Staff at the trauma recovery programs of the University of Chicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care work toward the same mission as community street outreach workers: caring for violently injured patients and their families and preventing future violence.
However, their daily responsibilities differ greatly, making effective collaboration a challenge despite a shared goal.
To help bridge this gap, more than 60 attendees — split between hospital response staff and street outreach workers — attended two four-day workshops this summer to learn about each group's roles and responsibilities. Participants shared the strategies and resources to address their common cause.
The workshop was curated and presented by Southland RISE (Resilience Initiative to Strengthen and Empower), a collaborative of UChicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care dedicated to strengthening the violence recovery ecosystem on Chicago’s South Side and in the South suburbs.
The trainings were hosted and co-facilitated by Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, a division of Metropolitan Family Services. The nonprofit convenes Chicago outreach organizations through the Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) network.
“This was the first time these groups have come together at this scale, and it was exciting to see those ‘a-ha’ moments, with participants realizing they have a lot in common,” said Anita Chávez-Berry, senior program coordinator for Southland RISE.
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This article was first published by UChicago Medicine.
