Doing what’s right for our patients and our future. That’s Whole Person Care.

Whole Person Care didn’t come from leadership. It came from you. And it’s what the people we serve need from us now more than ever.

Whole Person Care is what our patients and employees tell us matters
 most to them.

This approach isn’t something invented by leadership — employees are already doing it. They understand that the people we serve have needs that go beyond physical health. And they know that all of those needs must be supported if we’re truly going to help people improve their lives.

Whole Person Care

An approach that recognizes all factors impacting health are connected–mind, body, spirit and community.

Mind

Compassionate support of mental and emotional well-being is integral to good health.

Spirit

Care must be supportive of an individual’s beliefs and values.

Body

Care often begins with a focus on maintaining or improving the body’s physical health.

Community

Strong relationships are vital to living the best possible life.

That’s what makes Allina Health and the employees who work here special. When we provide Whole Person Care, we help people do more, feel stronger and live better than they ever thought possible.

It really is all about people.

Delivering Whole Person Care relies on our ability to form deeper relationships with each other and the people we serve. Relationships are what help us work as a team. Relationships are what help us support people and their goals.

More importantly, deeper relationships typically make for better patient outcomes and a meaningful experience for those who receive care, and those providing it.

Care that puts human relationships at the center and considers all dimensions of health is care that also produces better outcomes at a lower cost.

PEOPLE & CULTURE–THE ROOTS OF WHOLE PERSON CARE

Our inspiration for the future actually comes from within.

Explore the roots of Whole Person Care

A renewed space to heal.

Seeing the need for a holistic approach to mental health and addiction, Mercy Hospital at Unity campus is building new ways to care for the whole person—from a person’s first phone call for help to their transition back into the world.

 

Explore mental health at Unity

Activities

Whole Person Care

Whole Person Care already happens in many areas of our organization and in the individual interactions between our staff and the patients and families they care for every day. These toolkits are aimed at helping people recognize and celebrate Whole Person Care so that we can work together to deliver it more consistently to all of the patients we serve.

1

Read one of the stories above that relates to your work.

2

Pick a minimum of one discussion question to serve as a conversation starter with the group.

3

As an optional next step, choose a Put it into Action Activity—these can be performed on your own, at or away from work.

Activities

Whole Person Care

DON’T HAVE TIME FOR A FOCUSED GROUP ACTIVITY? BUILD THE CONVERSATION INTO YOUR HUDDLES OR STAFF MEETINGS.

• Encourage your team to visit allinahealth.org/possible. Highlight a section of the site for them to review and consider how it connects back to the work they do.

• Start each meeting by asking for one person to volunteer a story of Whole Person Care. Build this practice into your meetings moving forward.

• Ask staff to email you a story of how they or a colleague have delivered Whole Person Care and recognize that individual at your staff meeting. Share their story on the site.

• Create a bulletin board that lives in a common meeting place for colleagues. Invite everyone to fill out a notecard or post-it with their thoughts on Whole Person Care. Sample questions you could ask everyone to answer — How do your colleagues make you feel valued? What makes your patients feel valued?

Activities

Whole Person Care

STEP ONE

Pick a story to read that relates to your work.

People & Culture—the roots of Whole Person Care 

 A renewed space to heal.

Activities

Whole Person Care

STEP TWO

(No more than 10 minutes)

Find a partner. Take turns sharing a story that illustrates Whole Person Care, whether it’s something you experienced or something you helped a patient experience. Then take turns
sharing what you liked about each other’s story.

Example:
“What your story tells me about you is…” (name a positive quality, and how this story supports that conclusion)

Activities

Whole Person Care

STEP THREE

(No more than 10 minutes)

After everyone’s done, the leader will ask for 1-2 volunteers to tell their Whole Person Care story. Then, leaders will ask the team what it was they appreciated about that story.

Encourage staff to share their story more broadly by submitting it below.

Your Stories

The story of Allina Health is one each we write every day.
Submit your story to us below and share how you’re living out Whole Person Care.

Submit Your Story