Author Archive
Are you curious what”'s happening in your “Backyard?” Backyard May Activities & Year”'s Results
by Janice Barbee, Cultural Wellness Center Have you seen the BYI Health Assessment Report? Community residents learned about the results of the Backyard Initiative community health assessment in several gatherings in May. The completed report includes the findings and recommendations from 21 Listening Circles and the walk-around survey of 676 community residents, with over 1,000 residents participating. The Citizen Health Action Teams (CHATs) that are now meeting to plan actions for health improvement are making sure that their ideas address the state of health and health concerns reported by residents in this assessment. A full copy of the report is available at http://www.allina.com/backyard. Anyone wanting a hard copy of the complete report can call Ifrah Biyou at 612-262-0667. A special four-page insert presenting the highlights of the report to the community was published in last month”'s Alley newspaper (May edition). If anyone did not receive this edition and [...]
“Power Over” or “Shared Power”: Which Will It Be?
by Susan Gust Northwestern Hospital began in 1882 in a humble abode with a simple mission ---to serve the community by aiding its women and children. This is truly a well-intended and honorable goal. It is not that different now from the many human service nonprofits in our community which begin with the singular, compelling and well-meaning goal of service to specific populations or need in the community. But, even with the best of intentions and most stellar delivery model, there is a power imbalance in the “service” model. There is a community or specific group of people that need to be served and those who are deemed to be the “servers”, usually because of their relationship to privilege, race and/or class. This seems to have been true as one reflects on the development of the health care industry that is so rooted in the Phillips Community, in particular. The health care-providing institutions changed, evolved and grew bigger, not always any longer [...]
Thoughts about the Community Advisory Committee
by David Spartz The Community Advisory Committee was an important element connecting to the immediate neighborhood surrounding ANW` (Allina) and Children”'s Medical Center. The mission of this committee was to establish a forum from which a dialogue with its neighbors could address issues affecting their concerns and the impact of these affecting the livability within the community. Such openness brought a rapport and reasonableness that now has been replaced by a disconnect with the absence of CAC. It regretfully is missed!
