Dakota MeDical FounDation | Dakota MeDical charities

A Message From
The Board Chair
And President
Your Health Is Our Foundation…but, how do we best ensure your good health?
Do we educate people to be physically active and nutritionally fit, thus preventing chronic
disease? Or should we fund health programs that address early intervention? Perhaps
working with nonprofits to provide a safety net for uninsured/underinsured individuals,
or partnering with higher education and other entities to tackle the growing shortage of
healthcare providers, especially in rural areas?
WALTER JOHNSON, M.D.
CHAIR, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Message from Board Chair/President 3
Board of Directors 4
Staff 5
Initiatives Update 6
Family HealthCare Center 12
FY 2008 Grant Awards 14
North Dakota Elks Camp Grassick 24
North Dakota Caring Foundation 26
Lifetime Giving Societies 28
Recognizing Our Donors 29
Investment Market Report 44
Board of Directors/Committees 45
Retiring Board Members 46
J. Patrick Traynor, J.D.
President
According to a 2008 survey of DMF members, area nonprofits and health providers, along
with regional data, it’s “yes, to all of the above”! To determine how we best improve health,
DMF’s Strategic Planning Committee was tasked with weaving the above themes into our
2009-2011 Strategic Plan. To do this, they identified two main areas of health intervention:
Prevention and Access.
Historically, we’ve worked with prevention programs such as Go Red North Dakota to
educate women about preventing heart disease. Through Altru Health System’s Diabetes
Prevention Program, we identified persons at risk of diabetes and enrolled them in a
prevention program. Our Worksite Wellness pilot assessed the health risks of employees
and implemented interventions to reduce risk. Access to healthcare has been addressed
through the Prescription Assistance Program; Automated External Defibrillator, Dental
Access, and Healthcare Workforce Shortage initiatives; and DMF’s Lend A Hand program.
DMF’s Children’s Mental Health Initiative is working hard to improve early identification,
intervention and access to mental health services for children ages 0-8.
In 2009-2011, we’ll launch a new prevention program - the Cass Clay Healthy People Initiative,
a community approach to encouraging active living and healthy eating. Our worksite wellness
program will consider new partnerships to bring prevention and early intervention programs
to more worksites across our region. Improved access to healthcare services will be achieved
through implementation of effective healthcare workforce development strategies. Major
conferences for professionals and the general public will deliver critical health education to
our region.
The future is exciting for Dakota Medical Foundation, as well as our nonprofit partners! A
$2 million Bush Foundation grant to our strategic partner, Impact Foundation’s Institute
for Innovation and Effectiveness, will continue to help build the capacity of nonprofits to
more effectively improve health. Expanded Institute services include nonprofit board and
executive leadership training, as well as other statewide capacity building education and
training opportunities.
How do we best ensure your good health? We will identify barriers to “good” health and
work strategically with our partners to eliminate them. We will assess the capacity needs of
health-related nonprofits and help address them. And we will listen to you – our members,
our partners, and our communities. Together, we can achieve our ambitious goals!
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