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SIU School of Medicine highlights community health worker program and outcomes; receives favorable accreditation notice
Summary
The School of Medicine reported expanded use of community health workers with measurable outcomes in access, insurance coverage, emergency‑room use and social measures; the medical school also received a six‑year accreditation decision with no modifiers, the dean said.
The SIU School of Medicine used its July 10 trustees presentation to detail a decade‑long community health worker (CHW) program and to report outcomes from hot‑spotting and neighborhood engagement initiatives that school leaders said reduced emergency usage, increased primary care and improved social determinants of health.
Dean Cruz and program leads described CHW activities tied to the Enos Park access program and other hot‑spotting initiatives. The presentation summarized internal analyses showing improvements across a range of measures for patients engaged by CHWs: higher primary care visit rates, increased insurance coverage, reduced emergency department use, increased employment and reductions in police calls and homelessness in targeted neighborhoods.
Program scale and data: presenters said the CHW program currently employs 38 workers and has engaged 2,709 patients in recent analyses led by SIU researchers. Slide data cited substantial improvements in domains such as parenting skills, adult and children's education, housing stability, employment and access to health care — many showing 30–40% or greater improvement from first to last visit in the program’s internal scoring system. The presentation attributed the results to repeated outreach, culturally informed engagement and coordination between CHWs, hospitals and social service partners.
Accreditation: Dean Cruz also told trustees that the School of Medicine received full six‑year accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) with no modifiers. The dean said the result was “very proud” news for the school and noted it reflected work by faculty and administrative staff preparing for the site visit.
Why it matters: the CHW work links medical care to social supports in low‑income and marginalized communities, producing measurable changes in health use and social outcomes, according to the presentation. LCME accreditation is a core requirement for medical education and affects student pathways and clinical partnerships.
What the board and staff said: Trustees heard the research findings and thanked program staff. Dean Cruz and other presenters said the CHW model is integrated with other SIU programs (nursing, social work, office of rural health) and recognized partners such as community health centers and hospital systems.
What’s next: the School of Medicine will continue CHW training, scale outreach, and coordinate with system‑level community engagement initiatives; staff said they will report outcomes as data collection continues.
