A Community in Bloom: An affordable housing needs assessment of West Bloomington

Purpose of Report This report was written in response to a request from Habitat for Humanity of McLean County. The report expands upon and updates an affordable homeownership needs assessment for the Bloomington-Normal community – with an emphasis on West Bloomington – that was created in 2004. Because the housing market and economic conditions of the area have changed drastically in the last 6 years, an updated report is necessary. Data Sources and Methodology This report uses a combination of primary and, mainly, secondary data sources. Interviews were conducted with representatives of, among others, Bloomington Housing Authority, the Economic Development Council (EDC) of Bloomington-Normal Area, Mid Central Community Action, Prairie State Legal Services, and the West Bloomington Revitalization Project. A variety of data were gathered from secondary sources, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Census, the City of Bloomington, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mid Central Community Action, the National Association of Realtors, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Clinical Practice and Work Life Integration experienced by Academic Medical Faculty

Introduction: Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, physician burnout was endemic in North America. The pandemic placed an increase demand on physicians’ time both at work and home. We sought to identify the frequency of burnout in a large academic institution and its impact on clinical practice, non-clinical work, and homelife. Methods: All academic physicians and non-physician faculty members in the Department of Medicine (DOM) at McMaster University were invited to participate in an anonymous survey between January 22 and February 21, 2021. The survey elicited information on how clinical practice, work, and home life changed over the course of the pandemic. Responses to questions were captured on a 1-to-5 Likert scale. Descriptive statistics and the Mann Whitney U test were used for determining statistical significance (p< 0.05). The results were compared to the 2019 DOM survey which included a question on burnout. Results: Among 330-faculty, 76.7% completed the survey. The reported burnout was high at 75.9%, affecting women to a greater extent than men faculty (82.5% vs 70.4%, P< 0.01). Early career faculty also reported proportionally more burnout (83.5% versus 65.7%; p< 0.001). Medical-legal liability of phone-based care was a concern for 48% of physicians. The reported hours of work per day was significantly higher amongst women compared with men (80.4% vs 58.0%; p< 0.001). Loneliness (64.1% vs 51.4%; p< 0.05) and hours spent on caring for dependents (54.5% vs 31.1%, p< 0.01) were higher for women versus men. Both genders reported career fulfillment and research productivity were overall lower by 51.2% and 52.3% respectively. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased burnout amongst DOM academic faculty, and disproportionately affected women and early career faculty. A thoughtful systems level approach, with dedicated resources, is needed to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for women and early career faculty