Members of the St. Joe’s Accountability Coalition Markasa Tucker (from left), Rick Banks, Nate Gilliam and Melody McCurtis present the results of the groups’s community survey. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the original report that one of the top concerns reflected in the St. Joseph Accountability Coalition survey was more maternity and pregnancy services.
Here are four things to know about what’s happening at Ascension St. Joseph Hospital.
1. St. Joseph Accountability Coalition releases results from community survey.
The coalition surveyed almost 600 people from June 18 to Sept. 18 and found residents top concerns included an urgent care center in the St. Joe’s service area, healthcare without racial bias and more mental health, chemical dependency and wraparound services.
The coalition had set a goal of getting 1,000 respondents.
The most important community relations initiative that St. Joseph could pursue, according to 49.8% of respondents, is to “listen to, engage with, and respect community voices.”
2. Tensions between some community members and Ascension Wisconsin leadership continue.
The coalition asked Ascension’s Reggie Newson, chief advocacy officer; Nicole Gladney, director of community services; and Kevin Kluesner, chief administrative officer, to come to a town hall-style meeting last month to hear the survey results. Ascension was not invited to present information.
The St. Joe’s Accountability Coalition town hall drew about 30 people to the Wisconsin Black Historical Society. (Photo by Andrea Waxman)
Newson, Gladney and Kluesner could have engaged with attendees after the presentation, coalition member Markasa Tucker said.
Newson said he and his colleagues declined to attend because they interpreted the invitation to mean they would not be permitted to speak at all.
He said over the last 18 months, Ascension has surveyed and listened to hundreds of residents and community organizations in structured conversations. Ascension has never asked coalition members not to speak at a meeting, he said.
3. What’s happening with coalition’s request for Ascension to sign a Community Benefits Agreement.
The coalition has asked Ascension to commit to negotiating a Community Benefits Agreement for the future of St. Joe’s.
In a statement, an Ascension spokesperson responded:
“Community Benefits Agreements are between community groups and real estate developers. They identify a range of community benefits the developer agrees to provide as part of the development project in cases where the developer is seeking the community’s support of the project and may receive tax incentives or public funding to subsidize the project. These types of agreements do not apply to health systems.”
4. Ascension says it’s responding to community concerns.
Newson said Ascension St. Joseph is listening to the coalition and recently started providing many of the services the community is asking for.
He gave examples:
- The opening of a new midwifery clinic with two staff midwives
- A national Ascension maternal health initiative that is set to begin
- The opening this month of a heart and vascular center that will focus on prevention and treatment services
- The completion of a full-day design charrette process for campus improvements, including ideas about potential affordable housing and other social determinants of health
I noticed in responding to the community concerns that an urgent care center wasn’t on the list. Is that a lack of costs, a shortage of qualified health professionals, something else? Or is there something off about the community’s perception of the local healthcare services? I know in Denver we’ve been trying to expand available urgent care services.