house family by family we're focusing on business creation business development economic development and culture it's a wonderful conversation a robust conversation one of the conversations my brother takes on a musical journey providing leadership direction and opportunity it's poised to grow the needs are growing and it's creating an institutional response that tries to continue to meet and match the needs of our community  still a whitney west thank you for what you do thank you for being here on conversations with them and for with thank you for the invitation you know so i've lived in this neighborhood for almost forty years and i knew northpoint health and wellness as part of a city take me back to how this organization was created what was the vision that led to the creation of northpoint health and wellness sure and i am honored to be able to share with you that rich history because we are approaching fifty years so northpoint or pilot city actually came into being in around one nine hundred sixty seven and it actually started it with i was both the city of minneapolis in the federal government so lyndon johnson had a program hit a number of programs is anti poverty programs and so one of them was to have funding in major urban areas throughout the country at the same time the city of minneapolis was looking at areas in the city where there was high poverty the spare days and of course north minneapolis was one of those areas within the city and in fact they had put together a point and it was called decision sixty seven and then as a they were in th planning phase this opportunity came about through the lyndon johnson and to set up these pilot programs hence the name pilot city and it was basically to bring to development through employment in health care social services so it actually started that way and it was always and continues to be one that is led by the community in so there was an effort to have representation from the various neighborhoods in the community as well as community based organizations so some people remember tactics  radical community media people and they got us connected to cameras and television and we were out telling our story to the world but that was the same process for empowerment and engagement and i think  their focus was more community and yours was health and community as well right right and it was again always that the planning process the even the governing process was in this broad community and our city are known nationally and we becoming more aware locally about a series of what we called gaping and equalities or disparities we suffer even though minnesota has one of the highest employment rates in the country i think unemployment or lowest unemployment rates i think it's a plus and four percent in this neighborhood in north minneapolis unemployment sixteen seventeen percent unacceptable even though minnesota is one of the best educational environments that our country has in our community we experience sixty percent failure or sixty percent forty percent failure our black are not graduating right we have health disparities and we have wealth disparities reports indicated that our community lost income in the past several years and so did all that in the face of prosperity so what's the problem and the reason i say let's come back to this is that there's a tension afoot right now and that tension may resolve may move our whole community to say you know what we got to community services so the the value proposition is that whether there are several so one is that north point as a major anchor institution in  north minneapolis and we have this unique partnership with hennepin county and i characterize it as as a partnership and that is the governing body for  northpoint is our community board which fifty one percent are patients and they in fact is who i is the c e o report to and so that is a value proposition that you have in an asset that  has a budget an annual budget close to forty million dollars that is governed by community that that is huge and so what what does fluctuation in the economy mean in terms of pressure on your budget a lot of companies when economy is tight layoffs reduction in capacity in your business health recession the new great recession in two thousand and eight we were rowing and a lot of that has to do with the fact that health care is one of those requirements assess it is in the fact that even if you do not have health insurance organizations like northpoint which is a federally qualified health center we receive funding from the federal government to provide service for those who are uninsured and the federal government make sure that we receive reimbursement for our costs so we didn't suffer those kinds of setbacks and in fact community health centers across the country in the sure that there are provisions in there that we keep us financially viable as well as shift the focus from just managing sick care to actually looking at preventative care and actually providing incentives for getting people in for preventative care doing more community health outreach and focusing as well on those social determinants of health and understanding that health is related to housing employment education so that's in your strategy mission no is to promote this notion of wellness and that we need to behavior change that supports activities or choices that keep people from being sick exactly exactly and it's one where the focus on health care in the cost of health care and the affordable care act this country could not continue on the path that it was going which was it was managing s major hospitals of course were getting paid big money reimbursement for taking care of sick people they were not giving incentives or reimbursement for people being well or even for prevention sold affordable care act change that equation and started looking at how do we provide the incentive around health and wellness and so community health centers northpoint the industry the in health care industry or between the organizations that are built to provide procedures right let's you know if i pull your tooth and we could pay for it if i could take your spleen oh you know if i just fix your while but because the always say follow the money and it's about whether you get paid to do that about what you believe in what you know and even what research and evidence have support it but how can you get paid so that is the direction that healthcare has gone and then same with the pharmaceutical industry and if people started reaching out for  alternative therapies and even going to other countries because they knew