THE VALUED VOICE

Hospitals and health systems are integral parts of communities all across Wisconsin. One of WHA’s most effective ways of sharing that dedication is through the annual Community Benefits report, which provides personalized stories about hospital/health system programs including charity care, financial assistance and other hospital-supported initiatives making a positive difference for communities, families and patients. 
 
WHA plans to publish this popular report in the fall, while also highlighting certain stories on WHA’s social media channels during the winter. As you compile and submit your stories, please consider the following areas:
 
COVID-19 Efforts: Highlight how your hospital/system worked for your community despite unprecedented pandemic conditions. It will be important to describe what hospitals faced as the pandemic hit our state and how they overcame those challenges, continuing to provide safe and high-quality care to local communities.
 
Charity care: Stories about providing free care for those who cannot afford it are especially powerful.
 
Free clinics: Describe the free clinic(s) your hospital/health system runs or contributes to.
 
Hospital-supported initiatives: Identify a priority from your community health needs assessment and explain how the hospital/health system led an effort to address it. If you engaged community partners, also include those partners in the story.
 
A hospital may submit a story in each area for consideration. Ideally, we would like to be able to include a story from every WHA member hospital in the report. 
 
Stories are due by September 30. WHA has created an online form to make it easy to submit your article. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2020CBstories to submit your story along with a high-resolution image to accompany the submission. Please submit at least one photo whenever possible, as that helps tell your compelling stories to legislators, the public and media outlets in both the report and on social media.
 
If you have any questions, contact WHA Communications Manager Shannon Nelson at 608-274-1820.