Fairview Health earns honor for community service

Fairview Health Services has developed a host of efforts beyond providing care in the hospital in recent years, including programs aimed at helping those with food insecurity and outreach efforts to connect patients with clinicians.

The American Hospital Association has awarded Fairview Health Services with the Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. Based in Minneapolis, Fairview has teamed with community partners to help distribute food to those in need.

Now, the Minnesota-based is receiving recognition for its efforts to address some of the social factors that influence health.

The American Hospital Association has awarded Fairview Health Services with the Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. Fairview will receive $100,000 to support its community-based programs and be recognized at the American Hospital Association’s Leadership Summit in Nashville next week.

James Hereford, president and CEO of Fairview, said the system is committed to “ensuring that every patient, regardless of background or circumstance, has access to the care, resources, and opportunities they need to live a healthy life.”

"This recognition is a testament to Fairview’s deep roots in the community and the unwavering dedication of our entire system — all 34,000 people that make up Fairview — to advancing the health and well-being of the communities we serve,” Hereford said in a statement.

The hospital association cited a number of Fairview’s programs in announcing the prize. Fairview operates a “Food is Medicine” program that includes screening patients for food insecurity and partnering with community groups to distribute locally sourced food.

Fairview said it has screened patients for a host of social factors that influence health, and found that 113,000 individuals were found to have challenges with food, housing, financial issues, or a lack of transportation.

The system also has operated drop-in health centers called “Health Commons” since 2011. With those centers, residents can meet with doctors or nurses for consultations, guidance in managing chronic diseases, addiction counseling, and other services.

Fairview has also teamed with more than 250 community groups to help expand vaccinations throughout the region.

Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, said in a statement that Fairview’s work to help its communities be as healthy as possible is worth emulating.

“From addressing food insecurity to providing free clinical services in community settings to helping neighbors navigate the health care system, Fairview’s community outreach programs serve as a national model to the hospital field,” Pollack said in a statement.

Fairview operates 10 hospitals and scores of clinics in the Minneapolis region and north-central Minnesota.

Three other health systems were named finalists for the community services prize: Inova, LifeBridge Health, and Rush University System for Health. Each will receive $10,000 for their programs.

Based in northern Virginia, Inova was recognized for its programs to deliver primary care in the home for seniors, clinics in underserved areas, and programs to help those with HIV and AIDS.

LifeBridge, based in Baltimore, operates a “Center for Hope” program that works with victims and perpetrators of violence, collaborations with dozens of churches, and a mobile unit to bring physicians to underserved communities.

Rush, based in Chicago, has launched programs to help young people pursue careers in health care, outreach programs providing free mental health services for veterans, and nursing-led healthcare services into the system’s neighborhoods.