Valued Voice

The deadline for submitting stories for WHA’s 2024 Community Benefits Report is just over a week away. Don’t miss your chance to highlight the many ways your hospital is making a difference within your community, over and above providing excellent health care. Submit stories and photos using WHA’s online form.

These stories will be shared with legislators and other health care stakeholders and decisionmakers throughout the state, providing you an opportunity to draw attention to your report submission. You can view last year’s report and hospital stories here.
 
We are looking for new stories in the following areas:

• Charity Care/Free Clinics: Stories about how your hospital provides health care to medically underinsured or uninsured persons are especially powerful. Did you provide free care for someone who cannot afford it? Does your hospital fund a free community clinic? (Please note: Donations of time or money from staff or the public do not qualify as charity care.)
• Growing and Developing Our Health Care Workforce: Wisconsin is facing historic challenges when it comes to attracting, developing and retaining a health care workforce for today and the future. How has your hospital or health system worked to grow the workforce pipeline and create rewarding and fulfilling career pathways for those entering or working within health care?
• 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, include those partners in the story, too.
• Addressing Health Equity: How is your hospital or health system helping to ensure that your services are equally accessible to all members of your community, specifically populations exhibiting health disparities?

Each hospital may submit one story in each category above for consideration. Ideally, we would like to be able to include a story from every WHA member hospital in the report. The timeframe for the stories should be your fiscal year 2023, corresponding to the recent Community Benefits Survey your hospital completed.
 
Please submit a photo with your story whenever possible, as this helps tell your compelling stories to legislators, the public and media outlets in both the report and on social media. Stories and photos should be submitted using WHA’s online form.
 
If you have any questions, contact WHA Publications Manager Shannon Nelson. The deadline to submit stories is Friday, Aug. 30.