The University of Louisville is part of a coalition that has received $500,000 to launch a new effort aimed at workforce development and innovation in health care.

The new Kentucky Digital Health Tech and Artificial Intelligence Innovation Coalition is backed by one of 60 phase-one planning grants awarded through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge. As a finalist receiving phase-one funding, the coalition now will compete for up to $100 million in phase-two implementation funding.

The coalition is led by the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (LHCC) and includes UofL, the Academy of Music Production Education and Development, Greater Louisville Inc., Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, Louisville Metro Government, the Louisville Urban League and Metro United Way.

“This work will be transformative for our city and our region,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “By bringing together a powerhouse research university and our community partners, we can build on our strengths and past success in health care, innovation and entrepreneurship to make a real impact.”

In phase one, the coalition partners will plan new workforce development, entrepreneurship, research, innovation and commercialization programming and supports centered on digital health care and artificial intelligence.

“Our goal is to establish the Louisville region as a national hub for digital health care and train a high-tech health care workforce,” said Tammy York Day, president and CEO of LHCC, which represents 14 of the region’s largest health care companies, including Humana Inc. and Kindred Healthcare.

This new effort builds on previous collaborations between UofL and LHCC to boost regional health care startups and innovation. Together, they run Aging 2.0, which supports programming, training and mentoring for aging and health care innovators and entrepreneurs.

“Louisville already has significant strength in all of these areas — in health care, technology and startups,” said Will Metcalf, an assistant vice president for research and innovation at UofL and a lead on the grant. “With this new funding from the EDA, we hope to build on that success and to promote economic development and equity.”

UofL supports entrepreneurs through its UofL New Ventures office, which works to launch and grow startups built around UofL intellectual property, through LaunchIt, a 10-week entrepreneurship and innovation boot camp and through a rotating roster of entrepreneurs-in-residence — seasoned founders who help guide the university’s research-backed technologies to market.

At LHCC, Aging 2.0 supports programming through the LHCC Corporate Innovation Center, housed on UofL’s downtown entrepreneurship and innovation campus. This includes LHCC’s Chairman’s Circle, a group of former health care executives available for entrepreneurial mentoring, and annual CareTech aging innovation pitch competition.

Jordyn Hunter expected to find an ordinary playground when she and her UofL classmates visited the Playcosystem at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest.

Instead, they saw natural elements of wood and stone scattered around a sculpted grassy area.

“I thought it would be a normal playground like the ones we are accustomed to, but it was not an ordinary playground,” said the senior elementary education major. “I looked at the balance beam – it was two tree stumps and a long piece of wood. We used to do that when I was a kid! It was very natural.”

Zone 1 of Playcosystem is part of a 17-acre playground created to provide elementary-age children with open-ended, physically challenging play opportunities using natural elements and items, referred to as “loose parts,” strategically included to stimulate their imaginations.

Sherri Brown, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development, brought 15 students from her science methods class to the playground in October to help the future teachers explore natural surroundings as an opportunity to consider new ways to teach science concepts to elementary students.

“The idea was to get them out there and see what’s possible in a playground that is very unique. You see boards, you see levers, you see ramps,” Brown said. “Earth science, physical science, materials – all that is in the science curriculum. Here children can experience things that stimulate child-generated questions. This helps our UofL students as future elementary science teachers see what is possible and what is different from formal learning environments.”

The students chose and examined three separate areas of Zone 1 to consider how children might use the space and how, as a teacher, they might use items found in the natural world to introduce discussions about science and other subjects to their own students.

Another feature Hunter noticed was a swing suspended on a single line so it could move in multiple directions.

“That shows force and motion. You could talk about music in the noise it makes as it moves. There were so many content areas and concepts that could be taught in this place,” Hunter said. “The kids are playing and having fun, but learning at the same time. They are going to learn on their own whether they realize it or not.”

Designed by Claude Stephens, director of Bernheim’s Children at Play Network, and other members of the Bernheim team, Playcosystem is intended to inspire children to learn by exploring the natural world. Zone 1 of the site, geared to young children, is one of three planned zones. Zones 2 and 3 will introduce progressively larger and more challenging landscapes and natural elements to appeal to more mature children.

Brown, Jill Jacobi-Vessels and Meg Gravil, also of CEHD, are studying and documenting the thought and planning behind the Playcosystem and plan to study how children and families experience it.

