New clinic, training program aim to improve care for people with disabilities

A new UI Health clinic and physician training program are designed to create welcoming spaces and lead to better health outcomes for patients with disabilities.

Dr. Erin Hickey, UIC assistant professor in the College of Medicine, is providing inclusive care for patients with disabilities in two ways. She recently helped open UI Health's Lifespan Disability Clinicon Chicago's southwest side. There, patients with disabilities can access a wide range of practitioners - from physicians to occupational therapists to physical therapists - under one roof. And with the help of a $2 million, five-year grant, Hickey will bring medical students into the clinic for training, starting in August.

"Even with primary-care doctors, there aren't many who feel they have the training to take care of people with disabilities," Hickey said. "So this population experiences higher health disparities." For example, she said, women with disabilities are much less likely to be up to date on their pap smears and mammograms.

Focusing on adult care

Hickey sees many of her current patients at other UI Health locations, but the new Lifespan Disability Clinic at 55th Street and Pulaski Road is a one-stop-shop for patients with disabilities. It lets patients see multiple practitioners, such as a cardiologist or neurologist, at the same accessible location.

The clinic is open to people of all ages but focuses on adults with disabilities because they may have a hard time finding providers, Hickey said. Many large hospitals have coordinated care programs for children, who also often have access to care, such as speech therapy, through school.

"But once they age into adulthood, most of that support structure falls away," Hickey said. "There's kind of this vacuum of care, and it becomes totally on the patient and their family to coordinate everything."

Hickey saw this happen firsthand with her brother, James, who is autistic and has Down syndrome. "I saw how everything fell away when James aged into adulthood," she said.

The clinic is physically welcoming in several ways. For example, there's on-site parking and a scale for weighing patients that can accommodate a wheelchair. And the clinic's small size "is more calm and comfortable" for patients who don't like a lot of noise, Hickey said.

In addition to the mix of health care practitioners, including a Spanish-speaking geneticist, the clinic has a social worker and community health worker on staff who can help patients and their families if they need help accessing resources, such as Home and Community Based Services waivers, or help coordinating care across multiple disciplines.

On a recent Wednesday morning, Isaiah Menchaca, 19, came in along with his mom, Josephine Alvarez, for an appointment with Hickey. Menchaca has frequent seizures and difficulty speaking. He's been seeing Hickey for several years, but the new location is more convenient, his mom said.

Plus, there were some nice perks in the new space: its quiet environment and the extra-wide elevator that easily fits Menchaca's wheelchair, Alvarez said.

"I walked in and was like, 'OK, this is good!'" she said.

Alvarez said she thinks many parents of children with disabilities will be excited to learn about the new clinic, and she plans to spread the word.

Otherwise, "How are you supposed to get the care that they need?" she said of trying to navigate the standard health care system.

Training the next generation of doctors

The other part of the equation is training doctors to care for people with disabilities, Hickey said. The grant from the U.S. government's Health Resources and Services Administration will allow her to start doing that.

Beginning in August, fourth-year UIC medical students will have the opportunity to do a two-week rotation at the Lifespan Disability Clinic. On the final day of the rotation, the students will be presented with a simulated case. The "patients" will be actors with disabilities from a vocational training program who will present a scenario for the medical students.

Hickey stresses that all doctors should feel comfortable caring for patients with disabilities. She said that 25% of the population identifies as having a disability, "so no matter what kind of doctor you're going to be, you're going to take care of people with disabilities, even if it's not your specific focus," she said. "You need to be trained to take care of people with disabilities."

That training is interpersonal more than medical, she said. It's learning how to meet patients' communications needs, for example, or how to make a space physically accessible.

"It's building confidence in how you provide a welcoming environment so patients feel comfortable going to the doctor," she said.