Commissioner Choucair from the Chicago Department of Public Health presenting a lecture course at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine's Health Care Disparities Lecture Series.

1. Chicago Department of Public Health
Commissioner Bechara Choucair, M.D.
City of Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Bechara Choucair, MD
Commissioner
Chicago Department of Public Health
@ChiPublicHealth #HealthyChicago
Health in Chicago: Barriers and Opportunities
September 16, 2013

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. The Role of Public Health
2. The Healthy Chicago Public Health Agenda
3. Partnering with Healthy Chicago
4. Students for Healthy Chicago

3. POPULATION HEALTH
• The health outcomes of a group of individuals
• Focuses on improving health inequities

4. CORE FUNCTIONS &
ESSENTIAL SERVICES

5. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. The Role of Public Health
2. The Healthy Chicago Public Health Agenda
3. Partnering with Healthy Chicago
4. Students for Healthy Chicago

6. HEALTHY CHICAGO
PUBLIC HEALTH
AGENDA• Released in August 2011
• Identifies priorities for action
for next 5 years
• Identifies health status targets
for 2020
• Shifts work from one-time
programmatic interventions to
sustainable system, policy and
environmental changes

7. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
• Improvement in the public’s health requires a
commitment to health equity and the elimination of
racial and ethnic disparities
• Healthy environments are key
• Persons of lower SES are often exposed to fewer
factors that promote health and more factors that
damage health
• Healthy choices must be easy and desirable

9. From Sampson R. Great American City. 2012; p. 105 & 106.
CHICAGO:
PERSON, PLACE, TIME

11. HEALTHY CHICAGO
CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
TRANSFORMING THE
HEALTH OF OUR CITY
CHICAGO ANSWERS THE CALL

13. HEALTHY CHICAGO
TARGETS

14. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
IT’S ABOUT HOW WE
BEHAVE AS A CITY

15. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. The Role of Public Health
2. The Healthy Chicago Public Health Agenda
3. Partnering with Healthy Chicago
4. Students for Healthy Chicago

16. TOBACCO USE

17. TOBACCO USE
SMOKE-FREE CAMPUSES
 3 Colleges / Universities
 6 Hospitals
 6 Behavioral Health Organizations
 686 Public Housing Units
Over 3,250 units of private smoke-free
housing

18. TOBACCO USE
Joint Enforcement

19. OBESITY PREVENTION
Chicago
Streets for Cycling Plan 2020

20.  Over 200 miles of on-street
bikeways, including almost 35 miles
of barrier and buffer protected bike
lanes.
 3000 bikes to share at 300 stations
by end of summer.
OBESITY PREVENTION

21. Dearborn Street - Before Dearborn Street - After
OBESITY PREVENTION

22. Bike Sharing in Chicago
3,000 bikes
300 stations
by the end of summer 2013
OBESITY PREVENTION

23. Health Goals
 Increase the number of
pedestrian trips for
enjoyment, school, work,
and daily errands
 Increase the mode share of
pedestrian trips for
enjoyment, school, work,
and daily errands
OBESITY PREVENTION

24. OBESITY PREVENTION

25.  14 licensed carts operating
 41 vendors trained
 30 carts planned for 2013
OBESITY PREVENTION

26. OBESITY PREVENTION

27. A Recipe for Healthy Places
•Released in January 2013
•Includes six community- based
planning strategies to support
healthy eating
OBESITY PREVENTION

28. A Recipe for Healthy Places: Strategies
1. Build Healthier Neighborhoods
2. Grow Food
3. Expand Healthy Food Enterprises
4. Strengthen the Food Safety Net
5. Serve Healthy Food and Beverages
6. Improve Eating Habits
Check out the food plan - www.cityofchicago.org/hed
OBESITY PREVENTION

29. HEALTHY MOTHERS &
BABIES
15 hospitals working towards
Baby-Friendly Designation

30. ADOLESCENT
HEALTH
 CPS hires chief health officer
 Dually reports to CDPH
 CDPH creates Adolescent and
School Health Office