“Research has shown that outdoor play benefits children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development,” Brown said. “Knowing why and how it was built deepens their knowledge and the framework of how children and parents engage with the site.”

While serving as dean of the Brandeis School of Law in 2001, Laura Rothstein helped initiate a partnership between UofL and Central High School’s Law and Government Magnet. 

Now 20 years strong, the relationship of the two schools illuminates the value UofL places on community engagement. The Cardinal influence through Central’s law magnet represents a cornerstone of UofL’s Signature Partnership Initiative in west Louisville. 

During a Louisville Bar Association event celebrating the partnership this month, Rothstein received an award as the 2021 LBA Diversity Trailblazer. UofL News caught up with her to talk about her life’s work through the partnership. 

UofL News: Why did you become involved in the Central High School partnership? 

Rothstein: I had gone to law school because of my interest in social justice and race and gender issues, so this was a program that was a priority for me from the beginning. The goal of the program was not just to create a pipeline of students to becoming lawyers, but to encourage these high school students to become civically engaged and active citizens and leaders in other ways. Initially, the program involved an essay contest, and having Central students visit the law school or attend special events.   

UofL News: How did the program evolve over time? 

Rothstein: In 2005, after Joe Gutmann became the Law and Government Magnet teacher at Central, we decided to do more than ‘spark the interest,’ but to build the skills through having law students teach at Central. After I left the deanship in which I had served from 2000 to 2005, I was able to devote more time to developing and enhancing the program. I have also worked with the principals at Central and various departments on campus to replicate similar partnerships.  

UofL News: What impact do you hope to make on these high school students?  

Rothstein: We want them not just to become lawyers, we want them to be engaged civically. The questionnaires at the end of the year indicate that this goal has been met. They are more aware of and interested in current events. They have developed skills of analytical thinking and improved writing and communication skills that are useful in any higher education context and in life generally. Central graduates credit Joe Gutmann with giving them the confidence to succeed in college and beyond. 

UofL News: Do you know how many students involved in the Central High School Law and Government Magnet program went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree?  

Rothstein: I think there have been 35 Central graduates who have become (or will become) lawyers. I am counting three who are expected to graduate in 2022. We also know of at least two who plan to apply to law school in the next year or two. 

It’s important to note that many of the law magnet graduates have also gone on to other significant professional careers and to obtain other graduate and professional degrees. For example, graduates since the partnership began include students who’ve earned a PhD in Agricultural Economics, a Master in Business, a Master in Public Health and a PhD Candidate in Pan African studies at UofL. Additionally, several individuals have become teachers.    

UofL News: Why is it a great opportunity for law students to be involved in teaching the high schoolers?   

Rothstein: We began an enhanced program in 2007 by incorporating law student taught coursework – Street Law for sophomores, Writing Skills for juniors, and Marshall-Brennan Civil Liberties for seniors. Each year about 25 law students receive public service and/or academic credit for this work. At the end of the year, law students often note that the experience has been eye-opening and many say it is the best thing they did in law school.    

UofL News: Why is this program and partnership with UofL so important?   

Rothstein: It is of value to both Central and UofL students, and it highlights the value that UofL places on community engagement with Louisville and the West End through its Signature Partnership Initiative, part of the UofL Office of Community Engagement.   

UofL News: What is the future of the program?   

Rothstein: We would like to add a program at the undergraduate level where Central students who attend UofL stay connected and engage in other activities. This includes things like staying involved with the law school, preparing for the LSAT and remaining connected with each other. Since the program began, there has been a significant increase in the number of Central High Law Magnet students attending and graduating from law schools. These law schools include UofL, UK, Washington University St. Louis and University of Chicago. We also continue to work with other UofL departments to develop similar partnerships at Central.   

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer joined partners from the University of Louisville, Seven Counties Services and Spalding University on Oct. 13 to announce plans for a pilot program to deflect a number of 911 calls to a non-police response focused on problem-solving, de-escalation and referral to appropriate community services.

