What's New

The October Issue of RWHC Eye On Health is now available and Includes:

• Social Isolation–a Killer of Rural Elders
• “Suicide and the Wisconsin Farmer”
• Local Markets Drive Rural Hospital Health
• RWHC Leadership Residency Program
• Leadership Insights: “Leading: Life & Death”
• RWHC “Champions of Health” Public Service Announcement Campaign
• Upcoming RWHC Leadership Programs
• Monato Rural Essay Prize Submissions Due June 1st
• Eye On Health Cartoons

INAUGURAL WISCONSIN HEALTHY COMMUNITIES NAMED

Thirty-one Wisconsin communities have been recognized for their work to improve health in their communities.

The Wisconsin Healthy Communities Designation is a new initiative offered by the UW Population Health Institute (UWPHI), in collaboration with diverse statewide groups. Funded by the Wisconsin Partnership Program, it is designed to celebrate and encourage achievements in health improvement in Wisconsin, and to serve as a guide for communities to expand and enhance their health improvement efforts.

The designation program recognizes communities that focus efforts across the multiple factors that influence health – including health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment – with a focus on equity, multisector partnerships and sustainable solutions.

“Achieving equitable health outcomes takes years to accomplish, and this program is all about celebrating the hard work happening across Wisconsin,” said Sheri Johnson, PhD, director of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. “Our goal is to acknowledge and support ongoing efforts in local communities to improve health for everyone.”

The 31 communities received either a bronze, silver or gold designation. Four communities received a gold designation. The tiers are meant to provide a trajectory and serve as a guide for communities as they work toward comprehensive solutions for better health – the gold level representing the most difficult to achieve. However, receiving a designation, at any level, does not indicate that health or health equity has been achieved in a community; rather, the designation is meant to commend the efforts and the partnerships working to improve health.

VIEW A MAP OF THE 31 HEALTHY COMMUNITIES (PDF)

“This initiative was developed in response to a request from rural communities across the state and gives communities of all shapes and sizes – rural and urban – an opportunity to be recognized for the great work that they are doing to improve their own health,” said Tim Size, executive director of the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, a collaborative of 42 rural hospitals and local health systems, and a founding member of the UW Population Health Institute’s advisory board.

The Healthy Community Designation lasts for three years, at which point a community may reapply. Learn more about the program and the application process.

The Rural Wisconsin Chronic Disease Toolkit was developed as part of the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC) Primary Care Improvement Project, which is a HRSA Network Development Grant-funded collaboration between RWHC, participating RWHC member hospitals, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), and other partner organizations.

"The Rural 'State of the State' in Wisconsin" byTim Size, RWHC Executive Director, Wisconsin Rural Health Conference, Elkhart Lake, WI, June 28, 2018

The selected recipients are:

• Cost Champion – Greg Dempsey of Fort Atkinson
• Honorable Mention – Greg Geiselman, Rick Sauer, Lynn Dederich, Jody Cotton, Holly Halberslaben and Jennifer Ekenberg of Sauk Prairie
• Honorable Mention – Todd Lull, Platteville

Healthcare Leadership in a Divided Country, 
by Tim Size, Executive Director, RWHC

Click to view presentation