November 23, 2018
The Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation (LCVHF) announces it is in the process of finalizing a grant to Innovia Foundation of Spokane to launch a regional Health and Wellness Needs Assessment to take place over the next year.
This grant represents the first announced funding by the LCVHF, (www.lewisclarkhealth.org). The study would seek to determine the systemic health and wellness needs of the nine county area which the LCVHF serves: Nez Perce, Latah, Clearwater, Idaho and Lewis counties, Idaho; Asotin, Garfield and Whitman counties, Washington; and Wallowa County, Oregon. This area has a combined population of approximately 190,000 people.
“Determining the health and wellness needs of the tri-state area will help our foundation establish its philanthropic goals over the next several years,” says Mark M. Havens, chairman of the Board of Community Advisors for the LCVHF.
The Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation was established in 2017 by the Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden during the sale and conversion of St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston into a for-profit hospital. It is administered as a philanthropic trust.
Innovia Foundation (www.Innovia.org), headquartered in Spokane, was known as Inland Northwest Community Foundation until June of this year when it went through a rebrand to reflect an increased emphasis on community engagement and impact. “Innovia Foundation has over 40 years of history serving the needs of people and communities in North Idaho and Eastern Washington,” says Innovia Foundation CEO Shelly O’Quinn, a former Spokane County Commissioner. “Through this project, we will be able to reflect the community perspective – helping identify local needs and outlining regional priorities. This needs assessment provides a platform to implement long-term solutions that can improve quality of life, provide economic opportunity, improve access to education, and better the region’s health and wellbeing.”
Havens and O’Quinn invite input from other interested parties on this project. These would include hospitals, health agencies, medical professionals, governmental officials and nonprofit organizations. “A study of this size and scale has never before been performed in this region,” Havens asserts. “A coordinated approach allows stakeholders to discover unique issues in certain counties and evaluate needs that might be consistent across the region.” This strategy is also intended to provide reliable information to community groups to help attract additional public and private funds.