The American Hospital Association (AHA) on Wednesday presented Essentia Health with the prestigious AHA Dick Davidson NOVA Award for hospital-led collaborative efforts that improve community health. Essentia is one of five recipients across the country to receive this honor in 2024.

Essentia was recognized for its Resourceful program. Resourceful was launched in 2021 as a public resource directory connecting community members with thousands of verified programs providing free and reduced-cost services. Information available at www.WeAreResourceful.org is customized for the specific needs of communities served by Essentia in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.

The program integrates into Essentia’s electronic medical record system and is widely used by community members, including Essentia staff and local organizations. All Essentia patients are screened for social needs at primary care and pediatric appointments. Essentia Health’s team of community health workers develops relationships with patients and utilizes Resourceful to connect them to services addressing patient concerns such as food insecurity, transportation and housing. Since it was launched in September 2021, Resourceful has been responsible for about 19,000 referrals that helped patients in need – that’s an average of more than 500 connections per month. 

“During this project, we’ve partnered with hundreds of community-based organizations, all dedicated to the common goal of enhancing access to vital services for our communities,” said Emily Kuenstler, Essentia’s community health director. “This project serves as a testament to the power of collaboration.”

Resourceful uses a community leadership team that sets annual performance targets, reviews robust evaluation metrics and monitors community and patient feedback.