UI Health and Wings partner to tackle domestic violence 

UI Health and Wings, the largest agency in Illinois that addresses domestic violence, have partnered to provide domestic-violence services and training to UI Health patients and staff. The partnership aims to end domestic violence and break the cycle of abuse, focusing on 16 ZIP codes in Chicago. 

UI Health is the first hospital in Chicago to unveil the Wings Hospital Program, which includes bedside crisis intervention, medical advocacy for people experiencing domestic violence and training for hospital and clinic staff on how to recognize the signs of domestic abuse.  

“Through our training and our advocacy, we’re giving health care professionals the resources to identify domestic violence and support survivors of domestic violence,” said Daniel S., Wings manager of hospital services, who requested his full name be withheld for safety concerns.  

The program is modeled after the hospital program Wings has offered in the northwest Chicago suburbs for over 20 years. Funding for the intervention program comes from the city’s Homeshare Fund, established in 2018 with a 2% surcharge on shared-housing units or vacation rentals. 

Since the program began in January this year, more than 60 patients, both men and women, have been referred to Wings for assistance. The collaboration started in the emergency and obstetrics departments. Historically, these departments report higher levels of patients disclosing domestic violence. 

Minerva Esparza, assistant director of health social work for the maternal and child social work team at UI Health, said the program has been transformative for patients.  

“Having the ability to reach out to Wings and immediately link to a shelter has been life-changing for our patients who need this resource,” she said. “My team is grateful, and this partnership couldn’t have come at a better time.” 

Esparza’s team was the first to take advantage of the program, given that it’s standard for social work staff to respond to reports of domestic violence. She said people often stay with their abusers due to financial or basic needs, but programs like Wings can reduce the likelihood of a person returning to abusive relationships. 

“The goal is to make the patient safe. If they are ready to leave their abuser, Wings can help with housing. If they are not ready to leave their abuser, Wings can continue to support them through case management and counseling. They can also connect them with concrete resources,” she said. 

Assistance for children, too

Wings helps children and families affected by domestic violence, too, by offering counseling services for children.

“It’s important to remember that a lot of children who are witnesses of domestic violence as youth have a higher rate of being a survivor, but also have a higher rate of being a person who does harm,” Daniel S. said. “If we’re really going to break this cycle, we need to make sure that the kids are paid attention to as well.” 

Even so, the rate of domestic violence is higher than what patients report, according to Rani Morrison Williams, chief diversity and community health equity officer at UI Health. 

“One of the things that we knew anecdotally was that the occurrence of domestic violence is definitely higher and greatly unreported amongst our patient population, which is the nature of domestic violence,” Williams said. “So, when Wings brought us this opportunity, we saw there was really no downside to it.” 

Williams said UI Health is proud to offer the program and to expand patient care. 

“It’s been a real value-add, not just for our patients but across the board, because I think everyone now has a true expert to lean into to help support our patients the best way we can,” she said. “Having this available for our patients to get that support in real time is literally lifesaving.”  

Staff training

Training is a main component of the program. Staff training sessions are held monthly and have strong participation, according to Francesca Davis, strategic project manager for the Office of Diversity and Community Health Equity at UI Health. Topics include teen dating violence, human trafficking, traumatic brain injury and strangulation. 

“As an added bonus, our nurses and social workers can get continuing education credits towards their licenses,” Davis said. “Plus, Wings can offer ad hoc training on other topics as requested.” 

The training sessions aim to dismantle the stigma around domestic violence and ensure that health care professionals are well-informed and equipped to handle domestic violence cases. 

Davis said UI Health plans to extend the training and services to the “entire university, including staff, students and faculty.”  

“If they might be in a domestic violence situation themselves, they can also call Wings and get the necessary help to get out of their own situations,” Davis said about expanding the program. “So, it is absolutely going to be available to the university community at large, and we hope to launch that in the very near future.”