Northwest Minnesota Foundation awards grant to North Country Community Health Services
Tue, 04/21/2015 - 10:27am
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By:
Karen Edelbach
Bonnie Engen of the North Country Community Health Services Board, Robin Larson, Project Coordinator for The Idea Circle in Bagley, Tom Anderson of Clearbrook, Vice Chair of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, and Nate Dorr, who is the Northwest Minnesota Foundation program officer for grants met in front of the Clearwater County Courthouse last Tuesday.
They gathered to discuss the purpose of a $25,000 grant Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) gave to North Country Community Health Services (NCCHS), whose Board is the governing body for public health providers serving Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard and Lake of the Woods counties.
Enthusiasm was evident in the conversation as they explained what this grant means to the local communities for helping youth deal with mental health and trauma issues, and the inter-connection to physical well-being of individuals. Their goal is to see youth learn ways for healthy coping and grieving during stressful times in their lives, they explained.
They said this grant will help them to assist in the school systems for youth who have been affected by such adverse childhood experiences (ACES) as death or divorce, abuses, or multiple moves which can be extremely stressful. If the schools can identify issues early in life it can help the children to deal with the difficulties they are facing with more positive skills.
Another use of the grant money is for new mothers learning to care for and bond with their babies.
“Among the mental health professionals there are many pockets of specialty. The providers don't always know what's available,” Bonnie Engen said. With this program there can be more prevention taking place.
People who are under a great deal of stress often develop unhealthy coping skills which leads to greater problems for them later in life, such as alcoholism or drug abuse. Nate Dorr calls this “toxic stress”.
Robin Larson, The Idea Circle Project Coordinator in Bagley, pointed out that on a national scale most programs are limited to communities with 150,000 people or more. The four counties that this grant will assist comprise of around 80,000 people. The Idea Circle will be hired as a consultant to help NCCHS with use of the grant.
“This project seeks to improve the region's capacity in public health with strategies in promotion, prevention, crisis management and client advocacy,” said Bonnie Engen, NCCHS administrator. “NMF's grant dollars will be used to expand and define partner roles and responsibilities, conduct strategic planning and build systems to increase efficiency.”
“Achieving better health outcomes in our communities requires a coordinated effort among public leaders and healthcare systems,” Mr. Dorr said.
He said the Community Connection in Bemidji program is supported by the McKnight Foundation. Their philosophy is to let the locals run the local programs.