“This grant from the Winona Community Foundation allowed us to move forward with our program development, and we anticipate our programs will be self-sustaining once initiated.”
– Emilie Volkman, Clinic Manager at Winona Health

The Winona Health Foundation received a $5,000 Cycle 1 Community Grant from the Winona Community Foundation in 2022. This grant assisted in the development of a Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Program. The is a structured mental health treatment program design that acts as a step-down from 24-hour care in an inpatient setting, and it was designed to be used to prevent the need for inpatient care by offering stabilization tactics for patients with scaling mental health needs.

With mental health challenges increasing in our community with fewer options available locally to provide appropriate care to community members experiencing escalations in mental health symptoms. The COVID-19 pandemic as further escalated the experience of mental health symptoms and need for care, Due to the lack of resources, community members with these needs often find themselves in emergency rooms (often for days at a time), placed in a medically focused hospital care areas, and/or outside of our community in crisis services or psychiatric hospitals. Winona Health Services (WHS) Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP) were uniquely designed to offer stabilization support to prevent hospitalization or emergency department use and provide a step-down level of care for people coming out of psychiatric hospitalization. These services are a vital part of a robust continuum of care to improve the wellbeing of Winona.

The funds granted to Winona Health have been used to pay for a portion of the consultation services to support the development of Winona Health’s Partial Hospitalization/Intensive Outpatient Programs. Winona Health is in the program development process, and the report anticipating an opening of their Intensive Outpatient Programming in December of 2022. Their programs will serve the general adult population in need of mental health services in the Winona Health service area.

As they continue to grow our programming, they will analyze the demographic and needs presenting in those served and referred to allow them to continue to cater to the needs of our community as they’ve grown additional service specialization within their Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Programs to prevent hospitalization or emergency department use and provide a step-down level of care for people coming out of psychiatric hospitalization. These services are a vital part of a robust continuum of care to improve the wellbeing of Winona.

This program design allows us to transition patients smoothly from Intensive Outpatient to general outpatient mental health care and other community resources. When we add Partial Hospitalization, we will then have Intensive Outpatient in place to allow patient to step down to this lower level of care; eliminating the potential for gaps in service needs.”
– Emilie Volkman, Clinic Manager at Winona Health

To learn more about the Winona Health Foundation, please visit www.winonahealth.org/about-us/foundation/.

An important part of the Winona Community Foundation’s mission is realized though awarding community grants to meet the ever-changing needs of the community through a competitive process. By doing so, a variety of interests are supported with the goal of helping local charities make a difference in the Winona area. Our community grants for nonprofits are broad and inclusive to meet the current community needs in the Winona area. Make a gift in support of the Community grant program to make a difference today.