Maureen Burns

Maureen Burns is a Community Health Worker (CHW) with JourneyCare. JourneyCare is a nonprofit provider of hospice and palliative care, serving 13 counties in Illinois. Community health workers are frontline public health workers who live in the communities that they serve; they act as a bridge between community members and healthcare entities, working to build trust and increase accessibility. As CHW, Maureen works in and around her community in Rogers Park and West Ridge, providing free education about terminal illness, end-of-life care, advanced directives, and cultural consideration at end-of-life. The goal of this outreach is to provide culturally affirming education on highly stigmatized subjects, while also increasing awareness and access to quality healthcare at all stages of life. In addition to her work with JourneyCare, Maureen is a student at Northeastern Illinois University’s University Without Walls Program, studying community health, culture, and aging. She is also a devoted mother of one daughter. Maureen is a deaf woman who utilizes a cochlear implant. She seeks to grow her leadership skills and engage in collaborative work to build capacity within the Disabled community.