Evanston’s Finance and Budget Committee delayed action on a proposed $872,000 expansion of the proposed Pathways to Wellness program, instead asking the Evanston Health Advisory Council to weigh in on the program and its cost.
Most of the proposed program expense would fund a research project, led by Rush University Medical Center and Neticia Blunt-Waldron of Evanston’s Whole Woman Fitness, to evaluate the effort to address “uncontrolled hypertension.”
Previously the city’s Human Services Committee had asked the Finance and Budget Committee weigh in, with similar price tag concerns top of mind despite what seemed as general support for the program’s goals.
“I think we are all hopefully aware of this serious discrepancy that hopefully deserves attention,” Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) said of the city’s 2022 EPLAN findings, which showed a 13-year variation in life expectancy across Evanston neighborhoods. The lowest life expectancy was recorded in Census Tract 8092, in the western portion of the 5th Ward.
The findings were the impetus for the program’s initial proposal, which began as a one-year pilot program, though a slow research process never got the pilot off the ground. Elizabeth Lynch, a public health professor at Rush who’s working on the program, and Waldron, said the three-year program would be more beneficial for the city to establish a sustainable program after the pilot is complete.
“This is a one-time price tag,” Lynch said. “If you just go in and start doing it now, you don’t know if it’s going to work, so that money could be lost.”
Waldron said that after the pilot program, a “three-year, two-phase hybrid effectiveness-implementational trial” in three of Evanston’s highest-need census tracts, the city could continue the treatment aspect of the program on its own, estimating annual costs ranging from $75,000 to $159,000 per year for the city, depending on the extent of the fitness program.
“This project is reflective of the E-plan,” Human Services Director Ike Ogbo, said Wednesday night, but noted there are some concerns with the budget size for this program.”
Initially, the city allocated $400,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to the program, though changes to the plan after five years of development have led the group to now request an additional $872,000, bringing the total to over $1.2 million.
“Because this is the finance and budget, I am compelled to ensure due diligence,” Ald. Clare Kelly said, noting she was “very concerned about the price tag.”
Ogbo recommended the finance panel delay advancing the program to City Council for a final review, suggesting the city’s Evanston Health Advisory Council take up the program before its next meeting and give a recommendation about the program’s aims.
The EHAC is made up of over a dozen public health experts, retired physicians, nurse practitioners, and regional health leaders, including heads of local hospitals and health clinics.
As an advisory board, the EHAC would just provide its input, though Ogbo noted EHAC has raised concerns the proposal is “quite quite expensive.”
“Their input is definitely valuable,” Ogbo said, with alders and committee members unanimously agreeing to hold off on taking action on the funding request until the group weighs in.