The pilot, recommended in a report from the University of Louisville’s  Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky (CIK), housed in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, would initially be limited to critical incident 911 calls from LMPD’s Fourth Division. It involves establishing:

• A Behavioral Health Hub, with health crisis interventionists integrated in the MetroSafe 911 call center. Call takers would direct certain Critical Incident calls to an interventionist, who would help further triage the crisis to determine whether it could be de-escalated over the phone, if the person in crisis would benefit from a mobile response, or if the scenario called for an LMPD response due to safety concerns. Their mission would be “to assist persons in crisis and first responders by providing empathy, connection, de-escalation and linkage to the right-sized care,” the report says.
• A mobile response unit consisting of trained crisis interventionists to “rapidly respond, effectively screen and assist persons in crisis in accessing the appropriate level of care.”
• A 24-hour “community respite center,” a fully staffed safe place where individuals can stay for up to 24 hours when connected by the mobile response team. There, qualified mental health and substance use professionals will provide evaluations and connect individuals to needed services and resources, beyond what the mobile response team can provide onsite.

The research team recommended the pilot be centered in LMPD’s Fourth Division because of its high number of what Metro terms Crisis Intervention Team-related events; an average of 11.63 events of this type occur each day.

“Our team has been grateful for the opportunity to partner with the community to build a better way of addressing a public health crisis,” said Susan Buchino, who co-directed the research. “Our research has allowed us to examine what other communities have done, while being intentional about listening to the unique needs of our own community. The one thing emphasized by other cities is that it is best to start small, learn from the community what’s working and what needs to change, and then refine the process before scaling it.” Buchino is assistant professor in UofL’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences and assistant director of the CIK.

Now that the report has been shared, Fischer said, UofL, Seven Counties Services and other partners will begin to work to implement the plan, with UofL’s stated goal of beginning the pilot in December 2021.

In announcing a nearly $5 million investment in deflection and diversion programs as part of the FY22 budget, Fischer noted that “some situations are best served by a social service response, particularly when dealing with people living with homelessness, mental health challenges or substance use.”

“By quadrupling our investment in violence prevention and capacity-building programs, including in deflection and diversion, we are acting on our shared goal of creating a safe city with fewer arrests and less incarceration for non-violent offenses,” Fischer said. “I appreciate the hard work of the university team to move us closer to that goal.”

Louisville Metro Government contracted with CIK to draft the report and implement the pilot, as part of a plan for reimagining public safety with an emphasis on the whole-of-government and whole-of-city approach, Fischer said.

In its Alternative Responder Model report recommending and outlining the pilot model, the UofL team acknowledged the national debate around public safety, and cites “a pattern in which law enforcement has become a default response in crisis calls, even when the crisis may be a civil issue or one best resolved by health care or social services.

“Even the officers themselves – in Louisville and elsewhere – admit they are asked to do too much, often without the best tools for serving the person in crisis, especially when it is a behavioral health need,” the report says.

The report is the result of seven months of study by CIK and a multidisciplinary team consisting of the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Development and Intellectual Disabilities; Spalding’s School of Social Work; Seven Counties Services (SCS); and community members, charged with assessing the feasibility and development an alternative response model that appropriately meets the need of Louisville’s residents.

“As the region’s leading provider of mental health services, Seven Counties Services is well positioned for this community partnership to help our neighbors in crisis who need mental health treatment or other social services as opposed to a police response,” said Abby Drane, president and CEO of Seven Counties Services/Bellewood & Brooklawn. “We are hopeful that this deflection program will best serve our neighbors and aid in the effort to modernize public safety for the Louisville Metro area. This plan will provide a more streamlined path to critical services for those with a mental health or addiction crisis.”

Their work included a review of police deflection activities in other U.S. communities; a series of interviews and focus groups with community members, behavioral health providers, and Metro Government leaders, as well as observations of Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) responses to 911 calls that could potentially be deflected and activities in the MetroSafe 911 Call Center, and an extensive review of MetroSafe 911 data.

The team also engaged with a Community Advisory/Accountability Board, which has met routinely since April to provide oversight and recommendations to the team’s research and planning – an effort to enhance community ownership and sustainability for the new program.

The report stresses that continual evaluation of the program is key, and that expansion beyond the pilot phase should occur “in phases that allow researchers to evaluate implementation and outcome and identify areas of improvement and success.”

In the early days of COVID-19 when things were scary and uncertain, many of us chose to stay at home and mind our own business.

For UofL student Karthik Kalvakuri, however, that simply wasn’t an option. When businesses and schools shut down across the country, too many people found themselves struggling to make ends meet and he felt the urge to help.

