Catholic Health Initiatives has strong feelings of ministry surrounding creating “healthier communities.” Communities in which good health describes lifestyle, environment, social and economic as well as physical health and wellness of its community members.
The leadership of St. Gabriel’s hospital understood that building a healthy community in Morrison County would depend upon gaining the support of others in the community.

Key stakeholders and community members met together in the spring of 2002 and accomplished the following:

• They further defined what health meant (physical, spiritual, social, environmental, economic)
• They defined community as: government, recreation, housing, education, natural environment, medical, arts, media, churches, residents, culture, and heritage.
• They began to define the purpose, mission, values of the HCC
• They began forming the first HCC board of directors.
• Our first HCC board meeting took place in March, 2003, with Mark Gerbi presiding as HCC Board Chair. The board met with the basic premise that well informed people, working together in a collaborative process, can make a profound difference in the health & quality of people’s lives within communities.

• Additional Board Chairs since Mark Gerbi (March, 2003 – 2005) were Gary Dahl (2005- June, 2007, Loren Olson, (July, 2007 –July 2008 with current chair Bridget Britz beginning role of leadership – August 2008 .)

The History of the HCC LOGO:

The quilt pattern was chosen to represent individual and collective beauty as in a tapestry. The tapestry portrays the connections that the collaborative fosters on the belief that the health of a community is dependant upon all factors such as government, churches, healthcare, education, business, etc.

One of the first tasks of the HCC board, was to organize and to plan the first county-wide visioning session/discussion. It took place June 2003. The purpose was for people to speak about the strengths, weaknesses, needs, assets of their county. This visioning session formed the basis of our five committees of focus:

1. Economic - to increase the livable wage, jobs and benefits (27)
2. Education-increase funding for education
3. Healthcare-change norm of alcohol and tobacco (23)
4. Environment-recreational trail connections (23)
5. Human Services-youth center (21)

A second community visioning session took place in 2006 which indicated similar issues and concerns amongst those in attendance from Morrison County.

A planning grant from CHI (Catholic Health Initiatives) supported the hiring of staff to oversee program support for the developing work of the HCC. In 2004, the HCC hired it’s first part-time Executive Director, Don Ludeman. In 2005 the HCC hired Denis Dolan to serve the position of Executive Director until his retirement in 2007. In February of 2008, the HCC hired Kate Bjorge who currently serves in the position.

In 2006 the HCC hired it’s first full-time staff member, Michele Andringa, to serve as the Program Coordinator for the Bridges Program. The Bridges program achieved success in the community by providing school-based mental health services to children within two elementary schools in Morrison County (this model was later rolled out in twelve additional elementary schools in the greater Minnesota region by HCC’s Greater Minnesota Family Services partnership). Bridges also served the communities of Little Falls and Pierz by implementing an evidence-based family program called Families and Schools Together (FAST) which touched the lives of nearly 100 people in Morrison County and connected families to services and one another to help strengthen families and promote relationships within the school community.

In 2008, the HCC hired a part-time Youth Program Coordinator, Mary Kenna. Mary continues to coordinate programs which promote Youth Engagement and Leadership Development through County-wide Youth Summits (which bring together youth and community leaders), YAR (Youth as Resources) which serves as a youth-led board of directors who review and award grant dollars to youth activities and projects in the community. In addition, the HCC Youth Program convenes area Youth Development Professionals for networking, information-sharing and collaboration.

The HCC continues to solicit input from the community and gather key organizations together to promote initiatives and solutions which meet our mission of enhancing the lives of all who live, work, learn, worship and play in Morrison County.