Health & Medicine is very pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Schweitzer Fellowships, an award given to service-minded graduate students that will enable them to conduct innovative year-long projects to help underserved Chicago communities improve their health and well-being.
For example, Virginia Leung, a Rush University medical student, is starting a vegetable garden at King Elementary School to teach children about nutrition and the environment; Kaori Ema, a UIC dental student, will provide education, information and dental screenings to improve the oral health of seniors in assisted living centers; John Ryan Hayes, a Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine student, will work with Hispanic migrant workers to meet the health needs of their community; and Ryan Hollon, a UIC Urban Planning doctoral student,will train former prisoners in restorative justice methods at St. Leonard’s Ministries. His project will aim to build community peacemaking capacity in high incarceration neighborhoods.
According to Dr. Quentin Young, chair of Health & Medicine and founder of the Chicago Schweitzer program, “There has never been a more important need for altruism in our nation’s life. The Schweitzer Fellowship – each and every year – gives rich expression to this impulse to competitively selected health students in our community, the future leaders of our society.”
Named in honor of famed humanitarian and Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the Chicago Schweitzer Fellowship provides graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines opportunities to “make their lives their argument.” Each Fellow will contribute at least 200 hours of direct service over the course of a year, and will receive a $2,000 annual stipend. Fellows also meet monthly to share ideas and inspiration, and work together to organize community service days and publicly held symposia on pertinent issues affecting the health and well being of the underserved. The program awards approximately 30 Fellowships annually.
“Promoting the service work and professional development of area students, the Fellowship immeasurably strengthens our community,” said Dr. Diane Kondratowicz, Coordinator of the Patient Centered Medicine Scholars Program at the UIC medical school.
The 2010-11 Chicago Area Schweitzer Fellows are:
Pauline Abrego, Adler School of Professional Psychology
Francois Blumenfeld-Kouchner, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Carmen Cancino, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine
Erin Cavanaugh, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine
Meenadchi Chelvakumar, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine
Sarah Cordes, DePaul University, Department of Nursing
Courtney Driscoll, DePaul University, Department of Nursing
Kaori Ema, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry
John Ryan Hayes, Midwestern University, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Rene J. Herrera, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Laura Hodges, The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine
Ryan Hollon, University of Illinois at Chicago, Urban Planning Doctoral Program
Vivian Leung, Rush University, College of Medicine
Saria Lofton, Rush University, College of Nursing
Ifrah Magan, The University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration
Toussaint Mears-Clarke, The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine
David Murray, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine
Matthew Murphy, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine
Nicole Oxendine, Columbia College Chicago, Dance Movement Therapy and Counseling
Adam Paberzs, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health
Shalonda F. W. Patterson, St. Xavier University, School of Nursing
Cherese Pullum, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing Doctoral Program
Sangeetha Ravichandran, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA in Art Therapy
Brittlyn Riley, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MA in Art Therapy
Sara Rosenthal, DePaul University, Department of Nursing
Scott Schwartz, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry
Alicia Stapleton, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine
Mara Terras, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine
Chung (John) Won, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago Medical School
Benson Wright, Rush University, College of Nursing
Melanie Younger, Loyola University Chicago, School of Law
In 2010, an anonymous local funder awarded Health & Medicine a two year challenge grant for our Chicago Area Schweitzer Program; pledging up to $25,000 for 2010 and for 2011 (up to $6,250 per donor per year).
We hope you will help us leverage this exciting opportunity by donating generously! Your contribution—increased by the match from this visionary funder — will help ensure that The Chicago Area Schweitzer Program and our Fellows for Life Network continue to serve as vital and powerful mechanisms for change.
To meet funder guidelines we must input the donations manually into our donor system.
Download the Donor Response Form and Instructions
Thank you, in advance for your support of this program!
Author: Nadia Chivers, Policy Intern, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Editor: Kristen Policy, Policy Analyst, Center for Long-Term Care Reform, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
The Outlawing of Physical and Chemical Restraints
Since October 1990, nursing homes across the country have had to comply with a federal mandate, The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, that restricts the use of inappropriate physical and chemical restraints on nursing home residents unless the restraint is necessary to treat their medical symptoms.