Ten of his peers also felt such an urge. Together, they started facilitating projects for Mission CuraKid, with a simple intent: “Doing our part to help spread smiles in these unprecedented times.”

At that point, Bangalore, India, native Kalvakuri had already started Mission CuraKid to help ensure children in impoverished countries had access to proper health care services. But when COVID-19 hit, he turned the nonprofit’s global focus closer to Louisville.

The junior biology major recruited 10 of his UofL peers to help: Shria Narapaneni (biology), Donna James (neuroscience), Amini Patel (neuroscience), Manav Patel (mechanical engineering), Gopika Gopan (biology and neuroscience), Dakshin Devanand (neuroscience), Chandani Patel (neuroscience), Neel Patel (exercise science), Karthik Malyala  (computer science engineering) and Pranav Talluri (finance).

Their first project was to collect supplies and food for schoolchildren who were pulled out of their schools in 2020. They reached out to local businesses asking for donations of school supplies, health and hygiene items, snacks and masks, and assembled backpacks for 150 children. They also wrote notes of encouragement for those students abruptly isolated from their peers.

The Mission CuraKid group didn’t want to stop with a one-and-done service, however. They completed a second, similar project in August 2020, donating backpacks to 370 children within the Louisville area.

Their third project was completed in December 2020, during which Mission CuraKid donated 200 backpacks with school supplies and sanitary materials, and 130 baskets filled with food and nonperishable items.

The group’s fourth and most recent project was completed last month and was its biggest yet, with 600 totes filled with sanitary and school supplies for children starting school this fall. The totes were donated to nine different charities.

“We noticed that more often, it was kids caught up in the middle of these struggles. We chose these projects based on need. Our second and fourth projects were completed right as school began so that we could provide school supplies to children and give them a good start to the year,” Kalvakuri said. “Our third project was completed in December 2020. We wanted to help families have a secure and happy holiday season even with the pandemic happening.”

Though the idea to localize Mission CuraKid came from the pandemic, Kalvakuri wants to continue its mission if/when it ends. The UofL students also want to continue the work after they graduate.

“We are hoping to expand with more members and bigger projects,” Kalvakuri said. “As long as there is work to be done and people in need of help, Mission CuraKid wants to do its part. I believe a good community looks after each other and grows together.” 

Follow Mission CuraKid’s projects on its Facebook page here.

UofL Health – Urgent Care Plus is now open in west Louisville’s Parkland neighborhood. Area residents can conveniently access affordable preventative and urgent care seven days a week at the new site, located at 2746 Virginia Avenue.

The west Louisville facility is staffed with both primary and urgent care providers. Services include treatment of non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries, routine exams, and work-related drug testing.

“UofL Health is committed to expanding access and reducing barriers to care in our community,” said Tom Miller, CEO of UofL Health. “This location brings the Power of U closer to home.”

Over the last six years, UofL Health has taken care of more residents in west Louisville than the other two hospital systems combined.

Dr. Tamea Evans, UofL Physicians – Primary Care Associates, is leading the medical team at the Urgent Care Plus facility in the Parkland neighborhood.

“Around 700 UofL Health team members call west Louisville home,” Evans said. “We live here, and we are passionate about improving this community. I want to give the best to the West, especially when this area has been underserved for so long.”

This year, UofL Health has expanded its Urgent Care Plus services and the site in west Louisville is the fifth to open. Approximately $500,000 was invested in the property to ensure it has all the innovations necessary to care for the community.

“This site is particularly significant because it fills access needs in a federally designated Medically Underserved Area,” said UofL president Neeli Bendapudi. “UofL Health continues to show its commitment to improve the health of west Louisville and all the communities it serves.”

Medically Underserved Areas are defined as having too few primary care providers, high infant mortality, high poverty or a high elderly population.

This UofL Health – Urgent Care Plus location includes a dedicated telemedicine suite where patients can access UofL Health specialty care services such as neurology, psychiatry, and cardiology. “Plus” leverages the unique academic and community-based health services to expanded care, including occupational medicine, Department of Transportation physicals and drug testing.

Monday through Saturday, all Urgent Care Plus locations are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday’s hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Appointments, including for telehealth visits, are available through MyChart or by going to UofLHealth.org/Urgent Care/. No appointment is necessary for urgent care.