A transformative moment: celebrating the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub opening
The Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub opened officially on Thursday, Aug. 4, to the joyful applause of employees, community partners, and guests.
The hub represents an ongoing and expanding commitment to partner with our community on responsive, accessible, equitable healthcare. Located in the former M Health Fairview St. Joseph’s Campus in downtown St. Paul, the hub was launched by Fairview Health Services with support from community partners including Minnesota Community Care, Ebenezer Senior Living, and The Sanneh Foundation.
Watch the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub opening ceremony here.
The hub is a first-of-its-kind campus that will address health disparities while providing a range of critical healthcare services and community resources alongside trusted local partners to help Minnesota’s most vulnerable people and communities. It will house, among other services:
- Low- and no-cost primary care for qualifying patients at the St. Paul Wellness Clinic, operated by Minnesota Community Care.
- Drive-up and mobile food access through The Sanneh Foundation in partnership with Second Harvest Heartland.
- A new adult day program, Daybreak of St. Paul, opening this fall to help underserved seniors maintain active and independent lives through an enhanced day experience.
- Clinical trials and research into new health technologies and therapies through Fairview Frontiers, connecting interested individuals to low-barrier and non-invasive medical research.
- An expanded M Health Fairview Mental Health and Addiction Clinic offering a range of outpatient services including psychiatry, addiction medicine, psychotherapy, transitional care, and intensive outpatient programs for mental health and substance use disorders.
- The new M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity, which will expand our regional health equity efforts as an incubator for the next generation of community-based health and wellness programs focused on prevention and the social determinants of health.
Looking forward by honoring the past
Diane Tran, system executive director of community health equity and engagement and leader of the M Health Fairview Center for Community Health Equity, started off the opening ceremony by welcoming everyone who was in attendance both in-person and virtually – including members of St. Paul city government, the Minnesota Senate, the African-American Leadership Council, the Hmong American Partnership, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, who helped found St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1853.
“The Sisters were responding to a community need and saw that need in the midst of a cholera outbreak as establishing the first hospital in the state of Minnesota,” said James Hereford, Fairview President and CEO, reflecting on the hub’s history. “That response to community need has continued until now … As a healthcare organization, we’re deeply committed to serving the communities we’re in and making sure we’re attending to the health needs of those communities.”
To recognize the past, present, and future of the hub site, the ceremony also opened with an Indigenous Land Acknowledgment led by Heather Fahey, Fairview pharmacist and member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.
“We hope the land acknowledgement will honor and recognize the Indigenous communities who have stewarded this land since time immemorial,” said Fahey, “and that is shows our commitment to restorative action and making a positive impact in Native communities.”
Celebrating a new community resource
Other speakers included Brooke Cunningham, MD, assistant commissioner for the Health Equity Bureau at MDH; Dustin Crawford, Fairview’s system director of spiritual health services; and Mike Jinteh, a long-time chaplain at St. Joseph’s who offered a blessing of the space.
“It’s great to see a community hub that will be a community resource and not simply a health system resource,” said Cunningham. “It’s heartening to hear that Fairview is investing resources in this neighborhood and is going to engage with community partners and listen to those partners to create culturally-responsive approaches and expand programs to serve St. Paul.”
Tony Sanneh, longtime member of the community and founder of The Sanneh Foundation, also spoke about the hub as a force for good in the heart of St. Paul. “At the end of the day, we all are trying to make the community healthier for all of us.”
Wrapping up the speakers was Brett Edelson, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthCare of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. This summer, UnitedHealthCare provided a $1 million investment to the Hub while also partnering with Fairview to launch a new Communities of Health program. This initiative will expand our infrastructure to deliver fresh local produce, pantry staples, dairy, and protein to patients facing food insecurity in St. Paul.
“We’ve been honored to be a part of this journey and see all the listening and understanding that’s been going on around what’s going to benefit the community most,” said Edelson. “What I’m excited about and what UnitedHealthCare is excited about is seeing all of these fantastic, trusted community partners able to provide services in the same space.”
Guests learn more about life at the hub
After the ceremony, Fairview employees and guests met with community partners to learn more about hub programming and participated firsthand in packing food boxes with The Sanneh Foundation. Our ‘speed volunteering’ event packed over 400 make-at-home meal kits for various food distribution initiatives, including the M Health Fairview Community Cooks Meal Box Program.
‘Why Treaties Matter,’ an award-winning exhibit presented by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the Smithsonian, was also on view for employees and guests. It presents the history of treaties made and broken in Minnesota, and their importance for Dakota and Ojibwe tribal sovereignty today. The exhibit will be on view at the hub through Sept. 15, follow Fairview Health Services on Twitter to find out about additional viewing opportunities.