that one they could get quality health care at a lower cost you know people started to actually wake up and then again always go back to act started putting the focus on that as well soul major hospitals now are forming these accountable care organizations where they now are able to get reimbursed when you have a more comprehensive approach and that approach includes that focus on health and wellness where you are getting now reimbursed from a model there says you ha members who are in rolled and so you're getting a per member per month fee and part of your reimbursement says that you actually  get a deduction so to speak if you have too many of your members who are hospitalized or too many of your members who are not receiving their preventive care so then the focus is on ok i have this man members who i am responsible for what they call the total cost of care and that means that if i'm going to realize  the profits as you will i got to keep them healthy because you get a certain amount of money per person and if you keep their person well you're correct but if they end up in the hospital they end up with some  major chronic disease particularly those that could have been prevented then your ability to have a savings is diminished so that is the direction that health care is moving that works for you yes absolutely and not only works for our organization but it works for the community and so we have to do the education so that you know because most people tend to think well i'm going to the doctor if i don't feel well you know in we will have to go away to the last minute but also we want you to be able to focus on wellness where you don't you're coming in for your regular scheduled preventative checks right but in the community you are  buying fresh food vegetables you're focused on eating properly because there are places in your community where you can get healthy food you are exercising you are involved in walking you are doing those kinds of things because it is available in your community there are members of your community that are engaged in that and so those are the kinds of things that really work with this model because now people are able to engage right where they live where they work and those kinds of healthy activities that we can't provide within our clinic law but  mcfarland welcome back to conversations with ala mcfarlane my guest still wouldn't be west c e o of north point health and wellness so i've often described northpoint as one of the major legacy institutions in north minneapolis in the black community you've got a forty million dollar operation and one that is growing i've also raised the question and you've heard me say this before we need to adopt this attitude that our health is our business and the double entendre there comes from two things one will be mindful health those important and if grandma will say yes your business she would be meaning you know just pay attention to your health but the other part of that is that health and wellness has a business component that is significant i tell people that all of us want to see and have the day come along to take the kids or pill and not have cancer get cured and we wait for a noble outcome right how do we get to where we understand that our health can be a relegating experience that creates opportunity to learn to grow to do research to solve problems in our path to creating sustainable community health what do you think well first of all you're you're right when you look at major business not only in this country but mainly in this country but around the world health is one of the top industries a lot of people don't recognize that tickler here in minnesota all of the health plans are nonprofit organizations the hospitals are nonprofit organizations so sometimes people get confused thinking that if you're a nonprofit somehow know that you're not really a viable business or you're not making money so i don't have to tell you that health partners focus on is part of our business if you think that being able to to work being able to pursue any type of economic endeavor being able to take care of your children requires on the very day basic level that you have good health there you have the physical mental ability to do that so taking care of your health is your business and is a major part of your business so that piece they're in then also one of the things that we have to do to do better is to be better health consumers we've not done that we pretty much have left that into the hands of the health care industry of the doctor who works with the case which our experience and history that put us in that position i would say our experience in history has been that we believe that somebody else knew better because either they had more education absolutely absolutely soul and you find that people will go to the doctor go to a health professional and even though the science in their own body would tell them contrary to what you know they were hearing from a doctor they would believe that whatever the doctor told them that they should do that's what they should do hence we fell victim to such things as the tuskegee study you know which was a travesty good we know that that was one that was uncovered but we think about right there were not so not only being better health consumers but just understanding the ownership of our own body in our own health and still being a better health consumer is that just like you go shop for anything else you compare prices you look at the quality you may do some you know research on the and what i think is even more important which we stress northpoint you want to have a relationship with that healthcare provider and we view our patients as our partners and we want to make sure that they understand is that this is a partnership the provider doesn't have all the answers in fact they're looking for answers f ok understanding that you really at the end of the day can't make somebody you can try but you want there to be that relationship so that's one thing about being a good consumer and being able to identify what is going to be the best option for you and the other thing about being a good consumer that we had gat in the habit of in this country is that if you have insurance right  you drive up the cost of those kinds of things so then you know somebody at the in the day right was collecting that extra money off of that you know aspirin it only cost a penny but they were charging twenty dollars entrepreneur acquired a pharmaceutical company and a drug that was selling for i think like hundreds of dollars he jacked up the price to like thousands of