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

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.

Deer River is one of the 14 communities surveyed by Essentia.

Our most recent CHNA identified the following needs for the Essentia Health-Deer River 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 incentivize consumption of local produce through support of Grand Rapids Farmers Market’s market programs, integrate whole foods into Deer River School District’s school food programs and enhance physical activity options at Leech Lake LIC’s Ball Club Community Center.
• Injury prevention: Essentia plans to partner with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to educate parents about car seat use and child passenger safety.

“Essentia's partnership with the Grand Rapids Farmers' Market helps anchor our Mighty Matching Dollars program,” said Jane Jewett, a representative for the Grand Rapids Farmers’ Market. “Market customers who use SNAP can get up to a $10 match from this program on every market day. Along with other state and federally-funded matches, Essentia's support helps consumers stretch their food dollar to buy healthy, local food from our area farmers. It's a win-win-win for the market, the farmers, and the people who shop with SNAP at the market.”

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:

• Internet access: Essentia partnered with Smart North to address digital inclusion by opening the Deer River Community Tech Hub at the Goodall Resource Center on the Essentia Health-Deer River campus. The Tech Hub provided equipment, software and a space for social connection and food access for students facing food insecurity. In subsequent years, Essentia continued supporting the Tech Hub, which served a growing number of students annually and helped expand the initiative with a new hub in Grand Rapids.
• Food access: Essentia supported reliable access to healthy food by partnering with organizations like Second Harvest North Central Food Bank, the Grand Rapids Farmers Market and Get Fit Itasca. These partnerships helped establish school pantries serving local students, launched the Power of Produce program for children and developed the Deer River Community Garden. Essentia has continued these initiatives, expanding food access and supporting community food programs through grants and local collaborations.
• Mental well-being: Essentia promoted mental well-being through participation in community events, engaging with residents at local gatherings and festivals. Essentia also supported mental well-being in schools by providing classroom aids to students. Essentia expanded its efforts, partnering with organizations to enhance transportation access for wheelchair users and providing grants for community projects like playground revitalization.
• 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."