Fairview launches new Community Health and Wellness Hub at old St. Joe’s Hospital

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·6 min read

A new walk-in primary care clinic specializing in the underinsured recently opened quietly in downtown St. Paul.

Less than a block down the street, ambulance bays once associated with the old St. Joseph’s Hospital now roll up their garage bay doors to greet two refrigerated delivery trucks, which collect and distribute some 1,400 to 1,600 boxes of food per week to those in need.

On deck for the months ahead are mental health and nutrition counseling, adult day programs for seniors, memory care beds and clinical trials for new therapies such as wearable devices.

Welcome to the new Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub, dubbed by Fairview officials as a top-to-bottom reimagining of the old St. Joseph’s Hospital into a more community-focused center for preventative, holistic and primary care services. There are no more babies born in the delivery rooms, but outpatient addiction care continues, as does long-term acute care for patients needing physical rehabilitation in the style of M Health Fairview’s old Bethesda Hospital, which the hub has effectively absorbed.

Founded in 1853 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Joe’s shuttered its emergency room and most other medical services in December 2020 after having lost some $65 million annually in recent years, financial pressures that were further heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state’s oldest hospital shouldered on for months with new points of focus, much of it on inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction services. A COVID unit closed in late May, and inpatient mental health beds were discontinued this summer.

On Thursday, sounding optimistic for better days ahead, James Hereford, president and chief executive officer of Fairview Health Services, helped cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the Health and Wellness Hub, which he said aims to reimagine health care with a special focus on the most vulnerable.

“We’re celebrating a point in time, yes. We’re celebrating a building,” Hereford told an audience of well-wishers. “But we’re (also) celebrating a different kind of concept. … It’s about how do we be good community partners … and use these resources … to continue to evolve to meet the community’s needs.”

That reimagining hasn’t happened alone. Edina-based insurer UnitedHealthcare, for instance, invested $1 million this summer, and has partnered with Fairview on a new “Communities of Health” program that aims to deliver fresh produce, dairy, proteins and pantry staples to Fairview patients in need.

For those recipients participating in UnitedHealthcare’s Minnesota health plans, health outcomes will be tracked over the course of the initiative.

Brett Edelson, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare, told the audience Thursday that, in the same vein, the hub will help patients “not just to have that primary care visit, but then to have additional social services screening, and all those needs addressed at one site.”

Other speakers on Thursday included Dr. Brooke Cunningham, assistant commissioner of health equity with the Minnesota Department of Health, and Diane Tran, the system executive director of community health equity and engagement with M Health Fairview.

“I truly hope that this hub represents a willingness to go bold, to advance community health in new and exciting ways,” Cunningham said.

Hereford said the Health and Wellness Hub is based in large part on key partnerships with other providers, nonprofits and insurers. Among them:

MINNESOTA COMMUNITY CARE/ST. PAUL WELLNESS CENTER: In late July, Minnesota Community Care, the state’s largest federally qualified health center network, opened a new primary care clinic — the St. Paul Wellness Center — led by Dr. Lauren Graber, two nurse practitioners, a chiropractor and eight additional nurses and support staff.

The clinic aims to serve uninsured and underinsured patients more holistically than traditional primary care, in part by applying a “social determinants of health” screening tool intended to match patients to counseling and social services.

“Are they having food insecurity, housing insecurity, even legal challenges?” said Reuben Moore, president and executive director of Minnesota Community Care. “These things matter to us because they impact their mental health, their physical health or their ability to get to the clinic.”

The ground-level clinic is the 18th in the Minnesota Community Care network, which spans Ramsey and Dakota counties.

Graber said she hopes to soon add specialists in nutrition and mental health counseling, as well as dental care. Through a partnership with nearby Regions Hospital, the clinic can serve expectant mothers up to the day of delivery. Another Minnesota Community Care clinic operates little more than two blocks away inside Catholic Charities’ Higher Ground Opportunity Center, a resource hub for the homeless.

FAIRVIEW BETHESDA HOSPITAL: While the 90-bed Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital outside downtown St. Paul closed its doors in November 2020, its long-term care services live on in part at the hub.

Fairview has transferred its Bethesda license to the Community Health and Wellness Hub, which currently maintains 15 long-term acute care beds for patients needing physical rehabilitation. That will expand to 24 beds this summer.

The fate of the original Bethesda Hospital remains up in the air, with Fairview officials pressing for permission to open a new mental health hospital. A final decision rests with the Minnesota Department of Health, which could weigh in as soon as September.

M HEALTH FAIRVIEW MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION SERVICES: M Health Fairview, Fairview’s branded collaboration with the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of Minnesota Physicians, has expanded outpatient care in a new clinic focused on mental health and substance abuse disorders. The clinic offers psychiatry, addiction medicine, psychotherapy and intensive outpatient programs. It also offers same-day or next-day appointments for patients in transitional care and “bridging services,” or between phases in their care.

FAIRVIEW FRONTIERS: Fairview will offer patients non-invasive clinical trials in cutting-edge new therapies and health technology, such as wearable devices. In a written statement, officials said basing Fairview Frontiers at the hub will offer quick access for patients open to “low-barrier and non-invasive medical research.”

THE SANNEH FOUNDATION: The old St. Joe’s ambulance bays no longer serve ambulances. Instead, youth workers, staff and volunteers with the Sanneh Foundation package some 1,400 to 1,600 boxes of food each week for delivery to key distribution sites, including McDonough Homes in St. Paul’s North End and Salem Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis’ Camden neighborhood.

Two refrigerated delivery trucks make the rounds five or six days per week. The food is donated by Second Harvest Heartland, Costco, the Fish Guys and other partners. On Thursday, volunteers wrapped dozens of boxes for distribution on the East Side of St. Paul through East Side Table, a coalition of 13 community organizations such as First Lutheran Church, East Side Elders, Urban Roots and Kitchen on the Bluff.

EBENEZER: Ebenezer Senior Living, a Fairview subsidiary, will open adult day services this fall dubbed “Daybreak of St. Paul.” The goal is to help vulnerable St. Paul seniors stay active and “maintain … independent lives through an enhanced adult day experience,” according to written materials from Fairview. In 2023, with a focus on low-income seniors, Ebenezer plans to add skilled nursing beds to the hub as part of a new transitional care unit. Also planned eventually are medical and memory care units.

M HEALTH FAIRVIEW CENTER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH EQUITY: M Health Fairview has installed Tran to lead a new center dedicated to outreach, study and community discussion around health and wellness. The goal, in part, is to better understand and address social determinants of health — the often intangible factors, such as education and transportation access, that can impact health outcomes.

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