Several Illinois municipalities will use nearly $3.5 million in federal funds to aid their COVID-19 recovery.

Forty-two American Rescue Plan Act-funded grants are heading to municipalities to accelerate local economic recovery initiatives. The grants are allocated through a program overseen by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to promote economic recovery.

Kane County will use $150,000 to support and study the pandemic's impacts on industry, mental health and broadband access, while the city of Springfield will receive $150,00 to develop a downtown and medical district master plan. Coles Together will receive $150,000 to develop a regional plan focused on COVID-19 recovery and economic infrastructure.

"These grants will help communities craft economic development plans that reflect the specific impact of the pandemic on their region, with the opportunity to apply for funding to put the plans into action in the future,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

 See the full list of recipients here.

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An adequate supply of health care workers (HCWs) is critical for delivering high-quality care. Before COVID-19, HCWs were already experiencing increased burnout¹ and turnover, raising concerns about the sustainability of the health care workforce. Given the threat of COVID-19 to the health and well-being of HCWs, we examined changes in unemployment among HCWs from January 2015 to April 2022.

For the full article visit this page.

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The Housing Authority of Cook County, in partnership with the community, is hosting the first-ever women’s resource expo on October 5th. The Expo will be a one-stop shop for women experiencing homelessness, women who have endured domestic abuse, and women who have experienced incarceration.
 
Resources available include counseling, transportation, food, clothing, shelter, child support services, primary health care referrals, screening for blood pressure, vision, HIV testing and care, veterans’ information, employment services, mock interviews, education/training services, and a variety of other social service agencies and you. 

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• About 63% of physicians surveyed experienced at least one manifestation of burnout in 2021, shooting up from 38% in 2020 and representing the highest amount in a decade of recurring survey findings, according to an article published this week in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

• Mean scores for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were higher in 2021 while satisfaction with work-life balance dropped. Meanwhile, depression scores were relatively stable, “suggesting the increase in physician distress in this interval was primarily due to increased work-related distress,” the authors wrote.

Full article here>

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Racial mental health disparities cost the United States around $278 billion between 2016 and 2020, putting a price tag on a health equity issue that’s long plagued the nation, according to researchers from the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine with support from Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. [Patient Engagement HIT]

The researchers looked at the national prevalence of mental health needs, care utilization, additional healthcare costs attributable to mental health disparities, and premature death across indigenous and racial or ethnic minorities. The analysis showed that, between 2016 and 2020, the US saw an excess of 117,000 premature deaths among indigenous and racial or ethnic minorities due to mental health needs.

All said, the excess cost due to these mental health disparities was $278 billion. That additional cost burden links back to mental illness, substance use disorder (SUD), and suicide, the researchers said.

These findings indicate that the healthcare industry needs to make more judicious investments in mental and behavioral healthcare, according to Daniel E. Dawes, JD, DHL (Hon).

“Investing in mental healthcare saves lives and dollars — we have known this for decades, but until now did not fully understand the monumental impacts of neglecting to act,” Dawes, a professor and the executive director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and author of the Political Determinants of Health, said in a statement.

Full article here> 

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The DuPage County Board on Tuesday approved a $5 million allocation for food pantries to help the County’s neediest residents experiencing food insecurity.

Members of the Board had received requests from local food pantries for funding, and at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting, they heard a presentation about the difficulties facing County food pantries, including a dramatic increase in the number of clients in need of food, increases in food costs, and a decrease in donations from food suppliers.

The Board agreed to provide:

• $1.75 million to Northern Illinois Food Bank to allow for the purchase of fresh produce, diapers, and personal hygiene and cleaning products for DuPage County food pantries.
• $1 million to Northern Illinois Food Bank’s 46 partner agencies in DuPage County. A cash assistance distribution will be created and approved by the County Board in October.
• $2.25 million for investments in distribution infrastructure, including refrigerated vehicles, distribution hub facilities, technology improvements, or future grant opportunities.

Funds for the proposal were provided through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which provided DuPage County with more than $179 million to assist with recovery efforts and expenses related to COVID-19.

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The number of children under age 19 without health insurance fell to 3.9 million in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on health insurance coverage released today. That’s 475,000 fewer children without coverage than in 2020. [US Census Bureau]

The uninsured rate among children decreased 0.6 percentage points to 5.0% between 2020 and 2021, driven by an increase in public coverage such as Medicaid and CHIP.

Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2021 shows that children received coverage from a variety of sources. Most children (61.9%) had private coverage primarily through their parents’ plan (Figure 1) but a growing share above the poverty level were covered by public programs.

Many lower-income children qualify for public health assistance programs, such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

More>

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Time to review influencers - where they live, how they can get to work and school, whether they can easily access health and other essential services, how they socialize with family members and friends, and ultimately if they can thrive in a physical environment that supports healthy outcomes.

Some potential strategies and action steps include focusing on community design, street design and land use policies that make it easier for people to access physical activity, jobs and other essential services, and on the engagement of stakeholders in planning decisions.

More>Transportation_Health_Community_Driver.pdf 

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A coalition of law enforcement groups renewed calls Wednesday for policymakers to allocate some of the millions of dollars headed to Illinois from opioid settlements to support early childhood programs.  [Health News Illinois] 

Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley, speaking on behalf of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois, told reporters during a virtual press conference the best way funds can be used is for early interventions.
 
"The research is very clear that, whether it's in the education context or the context we're talking about here, the earlier the intervention, the better,” Hanley said.
 
Illinois officials earlier this summer laid out plans to spend the state’s roughly $760 million share of a nationwide opioid settlement with three drug distributors and a pharmaceutical company.
 
That includes the creation of an officer within the Department of Human Services to administer the funds and ensure they align with the state’s opioid overdose action plan.
 
Rock Island County State's Attorney Dora Villarreal said it's important to focus additional resources on programs that aid the most vulnerable residents.
 
"We strongly believe that more needs to be done to protect all the children affected by this epidemic," she said.
 
Law enforcement leaders issued a statement this spring calling for funds to be used to reduce the likelihood that children will grow up to abuse opioids and commit crimes.

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