DULUTH — Patients don’t usually anticipate a visit to their health care provider could lead to getting a well dug for access to clean drinking water at home. However, programs such as Essentia Health’s Resourceful public resource directory aim to broaden the definition of community health care. “What you need to be healthy isn't always more medical care,” said Emily Kuenstler, community health director at Essentia Health.
“It might be having access to water in my house through a well. It might be being able to afford food or being able to have transportation to get to my job.” Kuenstler, along with Essentia Institute of Rural Health research scientist Tony Olson, were part of a larger team that helped bring Resourceful to the community.
“It frees up a lot of space and mental energy, time and money to take care of some of the other things that we all need to live healthy lives,” Olson said. “It's integrating with the community-based organizations and other resources in the community as it relates to health, not just integrating within the health care system.” In 2023, there were 89,238 patients in Essentia’s East Market who answered questions while being screened for social needs during their primary care and pediatric appointments.
Of those screened, 13,694 patients reported at least one need. ADVERTISEMENT “They are connected either with one of our community health workers or with a social worker who tries to understand more of that patient's situation and what they have already tried,” Kuenstler said. Essentia recently received the American Hospital Association’s Dick Davidson NOVA Award for its Resourceful program , a public resource directory with approximately 4,500 verified programs providing free and reduced-cost services to underserved populations.
“There's lots of state and national programs listed,” Kuenstler said. “People are familiar with ones that are in their community, but you wouldn't necessarily know that you're eligible for some sort of national cancer prevention or foundation fund, or something that would have been harder to find on your own.” In Duluth, there are 2,499 programs available through the Resourceful directory.
Second Harvest Northland, a nonprofit charitable organization providing food access across Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin, has partnered with Essentia's through Resourceful. According to Second Harvest Director of Philanthropy Trisha Zimmerman, Resourceful helps the organization expand its reach regionwide. "Essentia is able to identify people who need various resources throughout their community and as we all know food is a necessity," Zimmerman said.
Once it is established that a person is food insecure, they are referred to a program of Second Harvest Northland. It could be a mobile food pantry or food shelf. ADVERTISEMENT "Our staff immediately receives their information, and we contact them via the contact method of their choice and are able to help them get the food their household needs," Zimmerman said.
“Food shelves, transportation programs — all sorts of those types of programs that exist within our communities,” Kuenstler said. “We're just creating essentially a one-stop shop where people can navigate to those programs more easily.” Resourceful integrates into Essentia’s electronic medical record system and is used by community members, Essentia staff and local organizations.
Since the program launched in September 2021 , Essentia’s team of community health workers has used Resourceful to make about 19,000 referrals, connecting patients to services addressing food insecurity, transportation, housing and more. Free and available to the public at weareresourceful.org, it has been used by more than 32,000 individuals.
“Help paying for housing, food pantries, help paying for utilities, temporary shelter — these are the most common search terms,” Kuenstler said..
