The Menominee Nation was one of eight winners of the 2015 RWJF Culture of Health Prize recently awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The prize celebrated the strides communities have made to ensure good health for their residents. Menominee Nation will receive a cash prize of $25,000.
The tribe was recognized for leveraging its unique strengths and rallying community partners around a shared vision of health. Its journey to improve community health includes reclaiming traditional culture and practices and employing trauma-specific interventions to ensure healing from historical loss. This approach includes the following:
• The establishment of a strong collaboration among government entities, agencies, schools and the public; making health and wellness a priority across the community. In addition, the tribe is building systems to collect and analyze data so that it can actively measure success and continue improving community health.
• The tribal clinic partnering with the school district to provide dental care in schools, as well as behavioral health services, including designated rooms for refection, trauma coaching, and daily meditation in classrooms.
• The Menominee Indian School District incorporating health and wellness, paired with traditional culture and practices, as part of its educational approach. The district has seen four-year graduation rates increase from less than 60 percent in 2007 to nearly 99 percent in 2014.
• An open-access policy allowing for same-day appointments at the tribal clinic, increasing patients’ access to timely medical care, and decreasing missed appointment rates.
• The Menominee Nation practicing sustainable forestry, protecting air and water quality and carrying out other actions that show a commitment to the physical environment.
“Building a culture of health isn’t something that can be done quickly or just by one agency or entity,” Menominee Tribal Chairman Gary Besaw said. “For our tribe, it also has to incorporate traditional culture and practices and recognize that, in order for us to move forward and become healthier, we have to address the traumas of the past. We are doing just that with our collaborative efforts. The results show we’re on the right path.”
“This year’s RWJF Culture of Health Prize winners are inspiring examples of communities that are weaving health into everything they do,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president and CEO. “These eight communities, and our 12 previous winners, are connecting to like-minded people across the country to build a Culture of Health movement fueled by bold ideas, collaboration, and solutions so that everyone will have the opportunity and means to live the healthiest life they can.”
Menominee Nation was selected from more than 340 prize applications across the country. The other seven winning communities are Bridgeport, Connecticut; Bronx, New York; Everett, Massachusetts; Kansas City, Missouri; Lawrence, Massachusetts; Spartanburg County, South Carolina; and Waaswaaganing Anishinaabeg (Lac du Flambeau Tribe), Wisconsin.
To become an RWJF Culture of Health Prize winner, Menominee Nation had to demonstrate how it excelled in six criteria:
• Defining health in the broadest possible terms.
• Committing to sustainable systems changes and policy-oriented long-term solutions.
• Cultivating a shared and deeply-held belief in the importance of equal opportunity for health.
• Harnessing the collective power of leaders, partners and community members.
• Securing and making the most of available resources.
• Measuring and sharing progress and results.
“We talk a lot about the number 72,” Menominee Tribal Clinic Administrator Jerry Waukau said. “When county health rankings came out, that’s where we were; last among 72 counties in Wisconsin. We knew we had to do something and, thankfully, the community leaders and members came together to start moving the needle on that ranking. Today, we are a much healthier community than we were just five years ago.”
Menominee Indian School Superintendent Wendell Waukau added, “The impacts of this effort are incredibly far reaching and we see it first hand in our schools. Attendance is up, our graduation rates have increased, suspensions have decreased and our students are more active and knowledgeable about staying healthy. To me, that’s the best part of all of this, seeing the next generations embracing health and wellness.”
“We are pleased with the progress we’ve made and look forward to doing even more in the future,” Besaw said. “On behalf of our tribe, I would like to thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute for recognizing our efforts.”