Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside

 

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ABOUT

Welcome to the Health Commons in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood website! We are a drop-in center that is dedicated to serving those in the Cedar-Riverside area with a focus on healthy individuals and community. Our services are free of charge and open to everyone. We are committed to service based on respect, relationship, and collaboration that connects health and hope for all participants.  Our partnership represents a collaborative effort between Augsburg University, M Health Fairview, East Africa Health Project and People’s Center Health Services.  The majority of our current funding is provided by the Fairview Foundation.

 

HISTORY OF THE HEALTH COMMONS IN CEDAR-RIVERSIDE

The Health Commons in the neighborhood came into existence through a series of events. A group consisting of a student, an alumni, and a nursing faculty member received a National Institutes of Health grant to conduct discussion groups with Somali immigrant women in the Cedar-Riverside area, focusing on identifying health concerns and barriers to the health of participants. Once the sessions were completed, the group looked for a way to address these issues. Hearing about the work that the Augsburg University Nursing Department had been doing for the last two decades at the Augsburg Central Health Commons, the group decided to meet with the coordinators from Augsburg University to discuss a partnership to open an additional Health Commons. This is how the development of the Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside began to unfold.

Our work at the Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside began with the same principles that have laid the foundation for Augsburg Central Health Commons.  Changes continue to be made according to our framework of practice, relationships, and ways of being at the Health Commons as seen as appropriate by our leaders and advisory board members.  We only create programs and services in response to direct community-expressed needs.

Volunteering

The people who come to the Health Commons represent diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. The Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside staff seek to assist people in many ways: to better health within the reality of their personal life circumstances, to help them maintain health despite illness, to support them as they cope with disease, and to assist them in obtaining appropriate medical care. Health concerns include many issues: diet and nutrition, medication clarification, negotiating stressful life circumstances, addressing mental health illnesses, adjusting to life in a new country, navigating the health care system, connecting to community resources, managing the miseries of seasonal colds and flu, help with minor injuries and skin irritations, and dealing with regimens for chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

 

Contact

cedarhealthcommons@augsburg.edu