Essentia Health partners with local groups to identify community health needs and drive improvements in Aurora

Essentia Health’s mission is to make a healthy difference in people’s lives, and that work extends beyond the walls of our hospitals and clinics.

Just like patients, each community has unique needs. To determine priorities, Essentia conducts a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) every three years in each community that is home to one of its 14 hospitals. Town hall meetings, focus groups and surveys are among the ways Essentia collects information on what is important to people and what gaps we can help to address.

Aurora is one of the 14 communities surveyed by Essentia. Our most recent CHNA identified the following needs for the Essentia Health-Northern Pines service area:

• Social drivers of health: Essentia plans to operate a Community Health Worker Program, administer a community resource directory called “Resourceful” and support organizations through a Community Grants program.
• Nutrition and movement: Essentia plans to educate youth about nutrition through a partnership with Mesabi East School District’s Mesabi East Environmental Education Center (ME3C).
• Injury prevention: Essentia plans to partner with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to educate parents about car seat use and child passenger safety.

“The Partnership between Essentia and Mesabi East Schools is far-reaching,” said Rachel Doherty of the Mesabi East Environmental Education Center. “The Mesabi East community has benefited from this partnership program through the education of nutrition and local foods, along with community and student gardens. Students are making meaningful connections with community members and amongst their peers. It is because of this fostering that Mesabi East students are growing into giant successes!”

The key to gathering accurate data is to get input from a wide range of community members, particularly those who are medically underserved and those in minority groups. The information helps health systems decide how to make the greatest impact and which areas to focus on.

For example, after our last CHNA in 2022, we focused on the following priority areas for this service area:

• Mental well-being: Essentia promoted mental well-being in the Northern Pines service area by focusing on youth needs, partnering with the Mesabi East School District and the Mesabi East Environmental Education Center to develop a teen center in Aurora. It also collaborated with a local group to transform an abandoned tennis court into pickleball courts, fostering inter-generational community engagement. In continuing these efforts, Essentia worked with students to enhance an outdoor patio at ME3C to encourage social connection and community gathering.
• Access to affordable and nutritious foods: Essentia supported reliable access to healthy food by partnering with the Mesabi East Environmental Education Center (ME3C) and the Biwabik Area Civic Association, helping maintain student-run greenhouses and community garden beds. The produce was distributed through the school cafeteria, local food shelf and ME3C’s farmers market in Aurora. Essentia supported the Farm to School program, which incorporated locally sourced foods into school meals, and ME3C’s programming impacted over 1,000 community members.
• Resourceful: Resourceful is a publicly available community resource directory, designed to connect individuals with free and reduced-cost services. Since its launch in 2021 more than 4,500 programs have been added to the resource directory and over 32,000 individuals have used the directory. Resourceful has facilitated more than 25,000 referrals to community-based organizations.

"At Essentia, our commitment to the communities we serve is at the heart of everything we do,” said Emily Kuenstler, Essentia’s community health director. “We believe that true health care extends far beyond the walls of our hospitals and clinics—it's about partnering with local organizations, listening to diverse voices and addressing the unique needs that impact well-being every day. By conducting regular Community Health Needs Assessments and investing in programs that promote nutrition, physical activity and access to resources, we're dedicated to making a lasting, positive difference in people's lives."