe Some Disturbing Stuff About Black Patients” corroborates that view, reporting that:

  • 40 percent of first-year medical students and 25 percent of residents believed the myth that Blacks’ skin is thicker than whites
  • Twenty nine percent of first year students believed Blacks’ blood coagulates more quickly than whites
  • 21 percent of first-year students believe Blacks age more slowly than whites
  • One out of five first-year students believe Blacks have a stronger immune system

According to that same report, in terms of factual or true biological differences, just 49 percent of first-year students and 46 percent of residents believe whites are less likely to have a stroke than are blacks. Only 25 percent of first-year students and 29 percent of residents believe the fact that Blacks have denser, stronger bones.  Just under half of first-year students believe that Blacks are less likely to contract spinal cord disease.

Baker reiterates the urgent need to hire more faculty of color, enroll and graduate more nurses of color as well as promote curriculum and community interaction that broaden understanding and sensitivity of all health professionals to diverse groups.

The theory of better care through more diverse health care providers is the focus of a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology that found Black patients were 20 percent less likely to die or have major complications if they received treatment at a racially diverse hospital, as opposed to a hospital with less diversity.

Being understood by a doctor or nurse is key to receiving better medical care.

One of the challenges in preparing high school students interested in nursing is the rigorous admission testing. Once enrolled, curriculum is demanding. Lower levels of science and math prior to admission is a problem for underrepresented populations – particularly international students.  IUPUI is addressing the issue.

Baker said, “We’ve started a year-long pilot program centered on theme-learning community involving 25 incoming IUPUI pre-nursing students.  The TLC will consist of a faculty, an academic advisor, and student mentors. My goal for the TLC is to provide hands-on learning opportunities to help pre-nursing students acclimate to IUPUI, prepare to apply to IUSON, learn about the necessary skills to be successful in nursing school, and examine diverse perspectives within the nursing community through science and volunteering.”

Organ transplant survivor gets a second chance that keeps on giving

Posted on by Teresa Francis

Written by Teresa Francis

A recent dialysis patient and organ transplant survivor is on track to have a more promising career thanks to IUPUI’s Workforce Readiness courses. Qourtney Bush’s life-changing circumstances ended up becoming a part of her journey of life experiences to inspire others and grow in her career.

“A second chance is a gift that keeps on giving if you go ahead and take it,” Qourtney recalls.

Qourtney became interested in the medical field when she was undergoing treatment as a dialysis patient. Through the multitude of prescriptions, Qourtney’s curiosity blossomed as she pondered the differences in drugs, how they worked, and how insurance companies processed payments for them.

In July 2014, Qourtney received a call that she would be receiving a life changing organ transplant. She also learned about the IUPUI Workforce Readiness program, and was specifically interested in the Pharmacy Technician program.

IUPUI’s Workforce Readiness courses support the unemployed and underemployed in their move to living wage career opportunities and offers a variety of programs, ranging from Pharmacy Tech to Human Resources Management Assistant.

Qourtney received her transplant shortly after, and was ready to begin her journey by registering in the Pharmacy Technician class. Upon completion of the program, Qourtney’s career began to skyrocket; she was hungry to learn more and to advance her career.

“Though it’s not a requirement to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) as part of the course, I sought this certificate in order to gauge my preparedness to enter a new field,” said Quortney.

The certification paid off. Quortney applied for a Pharmacy Technician position at Community Health and was immediately hired.

Within a year of working as a Certified Pharmacy Technician, Qourtney was ready to build on her knowledge and reviewed additional courses offered by IUPUI. “I wanted to be as employable as possible, and secure myself in a position where a computer could not take my job or I cannot be downsized,” she said. To be knowledgeable, resourceful and a major asset to any team in a hospital setting, she enrolled in the Patient Access Specialist (PAS) program.

“My main motivation behind this is because I am an ex-felon. I know that I really have to market myself and be prepared,” Qourtney said.

Upon completion of the PAS program, Qourtney took advantage of the PAS internship at HealthNet Southwest Health Center. “The Internship was great,” Qourtney said. “I loved it, because not only was I a prospect for employment, but I got a chance to see if this is what I really wanted to do.” During the exit interview, the manager recommended that she apply for the PAS position at HealthNet Southwest Health Center. She did and was hired.

The first days on the job were not overwhelming, even though there was a lot to do, because the hands-on experience she received during the PAS internship prepared her for the job.

“Through this position, I feel that I brighten each patient’s day. I don’t mind hugging them and showing them that I care. Because I was a patient, I empathize with them,” she said. “You never know what someone is going through, and how just one eye contact, smile, compliment or act of kindness can prevent a tragedy.”

She said, “Sometimes God puts it on my heart to share my personal story about being a dialysis patient. Patients are usually in disbelief and reply, ‘You were a dialysis patient?’ and I reply ‘You don’t have to look like what you’ve been through.’”

Qourtney currently holds a full-time PAS position at Southwest Health Center and is working part-time at Meijer as a Pharmacy Technician. She is excited about the opportunity for advancement and will continue to hold both types of positions until she finds a job that combines both skills.

She showed gratitude for the instructors and staff members at IUPUI for encouraging and consistently going above and beyond. “The instructors would ensure everyone was retaining the lessons by staying late to help with equations and calculations even when they had their own personal things to attend like anniversaries and being with their own children,” she said. “They also helped with resumes, etiquette, giving advice and sharing the inside scoop of what employers are looking for. I appreciate them for everything that they’ve sacrificed and everything that they do selflessly.”

Qourtney tries to spread the word about IUPUI’s Workforce Readiness courses because she believes that they are an asset to the community. She loves the idea of how affordable the program was and how she didn’t have to take out student loans. She said, “You’re able to make a way for your family and yourself. These classes not only help the participant’s household, it helps others by giving hope.”

Click here for more information about IUPUI Workforce Readiness programs. If you’d like to contact Family, School and Neighborhood Engagement, please call 317-278-2000 or email in-fsneweb@iu.edu.

River West Art Park a reflection of hope envisioned by a Great Places community

Posted on by Teresa Francis

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