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

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.

Duluth is one of the 14 communities surveyed by Essentia. 

Our most recent CHNA identified the following needs for the Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center (Duluth) 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 food security: Essentia plans to educate youth about nutrition through support of the Duluth Farm to School program, incentivize consumption of local produce through support of local farmers market programs and support community gardening through partnership with the Duluth Community Garden Program and St. Mark Giving Garden.
• Housing: Essentia plans to support continued rehabilitation of Duluth’s housing stock through support of One Roof Community Housing’s Home Rehabilitation Loan program and Ecolibrium3’s Home Energy Conservation program. Essentia also plans to partner with Justice North to help prevent homelessness of tenants facing eviction.

“With Essentia’s support, One Roof will provide both forgivable and below-market-rate home rehabilitation loans to help homeowners address deferred maintenance, improve energy efficiency, and make accessibility modifications to aging homes, particularly benefiting seniors on fixed incomes,” said Jackie Kemp, senior director of housing programs at One Roof Community Housing. “Essentia has been a strong supporter of One Roof for years, so we are thrilled to partner with Essentia’s community health department in providing low and no-cost home rehabilitation services to the Duluth community.”

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:

• Substance use: Essentia addressed substance use by partnering with the American Lung Association to update anti-vaping resources for schools and participating in initiatives to prevent infections related to substance use. Essentia continued supporting individuals overcoming substance abuse through monthly events and further distributed wound care kits. Additionally, Essentia operated a Community Health Worker Program to assist low-income residents with substance use and mental health needs.
• Mental and social well-being: Essentia promoted mental and social well-being through various community partnerships. Collaborating with Family Rise Together, Essentia hosted the African Heritage Hub Healing Summit in Duluth. Essentia Health worked with the Cloquet School District to bring Social Emotional Learning curriculum to students and provided bike and helmet safety education to fourth-graders across multiple schools. Additionally, Essentia supported the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northland’s Mental Health Access Program and partnered with Northern Expressions Arts Collective in Duluth to engage community members in arts programs. Outreach also included youth mentoring, mental well-being programs and resiliency training for first responders.
• Food security: Essentia supported food access in Duluth through partnerships with several organizations. Collaborating with Community Action Duluth (CAD), Essentia promoted fresh food consumption at local farmers markets and distributed produce through the Power of Produce (PoP) program, along with offering EBT matching dollars. Essentia also worked with the Duluth School District’s Farm to School program, which harvested produce from school gardens, educated students about healthy eating and involved them in community events like the Great Lakes Apple Crunch. Additionally, Essentia funded projects such as “Food Forward,” which delivered meals to low-income families, and supported St. Mark’s Giving Garden, a Black-operated community garden. Essentia continued supporting fresh food initiatives, launching new programs like the Produce Prescription Program, while also providing funding to local organizations addressing food insecurity.
• Housing: Essentia addressed housing issues in Duluth through partnerships with various organizations. Through the “Young Mothers Program” with YWCA Duluth, Essentia supported childcare, career readiness, parenting education and transitional housing, helping individuals transition to stable housing. Essentia also collaborated with Annie’s House of Refuge and Restoration, which provided housing and wraparound services for young BIPOC mothers, and with Family Rise Together, offering mental health and housing stabilization services for BIPOC community members. Additionally, Essentia leaders participated in the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund’s Healthcare and Housing Fellowship program to explore long-term housing strategies for Duluth. Essentia supported the development of affordable housing units in Duluth and contributed to programs assisting low-income homebuyers, seniors and individuals re-entering society after incarceration.
• 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."