By Nyesha Stone
Back in January, Ascension held five sessions where it invited community members to St. Joseph with the goal of sparking a conversation around the community’s health and how to improve it. More than 200 community members participated in the discussions.
During that first round, community members were asked: “what do we need to work on together to improve the health of our community?” The results informed Ascension’s Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIP).
The results showed the four top answers from the five sessions: improved health, improved access to healthcare, improved social and economic factors and improved physical environment.
These are what the community wants, but how do we know if we’re on the right track to attaining those things? According to Ascension, once we see improvement in the quality of life and access to health care, then we’ll know.
Now that the results are in for the first round of discussions, Ascension has moved onto hosting its second round at St. Joe’s. Earlier this week, Ascension invited the community out again, but with a new question: “how can we work together to improve the health of our community?”
Instead of the what, the community focused on the how.
Ascension understands that Wisconsin’s, especially Milwaukee’s health, needs work, which is the point of the community discussions, and community outreach. According
to Ascension’s 2019-2022 report, Ascension’s goal is to increase access to healthcare services for Milwaukee County residents.
The report also states six strategies Ascension has to reach their goal:
1. Increase access to prescription medication
2. Become more effective with Milwaukee Enrollment Network/Patient Financial Counseling
3. Transportation assistance
4. Mobile mammography
5. Access to care for underinsured or uninsured individuals
6. Primary care connection
The results for the second round of discussions won’t be available for a few months, but the CHIP results can be found at https://healthcare.ascension.org/Locations/Wisconsin/WIMIL/Mequon-Ascension-Columbia-St-Marys-Hospital-Ozaukee/Community-Benefit-Reports.
For more information on Ascension and their services, visit https://healthcare.ascension.org/
