At the Hennepin Healthcare annual meeting on October 23, more than 170 team and community members heard updates on how we are advancing our mission and responding to the healthcare needs our community has identified. The event opened with a video reel highlighting our Year in Review:
- Celebrating success through awards, accreditations and kudos
- Connecting with the community at events like Melanoma Monday, Teddy Bear Clinic, the Somali Independence Day Festival, and Twin Cities Pride
- Focused on health equity through initiatives like the Compass Program, Juneteenth, Collective Events, and our Talent Garden
- Powered by philanthropy - initiatives like our HOPE Program, Pediatric Mobile Clinic, and community paramedics program
- Sharing our stories in areas like empowering women leadership, removing barriers to care, celebrating breast cancer survivors, and addressing gun violence
Advancing Our Vision
New board chair Mohamed Omar and Chief Executive Officer Jennifer DeCubellis gave welcome and introductions before turning it over to three leaders who gave short updates on the four ways we advance our vision
- Provide proactive high-quality care made easy: Medical Director of the Pediatric Mobile Health Unit Shey Beecher gave an update on a new initiative to bring postpartum care right to our patients' door. The goal is to increase access to care, facilitate care coordination, and provide patients postpartum doula care from someone who shares their language and culture.
- Stand as a national leader in trauma care: Chair of Department of Emergency Medicine Tom Wyatt, MD, highlighted the full breadth of our trauma care-- not just clinical care but also trauma research, outreach education, and injury prevention.
- Model world-class health equity and racial justice in medicine: VP of Health Equity Talee Vang, PsyD, LP, spoke about our health equity work across the organization including violence prevention, DEI interventions through our DEI clinical consultants, trauma-informed care, and language justice.
- Support a workplace culture of respect, learning and growing: Talee Vang also highlighted the role of the Compass Program, our DEI coaching team, and employee wellness in supporting this culture.
Meeting community needs Laura Bohen, Population Health Liaison, gave examples of how we've worked to implement our Community Health Needs Assessment in 2024:
- Access to health and safety as a human right: Our advocacy at the legislature has expanded coverage for short-term medical assistance for people who are incarcerated. We're also launching a short multilingual video to explain how to access our financial support services
- Comprehensive, equitable education: Education in trauma-informed care has helped our East Lake Clinic Team
- Advocacy and Cultural Sensitivity: Through a partnership with Open Path Resources, Hennepin Healthcare team members are building trust with Afghan community leaders. This partnership helped plan and co-host community conversations for the Afghan refugee community around healthcare access.
Looking ahead Jennifer DeCubellis gave an update on Here for the Future, our decade-long journey to redevelop our campus and evolve our care models to better meet the needs of our patients and our community.
- Clinical program strategy completed seven clinical program deep dives in 2023 and has finished cardiology and women's health and maternal health in 2024. A neuroscience deep dive is on the way.
- Site of care spaces: security, signage, wayfinding, and facility work is underway, funded by Hennepin County. The South Hub Parking Ramp Project is in the planning stages.
- Technology, data, and analytics: Five Digital Front Door workgroups are in progress. We've expanded e-Visits with new offerings, completed a project in Internal Medicine that makes it easier for patients to schedule follow-up appointments online. MyChart Spanish activation is coming soon, and we're launching a website redesign.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the meeting and invited community partners. We are grateful for your partnership and feedback as we work for the health of our community.
