Wilson Health Planning Collaborative
Dr. Herb Wilson, 87, speaks about his dream of quality, affordable health care A project of: Common Enterprise Development Corporation
Contact:
Susan Davis, susan@cedc.coop
Bill Patrie and Susan Davis at Common Enterprise Development Corporation’s North Dakota office continue to lead the efforts of the Wilson Health Planning Collaborative. Created in 2006 to develop a comprehensive and integrated health system plan in rural North Dakota, the project covers an 11-county area that includes the entire Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
The Collaborative hopes to create an integrated health system that will eliminate disparities in health care and increase years of healthy life for all involved.
Besides CEDC, members of the Collaborative include health service providers, churches and non-profit and government organizations. The Collaborative is named after Dr. Herb Wilson of Bismarck, who served as a physician at Elbowoods and New Town for 43 years. Eighty-seven-year-old Dr. Wilson, who has long dreamed of a non-segregated health care system on and near the reservation, is also an active member of the planning group.
In the summer of 2008, Common Enterprise Development Corporation staff helped organize and lead tours of health care facilities within the 11-county region. In addition, staff helped organize and lead 10 public meetings to gather input from citizens. The Center used a tool called appreciative inquiry (asking positive questions) to discover stories and examples of successful healthcare services from residents. The Collaborative is now using these stories and examples as building blocks to help residents envision a health care system that delivers world-class health care services to everyone in the 11-county region.
Center staff helped the Wilson Health Planning Collaborative secure a one-year $85,000 Rural Health Network Planning Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Staff is now leading the work to conduct strategic healthcare planning for the region and to form the Wilson Community Care Cooperative.