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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to advancing Health. For many hospitals, philanthropic dollars are not just nice to have, they're a must have. Today we hear how this reality is supporting youth mental health and behavioral health efforts in Central Iowa.
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B
Hi everyone. I'm Rebecca Chickey and I'm the vice president of Behavioral health and Trustee services at the American Hospital Association. And today we are going to learn about a $1 million gift to to advance mental health care in Central Iowa that Everly ball provided to UnityPoint Health. Joining us today to share the impact of this gift both now and into the future is David Stark. He is the chief of Government affairs and a philanthropy officer for UnityPoint Health. David, thank you for joining us today.
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A
Good to be with you.
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B
Let's get started. If you can first provide the listeners with a bit of a history behind Everly Ball. What has their role been in terms of shaping mental health in the Central Iowa communities?
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A
We are so blessed to have a history steeped in tradition. Over 55 years ago, two women, Jeanette Irelay and Elizabeth Ball, saw a need for community health services here in the Des Moines area. And they started what was the county mental health center, now known as Irlie Ball, a one stop shop that would take care of all the holistic needs, behavioral health wise, for patients and families. And we're proud to carry on that tradition today, some 55 years later.
- [01:36]
B
So tell me a little bit about that. Why and how did Unity Point Health get involved with this was their common mission vision. Tell the listeners a bit about that.
- [01:45]
A
There was tremendous alignment and synergy with our mission and vision. Eight years ago, Irely Ball became a wholly owned Point portion of UnityPoint Health Des Moines. Our mission of improving the health of the communities that we serve is not just about physical health. It is also about emotional, social and psychological help. Ie Ball's role of taking care of the entire patient fits seamlessly with what we did. And we've had tremendous synergies the past eight years.
- [02:14]
B
That's wonderful. Particularly as I just saw a report this morning that the demand for mental health services continues to climb across all parts of the country and all ages. So the fact that you're able to step up and address and meet those community needs is phenomenal. But you couldn't have done it without that commitment of those two women and their dedication years ago, but also without funding. We all know that behavioral health services have been underfunded historically. And so I want to get your perspective on this phenomenal philanthropic gift. A million dollars. Can you tell us a little bit of how that came about. And then shortly afterwards, we'll learn about how you are using those funds to improve access to care.
- [03:02]
A
It was quite remarkable. It is our largest and first endowed gift to Irely ball in the 55 years. So this is a new thing for us, which is wonderful. And really what sparked it was an investment in a new facility and an overall campaign we started of one place for care. That was a five year process in the making to get a new campus for Irelie Ball and all of the services with it. Realizing that we had an approach to fund that from a building and infrastructure standpoint. But what inspired this donor was what we needed to do from a service standpoint and really to make sure that we were there are there for the community each and every day. And so this endowment was sparked by that investment that was also philanthropically supported. And it really was a flywheel. That gift generated an additional gift and those conversations really made a palpable difference.
- [03:59]
B
Given your title, can you speak a little bit to the broader value of hospitals and health systems really embracing the path of including philanthropy as a focus area as a way to help margins? Because no margin, no mission. So speak a little bit about that because I've seen hospitals and health systems getting more and more involved in this area and embracing it.
- [04:26]
A
We've made a concerted effort, starting with our board of directors, to talk about philanthropy not as a nice to have, but as a must have. And we frame it this way. There are three sources of dollars for a not for profit community health center, a hospital. One is patient revenue, clearly. Two, we can go out and issue debt and bring in debt to raise money for capital projects. The third leg of that stool is philanthropy. And we need to use that and talk about that and identify it each and every day and each and every year. And it's become part of our lexicon here at UnityPoint Health of why that's so critically important to fund those things that are not funded by Medicare or Medicaid or commercial insurance that are critically important to providing community services right here in their local area.
- [05:14]
B
The reason I wanted you to go a little deeper on that is for decades, I think children's hospitals in particular, but it has been more the exception than the rule to see a philanthropic gift go to mental health services. So congratulations for having the broader reach. Also particularly congratulations for. For having it dedicated to mental health services. And with that, I'd love to turn to the impact of this. You mentioned one place for care and how that was the foundation for this. What are you doing with this endowment as it relates to expanding access to services. And I'm particularly interested if you can share how this is impacting access for children and adolescents. As we all know, if you are going to have signs of psychiatric or substance use disorders, 50% of those symptoms show by the time you're 14 years old, and by the time you're 24, 75% will show symptoms. Early intervention and prevention is critical. So wondering how you're serving the youth through this endowment?
