| Possumus Fall 2008 |
Partnerships |
Partnerships
WORKING ON A HEALTHIER COMMUNITY.
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Strength in Numbers
In fact, she has. St. Mary's Health Clinic also partners with the Minnesota Department of Health on a program called Healthy Connections, which bestows federal grant money on those willing to deliver preventative health care to ethnic populations. Because of the strong CSJ presence in their neighborhoods, SMHC chose the Latino population as their focus. “Uninsured Latinos should be able to benefit from whatever preventive care is available,” says Barbara, "just like the rest of us.” To help prevent the diabetes so prevalent among Latinos, SMHC provides regular screenings at churches. That’s just one example of the care SMHC delivers regularly to this underserved population.
When all this began, the Sisters envisioned that the need to provide health care for the uninsured would be temporary. In fact, they planned to operate the clinics only until universal health care was enacted. Sadly, there is still a need for St. Mary’s clinics. A huge need, it seems. During the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2007, 5,320 patient visits were recorded in the volunteer-staffed clinics and 7142 patients were seen at Park Nicollet clinics. There were also 7246 prescriptions filled at partner pharmacies and hospitals, 703 hospital referrals made, and 1131 first time specialist physician visits scheduled. All of this cost SMHC only $250 a year per patient. Remarkable, when you consider the cost of health care these days. “We know how to stretch a dollar,” Barbara says. They do indeed. An impressive 93% of the SMHC budget goes to patient services; only 7% to administration.
A win-win-win-win situation
But of course the real beauty of this CSJ partnership story is that, in the end, everybody wins. It’s obvious that the patients get quality health care they couldn’t get otherwise, and for that they are very grateful. As for the volunteers, “they’re given the opportunity to practice medicine the way they idealized originally,” says Barbara. Park Nicollet and the other clinic partners get invaluable ——yet cost effective ——help achieving their community outreach goals. And what do the Sisters gain? Well, let’s just say any day is a good day when you can involve hundreds of people who aren’t Sisters to help you in your mission--to improve the quality of life for the “dear neighbor.”
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