Residents of Chicago’s South Sides have faced numerous systemic bias barriers throughout the years. They have stood tall and fought hard to rise above housing, medical, economic, and employment disparities. Most of which they are still struggling to reach equality with. On top of these inequities, South Side residents also carry a high cancer burden along with cancer death rates twice the national average and cancer being the second-leading cause of death.
Plans for Cancer Center on the South Side
These facts caused the University of Chicago Medicine to create plans to build a 500,000-square-foot cancer hospital in Hyde Park. The $633 million plans will hopefully help address the health inequities on the South Side and attract patients from across the region.
Dr. Kunle Odunsi, director of UChicago Medicine’s Comprehensive Cancer, said they hope the massive cancer center would be able to allow patients to receive nearly all of their cancer care at the facility. This would eliminate them having to go to multiple locations for tests and treatments.
The new center will have 128 beds for patients who need to stay overnight along with space for outpatient services and procedures. It will also be able to facilitate cancer patients needing urgent care and be a hub for cancer research. They will also be enrolling South Side patients and others to participate in clinical trials.
Create More Room
Dr. Odunsi said the beds at the new center would free up the 128 beds at the University of Chicago Medical Center. This would create more room for patients with other complex needs at the often-packed facility. The hospital experienced frequent near-capacity moments even before the COVID-19 pandemic, he added. “This will have a major impact in terms of our ability to take care of patients coming from our South Side community.”
Building a cancer facility in Hyde park “provides a unique opportunity to not only meet the needs of cancer patients in the new hospital but also meet the needs of other noncancer patients as well,” said Dr. Odunsi.
High Cancer Rates in South Side Communities
Prostate, lung, and other cancers occur at particularly high rates in South Side communities compared to the rest of Chicago, according to data from UChicago Medicine. They also found that “the distant/systemic cancer rate, which refers to receiving an initial diagnosis of Stage 4 or metastatic cancer, is significantly higher than the city’s rate, on average.”
The South Side communities that face these disparities are the 60621, 60636, and 60636 zip codes. This is a problem because the more advanced the cancer is at a diagnosis the worst the prognosis. Vulnerable communities face having less of a chance for proper medical care like screening and diagnosis.
Those who live in Hyde Park and Kenwood have the lowest cancer mortality with Englewood, Washington Park, and Oakland having the highest, according to UChicago Medicine Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).
Leading Causes of Death
The leading causes of death in the UChicago Medicine Service Area mirrors those in the city of Chicago with almost all of the causes disproportionately impacting the non-Hispanic Black population. In 2020, the top 10 causes of death were listed by the Illinois Department of Public Health:
- Heart disease.
- Cancer.
- COVID-19.
- Accidents – which included workplace deaths, motor vehicle deaths, and homicides among others.
- Stroke.
- Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease.
- Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Diabetes.
- Kidney Disease.
- Influenza and Pneumonia.
A Hope for the Future
The Office of Community Engagement and Cancer Health Equity (OCECHE) established the Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2010. This was done as part of an expanded and renewed commitment to serve local communities through outreach, research, and education programs. Their mission is to serve as a bridge between UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center and the academic and community stakeholders.
This bridge will be used “to promote equitable collaboration and eliminate cancer disparities through community capacity building, participatory research, advocacy, and innovative education and training,” according to UChicago Medicine’s website.
Community members of the South Side added heart disease and cancer to violence prevention on their list of top health priorities, according to UChicago’s CHNA. The Community Health Needs Assessment is published every three years and helps provide essential guidance for UChicago Medicine’s community health investments and efforts.
Breaking Through Disparities
Previous CHNAs assisted in guiding investments in community benefits such as charity care, violence prevention initiatives, public health research, and prevention and wellness programs. It has also helped develop plans like the one to build the cancer center in Hyde Park.
It is hopeful that one day soon South Side residents will have the help they need to break through some of the disparities they have faced for so long. The ultimate goal of UChicago Medicine, and others like them, is to end the disparities altogether.
By Sheena Robertson
UChicago Medine: UChicago Medicine’s Community Health Needs Assessment identifies cancer, heart disease as health priorities for South Side
At The Forefront UChicago Medicine: Community Health Needs Assessment 2021-2022
UChicago Medicine: Office of Community Engagement and Cancer Health Equity
Chicago Tribune: This South Side hospital earned an F for safety. Now it has a B. Here’s how it happened.
UChicago Medicine: UChicago Medicine invites community to provide input to help shape the South Side’s cancer center of the future
Chicago Tribune: University of Chicago Medicine plans to build $633 million cancer hospital on its Hyde Park campus
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Adam Fagen‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Mary Fairchild‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