- [06:23]
A
Absolutely. We're so proud of the fact that at irley ball, we treat the entire continuum from childhood to adulthood and geriatric. And so it is truly caring for anybody that comes through our doors. I'd say the chief improvement we made in this one place for care campaign Was to create a no wrong door policy. You can enter the system whether you're an adolescent, a teen, a child, and there's no just one spot. You have to come through an access center. You have to come through urgent care or whatnot. Any door. We will get you connected with those services. So we put all the services under one roof. We used to be in three different locations. And so that makes it simple to say, I'm going there. We added an urgent care center for behavioral health services, Particularly for teens to be able to come in and see that not in the emergency department. And then we've added things like a pharmacy and medication therapy, management that we didn't have before that specifically help families deal with their mental health disorders and meet them where they are. Substance use is another component of the nine services we offer at hourly ball. And a tremendous amount of that are early detection for substance use, drinking, and drug use with our teens and adolescents. So we're very proud of that fact that we've been able to expand this. That treats patients from over 22 different counties around our surrounding area.
- [07:51]
B
That's phenomenal. I want to dig a little deeper. You said no one door, no wrong door, which is particularly important. Does that mean that you coordinate through one place for care with your pediatricians that serve? How does that work? Is integrated care where they're looking at both their physical and their emotional health?
- [08:13]
A
That's correct. One of the best things that we have done is we have all of our service providers on the same electronic health record. So when you're seeing a pediatrician in an office that's, say, 10 miles away from hourly ball and you need that service, the hourly ball provider can see that record and the pediatrician can see that record. So there's not this. Where did the record go, the patient forgot to bring it. I wasn't sure what happened there. All of that's been coordinated in a much bigger way. The second thing is that we have embedded social workers and mental health counselors in our primary care offices. So we try and do that easy handoff that so often when somebody's in for their wellness visit or in for another, they express some issues regarding mental health. Let's make it easy and reduce the stigma to be able to have that soft handoff and meet with somebody right away to see what can we do to get you into the right level of care. Those are two examples. We put our money where our mouth is when we talk about integration and integrated care. That's what it means to us. And that no wrong door that you can get that access there.
- [09:19]
B
I would assume as well that you can report the same that I've heard from others. It also by embedding them in their PD pediatrician's office in the primary care offices, that helps the mental well being of the clinicians as well because they may not have the background or the training as much in psychiatric and substance use disorders, but right there they have a resource that can help that patient in real time and do a warm handoff. Are you hearing that?
- [09:50]
A
I hear it almost every single day. And the ability to hand that patient off to an expert there, that doesn't fit within a 15 minute of appointment. But they need a little more time and they feel better about themselves. We're providing that care for the whole patient and it really affects their overall health and well being.
- [10:07]
B
What question have I not asked you, David, that you're proud of in this work?
- [10:12]
A
The question that I think would be helpful for the listeners is what role did governance play in this effort? And I would say two really important things. One is we are blessed to have a board that supports our investment in mental health. That's critically important. And two, that understanding of the importance of philanthropy in pulling off our mission. 100% of the board members of Hourly Ball gave to this campaign. So we had support from the very top. And that really sent a message to our community that this was important. Not only do I volunteer my time to serve in a governance role, I am providing my well earned and hard earned money to this service. I believe that much in it. So I think that's a critically important role in this is engaging your governance in terms of improving access to mental health.
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B
Thank you for mentioning that. Last year actually we did four podcasts directed towards trustees about the value of philanthropy. They're in the community. They are, as you said, giving up their time already, but then giving up their hard earned dollars. It's leading by example and it allows others to see the value of what their contribution could mean. What call to action would you share with the listeners? How to inspire them to have something like this in their own community?
- [11:42]
A
I would start with this. The call to action is to ask questions, not to necessarily have the right answer. What I mean by that is engaging community members in what they're passionate about. And the anonymous $1 million donor was a great example of that and the 55 other individuals that supported the campaign. We started with questions and where is your passion? Where is your purpose? That is something any of us can do, board members can do, leaders can do. And it's amazing what you will hear and how that aligns with where you're trying to go from a missional standpoint. So engagement your community with asking those kinds of questions. Number two is be willing to put your own dollars into the pot. So one of the biggest pieces of this project, this 15,000 square foot building, we made a commitment organizationally that we would invest our money into it as well. We're not just asking for 100%. So it's a shared responsibility. And really that public private partnership is critically important. And the call to action is there's no right time to start today is just fine. Start today, don't worry about that. You haven't done it in a year or two years. Start today. And there's no wrong time to start.
- [12:55]
B
David, thank you. Thank you for sharing your time, your expertise, clearly your passion for all that you do. Thank you for sharing the journey and giving some insights into the impact that two individuals 55 years ago can have, because that's where their passion was and look at where it's led to today. Thank you so much.
- [13:20]
A
My pleasure. Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.