Sara Beavens – Here for Life

Hennepin team member uses connection to Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to purchase wild rice for food insecure patients

March 24, 2023

For the past four years, Hennepin Healthcare has purchased and distributed shelf-stable, nutritionally balanced bags of food from Every Meal for patients facing food insecurity. However, Senior Community Health Worker Paula Brown noticed a gap.

Currently, there are five varieties of bag that cater to different cultural preferences. For example, orange bags are tailored to Latino dietary preferences and have foods such as black/pinto beans, corn flour, rice, enchilada sauce, and chipotles in adobo. Blue bags on the other hand are pork-free and tailored to African dietary preferences. (more…)

How a supply chain initiative helped Kamesha Davenport grow her small business in life-changing ways

March 22, 2023

When Kamesha Davenport got a call from the Supply Chain team at Hennepin Healthcare, she was excited—and surprised. Kamesha’s landscaping business, Pinky Fence, was a small business with just Kamesha as the main employee, marketing her services by word of mouth through her personal Facebook. Kamesha still worked a full-time job at Wells Fargo. She didn’t have a website or an accountant.

The call from Hennepin Healthcare was the biggest opportunity so far to make her entrepreneurship dream a reality. She had memories of her grandmother’s last moments at Hennepin Healthcare, and she’d lived across from the downtown campus as a teen. “I just remember being a little kid running through the hallways,” she said. “The campus has a special place in my heart because of that.” She was overwhelmed—but determined to make it work. (more…)

Gratitude for the smallest things

March 20, 2023

Linda Johnson had never been a patient at Hennepin Healthcare until an accident made the Level I Trauma Center the perfect place at an unfortunate time. Linda was picking up her two grandsons from school in mid-November 2022. While standing at the top of a set of stairs, she turned to watch the boys run down a ramp. Not realizing she was at the top, Linda walked forward and fell down eight or nine cement steps.

“I was completely unaware of what was happening for the next couple of days,” Linda said.

Luckily, her daughter, Catherine Justice, is a physical therapist for Hennepin Healthcare. (more…)

Shoveling snow can trigger a heart attack

February 22, 2023

Digging out from a big snowfall is stressful enough. In the midst of all the other preparations that keep your life at a busy pace during a snowstorm, it’s important to remember not to neglect your heart health.

“Lifting heavy, wet snow can cause undue stress on your heart,” explains Dr. Gautam Shroff, Director of Cardiology at Hennepin Healthcare. (more…)

American Heart Month highlights an employee patient story tearing at your heartstrings

February 21, 2023

We usually celebrate February’s American Heart Month promoting heart disease prevention, healthy habits, and education. Taking care of your heart health is a lifestyle we can all embrace. But some people aren’t so lucky.

Megan Ireland is a nurse on 5 Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare. She loves where she works, and the diverse population she cares for. She is currently on a medical leave and missing her co-workers terribly. (more…)

Service opportunities available on the Hennepin Healthcare Board of Directors

January 23, 2023

Hennepin Healthcare is looking for candidates to serve on its Board of Directors beginning in January 2024.

Hennepin Healthcare is a nationally recognized system of care that is changing lives every day. Our comprehensive health care system includes the medical center, network of clinics, EMS, home care, a research institute, and a philanthropic foundation. Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc. is a public corporation operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Hennepin County. (more…)

Integrative, holistic, whole person care – served-up at your doorstep!

January 19, 2023

The Heals on Wheels (HoW) program at Hennepin Healthcare centers around the concept that to truly provide whole person care to everyone in our community, sometimes we must make the effort to literally meet patients where they are. Barriers to transportation and access to whole-person, integrative care are a seemingly insurmountable problem for many. HoW strives to eliminate these barriers by bringing our integrative team directly into the community, fostering deeper connections between the healthcare teams and the people they serve. (more…)

The longest living HCMC kidney transplant patient – DuWayne’s story

January 16, 20232

DuWayne Virnig of Little Falls, MN, formerly of Coon Rapids, is Hennepin Healthcare’s longest living kidney transplant patient, at the age of 82. Thanks to a donor kidney when DuWayne was 37 years old, he has led a long and prosperous life with a loving family and much to be thankful for.

DuWayne began dialysis in 1978 at the age of 37 and, within 6 weeks, had surgery to receive a donor kidney. He and his wife, Lottie, had two small children, Jon and Lora, and were living a good life in Coon Rapids, MN. His daughter, Lora, tells his story. (more…)