After helping to identify top health priorities among communities in northeast and central Wisconsin last year, ThedaCare has created blueprints for implementing meaningful change in those and other areas of opportunity, including a plan to improve youth mental health by reshaping cell phone and social media norms in our communities.
Last year, ThedaCare’s Community Health Needs Assessments identified three key health priorities common among people and communities served by ThedaCare hospitals. The priorities included mental health and substance use, nutrition, and access to support needed to improve health and well-being.
Common themes identified through the health needs assessments within each community included findings such as:
- Adults ages 18-24 reporting lower personal well-being and physical and mental health
- Some communities experiencing significant rates of food insecurity
- The prevalence of food deserts and low food access
Also identified was the need to help improve access to transportation, housing and health care to help prevent the need for more intensive services downstream.
ThedaCare has since detailed plans to help make impactful improvements in each of those areas of opportunity, said Paula Morgen, ThedaCare Director of Community Health Improvement.
“We outlined the major priorities and initiatives for communities served by ThedaCare hospitals,” she said. “We held conversations with stakeholders in each community and then worked collaboratively to determine the most effective strategies that would aid our efforts to positively impact the health and well-being of the people in the regions we serve.”
Strategies for each hospital market are included in their Community Health Implementation Plan, Morgen said. Each plan includes a focus on youth mental health and phone and social media use, an emphasis on access to healthy foods, and a focus on social needs screening and referral.
The focus on youth mental health and phone and social media use comes as studies continue to highlight the potential effects cell phone use and social media may have on young people’s mental health, Morgen said.
“We want to help create social norms around cell phone and social media use,” she said. “That’s why we are working with six pilot communities – Appleton, New London, Princeton, Shawano, Waupaca and Wild Rose – to help collect data through the schools that we’ll use to help shift social norms around the use of social media and cell phone technology. Each individual community’s data will help us better understand their greatest opportunity.”
The effort offers families, and the broader community, a seat at the table to help shape the social norms surrounding phones and social media, Morgen said.
“Families see the impact of phones and social media every day but often they’re trying to manage it without clear or trusted guidance or the kind of community support that makes lasting change possible,” Morgen said. “The Community Health Implementation Plans offer strategies designed to help positively shift the environments in which children are growing by reducing risks and building protective factors for them.”
To address access to healthy foods, plans call for working in collaboration with area partners to expand the production of hydroponically-grown green leafy vegetables to support area food pantries throughout eastern Wisconsin.
“We want to be able to serve our communities healthy food options to help support their overall nutrition, health and wellness,” Morgen said. “The project benefits our communities as a whole by positively impacting the systems that are ensuring there are healthy food options throughout the Froedtert ThedaCare service area.”
The third component of each community’s implementation plan focuses on social needs screening and referral. This highlights efforts to connect patients with particular social needs – housing, food, utilities, transportation, etc. – to the appropriate community resources. This is done through patient screenings and referrals, Morgen explained.
“When we confirm a patient has such a need, we can refer them to a specific community resource,” she said. “We typically have done this through our inpatient and emergency department services. We’re working with our Care Management experts to help expand such screenings to involve the primary care team. We do this because so much of what goes into a person’s health and wellness can often be traced to social needs.”
ThedaCare will continue to evaluate progress on each community’s plan and make updates as needed, Morgen said.
“The Community Health Implementation Plans represent our commitment to improving the overall health and well-being of the people in the communities we serve,” she said. “We want to ensure we’re making a difference.”
