On June 30 the Northeast Nebraska Rural Health Network conducted a meeting at the Wayne Fire Hall to identify and discuss the central health issues in the surrounding communities.
This meeting served as just one part of a long process to solve the problems that have had disastrous effects on this area.
The organizations that form the network include Pender Community Hospital, Providence Medical Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Winnebago Health Department and the Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department, which serves the counties of Cedar, Dixon, Thurston and Wayne.
The group formed in 2017 out of the need for an assessment and improvement plan.
According to Julie Rother, Health Director of the Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department, the various institutions saw the benefits of continuing a partnership, leading to the drafting of bylaws and memorandums of agreement to continue the necessary and life-changing work.
“We realized that [we can] really maximize our resources if we're not out duplicating the same kinds of activities but can learn from each other,” Rother said. “The vision we came up with is by working together, we create a healthier community.”
About 50 people attended the meeting, each offering their own crucial and unique perspective.
The facilitators of the event, including John Beraneck from Sioux Falls, began by having each table discuss notable patterns that lead to poor health outcomes. Beraneck continued to emphasize the goal of just naming the problems, not fixing them.
The intention was to avoid falling down a path of specifics that might prove insignificant in the long run. To gain a comprehensive view of the problems affecting everyone, the meeting focused on big picture ideas.
Between each session, participants moved around the room to encourage conversations and spark ideas with new people.
The first document that the prominent community leaders discussed compared local negative health issues with national statistics. Other reports summarized the surveys completed by community members earlier this year regarding their thoughts on local health and the countless organizations outside the network that contribute to overall health.
Stemming from analysis of each document, each table named three main health concerns to be addressed by the network in the near future.
When these ideas filled up the board in the front of the room, five core categories arose. These included Mental Health, Chronic Disease, Health Behavior Education, Social Determinates of Health and Availability of Resources.
Each person then had to put a sticker next to the one category they felt strongly about. Health Behavior Education took the lead with Mental Health and Chronic Disease not far behind.
After identifying these central health issues of Northeast Nebraska, the network feels prepared to advance to the next step.
Lori Steffen, Director at the NNPHD, said the network will now focus on re-establishing coalitions formed on the priorities found. They will continue to develop initiatives, conduct meetings with residents and community leaders alike and revise their plan to make this area healthier and safer.
Steffen and the other leaders of the event also disclosed their understanding of the importance of all the main health categories that surfaced during the meeting. However, to make lasting solutions, they understand each organization cannot tackle five concerns at once.
Through careful selection of two or three problems, the network will be better equipped to respond to issues, resolve core obstacles and support the other organizations in their journeys.
The meeting ended with each person offering both a practical contribution they can make towards the cause and one negative thing they will work to avoid during the process.