Physical restraints restrict a person’s movement and may include leg and arm restraints, hand mitts, vests, ties, and trays/tables/bars that cannot be removed from a chair or bed and limit the person’s mobility.
While the use of physical restraints in nursing homes serves some legitimate purpose, unnecessary use has drastically reduced in the past 20 years. The same cannot be said for the use of chemical restraints. While psychotropic drugs are often an essential form of treatment in nursing homes, they become chemical restraints when they are used to control a resident’s behavior rather than administered for medical purposes.
The misuse and overuse of psychotropic drugs on nursing home residents has been well documented and is now considered by some experts to be the newest form of nursing home abuse. It is estimated that 1 in 4 patients in the U.S. receive anti-psychotic drugs and 15,000 nursing home patients are killed each year due to unnecessary anti-psychotics.
As a response to the inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs in Illinois nursing homes, the Illinois Nursing Home Safety Task Force (The Task Force) has included in its Final Report a recommendation that a policy be developed to assure these drugs are used properly.
Danger of Chemical Restraints and Lack of Regulation
The dangers associated with chemical restraint are just as severe as those associated with physical restraint. Misuse and overuse of psychotropic drugs may result in overdose, malnutrition and dehydration, the inability to feel pain, brain injury, bed sores and other skin conditions, chemical dependence, choking, and death.
The lack of regulation surrounding the use of psychotropic drugs in nursing homes is one reason why these drugs are so frequently misused. Currently, there is no policy prohibiting doctors from practicing off-label use of drugs. For instance, an anti-psychotic drug to treat mental illness may also be prescribed for non-mentally ill patients, even though the FDA may not have approved the drug for such conditions. The Task Force received complaints about inappropriate use of drugs – including that “psychotropic drugs were repeatedly used for unapproved indications,” (see Recommendation 28 and Highlights of Public Testimony in the Task Force Final Report). There is also no oversight as to the doctors writing the prescriptions or the actual administration of the drugs. The Task Force found that only a few physicians prescribe the majority of psychotropic drugs for people with mental illness, frequently doing so without even seeing the resident. This could be a result of the practice of drug-makers paying doctors to promote their drug.
Additionally, the Task Force found that nursing home staff could administer the drugs “as needed” without first consulting a doctor. As long as there is a valid prescription signed by an Illinois-licensed physician, the nursing home cannot be cited for improper use of the drugs.
Lastly, Illinois does not require nursing homes to receive residents’ consent for each psychotropic drug administered. According to a December 20, 2009 Chicago Tribune report, since 2001 hundreds of nursing home residents in Illinois have been given psychotropic drugs without their permission.
Illinois Nursing Home Safety Task Force Recommendations on Use of Chemical Restraints
In its Final Report, the Task Force includes Recommendation 28 to “Develop a policy to assure proper use of psychotropic drugs for people with serious mental illness and dementia” as a result of the many complaints it received regarding inappropriate use of psychotropic drugs.
To achieve this, the Task Force offered “Next Steps,” which include implementation of policy changes that consist of standards for the appropriate use of psychotropic medications being developed in consultation with the Illinois State Medical Society, Illinois Psychiatric Society, University of Illinois College of Medicine, and other potential clinical and academic partners. A workgroup devoted to this issue has convened and is currently preparing a rulemaking report for state agencies which is scheduled to be completed on April 23, 2010.
While the use of physical restraints in nursing homes is no longer a widespread problem, the use of chemical restraints is. With the deadline of the workgroup report nearing, we should all stay-tuned to see how it plans to address the inappropriate and dangerous use of psychotropic drugs in Illinois nursing homes.
If you want to become more involved in this issue, please post your comments and ideas below or directly on the Nursing Home Safety Task Force website. Finally, if you suspect your loved one is being chemically restrained in an Illinois nursing home facility, contact your regional ombudsman who will investigate your complaint.
