Health Care Volunteer Award

Editor’s note: This is the final article in a series of five profiling winners of the Celebration of Giving awards presented annually by Shawano Area Community Foundation Inc. for outstanding volunteerism. The winners will be honored at a gala April 11 at the Gathering.

Ed Grys gets the big picture.

That’s why Paula Morgen, director of community health at ThedaCare, nominated him for this year’s Health Care Volunteer Award from the Shawano Area Community Foundation.

“Ed is a huge champion in the community for creating health and well-being,” Morgen said.

Morgen said Grys understands that health is more than just diet and exercise, but includes factors like family, poverty and environment.

The Health Care Volunteer Award annually honors an individual for his or her commitment to improving health and well-being of others through volunteerism.

“I’m very pleased,” Grys said. “It’s very nice to be recognized. It’s not why I do it, but it’s very nice to be recognized by the people you work with.”

Bringing the community together to collectively understand and address societal issues that impact health is the role of the Shawano Menominee Community Health Action Team, which launched in early 2013.

Grys agreed to co-chair the fledgling initiative along with then-Shawano hospital CEO Dorothy Erdmann. More than 20 community leaders from all sectors meet monthly to direct the efforts of CHAT.

“When the team was formed, they recruited a number of people from a cross-section of the community,” Grys said. “Because I had experience with the concept in Appleton, I was asked to co-chair.”

Appleton had a CHAT about 12 years ago, Grys said, in which the that team also explored different community needs and wanted input from the Shawano area.

“I was invited to be a part of it,” he said.

One of the results of that participation was the establishment of the Rural Health Initiative in Shawano County.

Grys retired from Little Rapids Corp. in 2009. He has lived in the Shawano community for 28 years. After retirement, he felt he still had more he could contribute.

“I can’t sit around making kites and working in the shop all day,” he said. “I felt I could make a difference. I’m not an expert but I have some experience working with groups to facilitate getting to solutions. I know people in segments of town that I could call on and I was comfortable doing that.”

The SACF award comes with a $1,000 prize, which Grys said he would donate to the Kids Klub at First Presbyterian Church.

The latchkey program offers kids a place to go after school and also operates on snow days and during spring break and Christmas vacation.

The program is sustained by grants and donations. “It’s a good cause,” Grys said.

“In just a couple of years, much has taken place to make the community a healthier place to live, learn, work and play. This is in large part to Ed’s leadership of this new CHAT,” Morgen said in her nomination form.

The heart of CHAT is the “plunge” — an eight-hour field trip for 30-60 leaders from all sectors of the community, including business, health care, education, government, faith organizations, nonprofits, United Way, community foundations and other stakeholders who are passionate about the issue at hand.

The purpose of the plunge is to experience first-hand the challenges many in our community face. Since CHAT began, CHAT has hosted two plunges, one on alcohol abuse and one on drug use.

“With the alcohol plunge, we looked at the problem from all different angles,” Grys said.

Results of that plunge have include a binge drinking awareness campaign and proposed legislation for additional bartender training and certification.

A third plunge is in the works about early childhood, aimed at helping parents of children from birth to pre-kindergarten to prepare them for school and put them on a more equal footing, which will aid their education in later years, Grys said.

“Our goal is to precipitate some action to work on problems that have not been tackled before, a catalyst to get things going,” he said.

Debriefing meetings following the plunge engage stakeholders around gaps and opportunities, mobilizing community assets, creative problem solving, additional needed community engagement, and allocation of CHAT funding.

Under Grys’ direction, CHAT has garnered ThedaCare and community resources to do the following:

• Address how local providers prescribe drugs to reduce amount of drugs available in the community that may be abused or lead to addiction.

• Work with public health, pharmacists, law enforcement and health providers to apply for a grant to educate the community about proper disposal of unused prescription drugs.

• Establish a four-part workshop for area employers on how to recognize substance use/abuse in the workplace and how to support employees with addiction issues.

• Establish a monthly wellness series in The Shawano Leader.

• Support a local campaign to create awareness about what binge drinking is and the prevalence in our community.

• Take a look at school start times to reduce opportunity for “risky behaviors” during unsupervised time after school and to align sleep hours with teen biorhythms to allow for greater academic success.

• Work through local legislators to support bartender skills in dealing with alcohol abuse.

“Ed is committed to families and building the future of our Shawano community,” Morgen said.

Through his leadership, he organized a group of community partners to plan, develop, and implement two Born Learning Trails in Shawano. These trails, as part of the United Way’s Early Childhood Development initiative, promote family and community interactions as a way to turn everyday experiences into learning opportunities for children.

Rather than just install the trails, Grys engaged a local artist and conservation group to add additional artwork and landscape to the trails — making them enjoyable for all ages.

As a spin-off to this project, Grys also helped spearhead the SMART (Super Markets Activities Really Teach) signs in Charlie’s County Market.

He understands that to build a healthy and happy workforce for the future the investment in prevention strategies, health and social promotion, and community support is needed now.

“There are a number of volunteers in our area and they’re being recognized in a number of ways,” Grys said.

With budget cuts, many programs are being supported heavily by volunteers.

“It’s a way of life these days,” Grys said. “It’s nice to know they’re doing something that’s appreciated.”