31. ADOLESCENT
HEALTH
Revised Wellness Policy
 Competitive Foods Policy
 Expanded STI Screening
 $26M New grants
• CTG – Healthy CPS
• Teen Dating Matters
• Teen Pregnancy
• Farm to School
• Wellness Champions

32. BUILDING ON POLICY
SUCCESSES
Mayor Emanuel Takes Action to Protect
Chicago’s Kids from Menthol Cigarettes

33. BUILDING ON & ENGAGING
PARTNERSHIPS

34. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. The Role of Public Health
2. The Healthy Chicago Public Health Agenda
3. Partnering with Healthy Chicago
4. Students for Healthy Chicago

35. WHY POLICY?
• Population-wide impact
• Little amount of money
goes a long way
• Sustainable

36. POLICY, SYSTEMS, &
ENVIRONMENTAL
CHANGE
• Focus on broad, systemic changes, not individual
interventions or programs
• Upstream solutions to improve health outcomes for
everyone
– Addresses root causes of poor health

37. PROGRAMS/EVENTS
• Short term
• Generally has beginning and end
of intervention
• Distinct target audience
• Reliant on funding or other
support for replication
• Doesn’t impact environment
• Lessons learned can inform policy
POLICY OR ENVIRONMENT
• Institutionalized
• Equitable reach
• Sustained beyond individual
champion or specific funding
• Ongoing without start and stop
times
• May still need programmatic
elements to achieve desired
impact
Engaging in the policy change process, medical professionals
can expand the reach, breadth, and sustainability of their
clinical practice = IMPACT
WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE?

38. Socioeconomic Factors
Changing the Context
to make individuals’ default
decisions healthy
Long-lasting
Protective Interventions
Clinical
Interventions
Counseling
& Education
Examples
Poverty, education,
housing, inequality
Immunizations, brief
intervention,
cessation treatment,
colonoscopy
Fluoridation, trans
fat, smoke-free
laws, tobacco tax
Rx for high blood
pressure, high
cholesterol, diabetes
Eat healthy, be
physically active
Smallest
Impact
Largest
Impact
WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE?

39. Neighborhood Community State National
Healthy
Chicago Target
PopulationScale
Geographic Scale
Impact of
clinical
practiceIndividual
Single Sector
Multiple Sectors
Entire Population
Impact of
policy changes
POLICY CHANGE TARGET

40. POLICY, SYSTEMS, &
ENVIRONMENTAL
CHANGE
Put your thumbprint on policy!

41. WHY SHOULD YOU GET
INVOLVED?
Primary prevention part of mission?
• Health care professionals have a natural incentive to improve the
health of all people and the environment in which we live.
Position to influence behavior?
• It is essential to lead by example.
• People trust medical professionals with their lives – literally.
• People look to their medical professionals for health information.
• Time and time again, political polling demonstrates that doctors
are among the MOST RESPECTED sources of health information,
which puts you in a unique position to influence public policy.
• Healthcare system will bear burden of chronic disease.

42. NOT READY TO PLAY AT
THE STATE/FEDERAL LEVEL?
Work toward institutional policy changes!
Little p: Institutional policies
Worksite policies/investments
NGO policies
Individual school policies
Norms and standards that drive other action
BIG P: Public policy
Legislation
Regulations
Zoning/land use
Taxes
Public budgets

43. BECOME A HEALTHY
CHICAGO PARTNER!
• For example, test new policies that improve the food and
beverage environment at University of Chicago
• Adopt Healthy Chicago practices
• Ask if there is an open seat on the CPS School Wellness
Committee for the school in your neighborhood
• Email us at healthychicago@cityofchicago.org

44. @ChiPublicHealth
312.747.9884
facebook.com/ChicagoPublicHealth
HealthyChicago@CityofChicago.org
www.CityofChicago.org/Health