Baxter foundation supports health advocate program training

Business Wire

DEERFIELD - A grant from the Baxter International Foundation will support a new program training high school juniors and seniors to be health advocates in their communities.

The two-year, $143,000 grant will fund data collection to measure the program's effectiveness in improving community health and building a pipeline of health care workers for the future.

The program, called the CHAMPIONS NETWork, which stands for Community Health And eMPowerment through Integration Of Neighborhood-specific Strategies using a Novel Education & Technology-leveraged Workforce, was spearheaded by the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System's emergency department and launched this past summer with 27 students from five area high schools.

The program starts with four weeks of classes and training at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine followed by a two-week internship in the UI Health emergency department, where students screen patients for health conditions and help facilitate follow up care. Students are expected to follow up with patients they screened over the following school year, and help lead health screenings in the schools and communities.

"We are committed to exposing students to careers in health sciences and empowering young people to become health champions in their local communities to help enhance access to critical care," said Stacey Eisen, president of the Baxter International Foundation and vice president, global communications at Baxter. "By training high school students to be advocates for screening and prevention, we can also help improve health disparities in underserved Chicago communities, creating lasting value for residents."