dollars for one pill didn't cost him any more to make it but previously they had gotten away with that in the excuse had always been well this is what it really costs me and the reality is no it didn't read right and so we minneapolis is a place that is described in part fortunately but it's health disparities give us the picture what's the story describe more spinney opera's from your perspective as a health care and wellness data the city collects the data there are major disparities one that i always am most alarmed at is infant  that african american baby in the first year of life is twice as likely to die within their first year as there is a white baby and i always look at that is as they call the canary in the ca major indicator african americans or north minneapolis which is predominately african americans over fifty four percent are lagging or have the highest rates highest rates of diabetes hypertension obesity you look at our children have high rates of asthma so those those are our major concerns a lot of that  is about poverty as well a lot of times if you are so involved in just the day to day basic needs you're focused  have the the income you know it is not the cheapest option the cheapest option for a lot of people is the high fat high sugar foods the foods that are on the corner store that you are in walking distance so so those kinds of things have a major impact on your health stress has a major major impact on your physical health  mental health but your physical health and so much so all that those are the kinds of things they can lead to high blood pressure they can lead to heart disease and if you are constantly in a state of just getting by trying to mimic you are also in a state of ongoing stress right and a lot of stress gets passed on to your children as well because they feel that they saw those kinds of things do create those kinds of health disparities but i do also also as you say you know we understand about making do how we've had grandparents that could take you know a small piece o something right every boiler you know and feed a whole family and so there is that spirit in north minneapolis i also see that pride people in north minneapolis people in the health care and wellness and service industry it seems that we have this disparity that is huge what if we could look at that as a disparity but as an  opportunity the opportunity would be this is one of the ways that we can do development of our community again the idea that i mention how do you mobilize a lot as a community to seek the holy grail the holy grail is a cancer pill for us the holy grail might be simply ninety nine percent healthy right i mean i have read about neighborhoods or places on the planet they call it the blue zones so what how do we get to where we say you know what let's make also have to work with the schools it's it's those kinds of partnerships and where we are all on the same page there we absolutely can create a healthy north minneapolis i think  about the energy of our youth north minneapolis when we talk about opportunities in assets we have a community that has the highest percent of youth young people right that's it that's it has a treasure we need to be able to mobilize those young people to get as you say understanding about the business of health and understanding how so many career opportunities in health care in they all the require four year college degree there are some that required technical college a two year degree where you can come out making over fifty sixty thousand dollars a year and so all we want to be able to expose people to there as well that you can in fact be involved in health care and you can be doing it through computers electronic health record is one that is an area in health care that has grown tremendously soul young people as we know are already  use of technology so i think we want to be in a position to be able to do that as well and we do that already in there we have a number of internals that come whitney west c e o of north point health and well there's a legacy institution in north minneapolis let's start with this is with a great conversation you know so i wonder what drives stella whitney west what's your background and where does your passion i've always had a love and passion for community and and for working with people i actually started off so my bachelor's degrees in biology and chemistry and i actually started off doing research am remember the counsellor that i had told me because i had an opportunity to go to medical school i had a professor there wanted me to go to medical school and i wasn't focused on medical school at the time i really wanted to do research and i had a counsellor say to me you know you're a people person i don't see you in in the lab i don't know i don't think that's for you but i was dead set on that because i like the idea of research i like the idea of problem solving and so i did that for a while and lo and behold it was not for me and i made a worked for the pillsbury company when i first got out of college so i worked in the research and development and we developed the i was part of the research team that developed a number of different products and travelled parents migrated here from home by way of mississippi so we are just come out that way and so my my first job in a community was with the minneapolis or been like health educator and i loved it i love the opportunity to educate work with the community help people mobilize i remember in the eighty's with the aids absolutely absolutely and i remember we had people in our community that wore hiding who are impacted by each i v but couldn't come out we a family that knew that they had sons and daughters and they were afraid to go to their church to their minister because they were fearful of what the backlash would be so we helped with that process and we know now that the church community and our community became one of the leaders about educating our community about each other the as it should be so that really of asian latino native american and african media and said to them we need to work together and go to the health department particularly in specifically around the issue of h aids and its impact on people of color are the reason why twofold one we're in the business of information we sold the ads for a living and we want the health department to advertise or promote through our newspapers we reach our people number two there is a lot of misinformation at this information any lack of information and because of the lack of information our people suffer that the response we got it first was  back and