SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Fairview Health Services is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub from Sept. 18 to 20, 2023 with three days of community-based experiences and events that reflect the impactful and innovative work being done at the hub to advance community health and health equity.
The first-of-its kind campus, located in downtown St. Paul, addresses health disparities while providing a range of critical healthcare services and community resources alongside local community partners. Services range from primary and mental health care to food access programs to senior care, all located in the same space to make it easier for people to access what they need to live well.
“In just one year, the hub has had meaningful, measurable impact toward closing the health equity gap in our communities,” said Diane Tran, Fairview’s system executive director of community health equity and engagement. “Together with our community partners, we are addressing social risk factors and expanding access by bringing healthy food, clinical services, and research directly into neighborhoods.”
The hub is home to multiple programs that target health disparities by prioritizing access and addressing obstacles to wellness. These programs have made a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the St. Paul community within its first year. A few milestones include:
• The St. Paul Wellness Center, operated by Minnesota Community Care, has facilitated nearly 6,500 patient visits since the hub’s opening. The community health clinic offers affordable, multi dimensional primary care, wellness services and education, preventive medicine, chiropractic care, and gender care. Forty-six percent of the clinic’s patients are uninsured and 41 percent are publicly insured.
• M Health Fairview Mental Health & Addiction Services provides outpatient care within the hub and cared for patients in more than 9,000 visits during the first half of 2023. The clinic offers a range of outpatient services, including psychiatry, addiction medicine, psychotherapy, and intensive outpatient programs for mental health and substance use disorders.
• Fairview Frontiers is taking steps to introduce research to people who might not have considered participating before and providing an environment where research is accessible and comfortable. More than 700 people who live in and around downtown St. Paul have enrolled in a variety of studies, including new health technologies, wearable devices, and new therapies. Since expanding its work at the hub, enrollment of BIPOC populations in clinical trials has doubled from 15 percent to more than 30 percent.
• At the food hub, Fairview, Sanneh Foundation, and Second Harvest Heartland collaborate to package 1,000 meal boxes each week to help address food access needs in St. Paul. Fresh produce for the meal kits is sourced from partnerships with more than 50 small, local, primarily BIPOC-owned farms.
• As part of the M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity’s mission, the hub has held more than 100 events where community partners convened to engage and develop innovative programming to improve the health of the communities. The center is advancing key social
determinants of health initiatives and raising the profile of the health system’s community health equity partnerships on the national level.
New services at the hub include a retail pharmacy and an adult day program. The Wellness Pharmacy, which opened in July and is operated by Fairview’s partner Minnesota Community Care, fills a gap in pharmacy access in downtown St. Paul. Opened in March 2023, Ebenezer Daybreak offers adults ages 65+ a safe space to spend their weekdays and gives peace-of-mind to their loved ones and caregivers while they are at work. In addition to the adult day program, Ebenezer Integrated Care & Rehab offers transitional, complex medical care, and memory care at the hub.
About Fairview Health Services
Fairview Health Services (fairview.org) is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit health system driven to heal, discover and educate for longer, healthier lives. Founded in 1906, Fairview provides exceptional care to patients and communities as one of the most comprehensive and geographically accessible systems in Minnesota. Fairview has enjoyed a long partnership with the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians, now represented in the M Health Fairview brand. Together, we offer access to breakthrough medical research and specialty expertise as part of a continuum of care that reaches all ages and health needs.
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