here we are members emerging businesses in our community saying we're stepping forward to help create and propagate solution the resistance we got was that we don't think that you have anything of value that we're the experts and you're not we force and we ended up getting some business and getting richer going but that was the environment so hauser soundly you mean  it sounds like business as usual and it sounds like what i ran up against because i used to work for the minnesota department of health and one of the things that was devastating to me is that when i saw the statistics that the epidemiologists was gathering all the time and sharing and i'm looking and i was just i was shocked and i said to them i said this information needs to get out to the community i say you're you have this information about the high incidence rate of hiv in the communities of color in the rate and where was happening in our community was in  heterosexual and you had these high incidence rates of this to the east and their response to me we were not sure how to do that so it's interesting they hear you come with a solution and they also said that they were fearful that the information would be taken in first of all that people wouldn't believe it or that it would cause a disturbance and so i said to them and everything they said they were fearful that they would be called races and i said to them no this is what is races is a you have this information and you're sitting on it why people are dying  a of health so i took a brief stint in the health department but then came back to the urban league and then from the urban league win over to north point and actually it was pilot city when i first got there in two thousand and four it was renamed north points on to gary cunningham and the reason that i went is because i saw that here was an opportunity the direction north point was going was this whole intra gratian of health and social services and making sure that we had this comprehensive approach to health and that it was about health and wellness so the whole vision was moving away from just managing sick care but really gaining as we call upstream and getting at the root cause of the reason why people are showing up sick and so i wanted to be a part of that and is a vision from from the community is that north point becomes that that place where health and wellness can happen in it becomes the place where the community can get accurate information in resources sold that within the community there is this groundswell that there is health and wellness that is in the community and i often say that i want north minneapolis to be known as the healthiest poised in the city of minneapolis instead of a place where there is the health disparities and i want it to be the destination place where cross the country they come in they're starting to come to figure out what is it that they're doing here how is it that they are able to turn things around to be a place where people come for service for service they're absolutely absolutely service where they are treated with respect service where they are viewed as the pilot of their own health and   we soon to be more critical of each other more disbelieving of each other you've heard this also yet again you know sometimes we think that white people's ice is colder where fliers are right and we are quick to criticize things that we think and perceive may be wrong in services that we provide and i know that for a long period of time there was community what is the right word for  about educating the staff and making them aware of the fact that we have the trust we have the trust of the community people come to you number one they're they're vulnerable number two they're giving new private information and we have the responsibility that we take that and we hold it to the high as level of trust and integrity and we have made it that it is an area within our organization where i do not give any leeway and so particularly in this age of electronic medical records where people's information is merely a button away is th have protocols in place and we have tracking in place in the staff knows this but first of all we make sure that we hire the right staff and that we educate them in the ir values are reflective of our values about being the stewards and having the high integrity but they also know that if you are dealing with someone's information in appropriately you will be disciplined for it in a disciplined and has happened in someone being terminated and so that sends the message that we're serious about it the other thing is that i tell people is that people who come in here are here because they want to be here and their customers you need to treat  with the highest degree of respect doesn't matter if somebody comes in here and they're uninsured doesn't matter if somebody comes in here and they're on medical assistance and i remind them and i say this other staff because guess what if they didn't come in here at all you might not be here because these folks come in here either they have insurance or not at the end of the day it's your paycheck and you have jobs because they're coming in here to write you know  we've been working on it for a while almost ten years and it is merely one county board meeting away for reality so this will be a sixty seven million dollar  capital investment almost unheard of in north minneapolis and it will allow us to expand not only our clinical space but our social services space in seoul we're go be having a parking facility will be able to have space for their really larger space for help unwellness and bringing in community partners as well so we see this as a major economic development catalyst for north minneapolis as well as a opportunity to serve more people  it to be able to have a place of health and wellness in north minneapolis we want you to be in that well so to speak where the community can come in and they can see in they know that they are part of and that they get the information and you know you know how well you go back to for that water and we want it in we wanted to be reflective in the community so we were looking forward to that so that's that's coming down the pike still with us thank you so much for this conversation and for your work in the work of you and your train your colleagues at north point health and wellness and i'm excited i believe you  and i believe you will leave me when i say that our health is our business and we've got to be about the business and i think that you or about the business of the health of our community and that's a wonderful thing m l mcfarland this is