Operation Metro Surge took a toll on schools, businesses, restaurants and medical care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inspire Change Clinic in south Minneapolis responded by changing how it delivered care. Instead of waiting for patients to come to the clinic, medical professionals went straight to their door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than 100 volunteer doctors, nurses and mental health professionals mobilized and, over four months, made more than 800 patient connections. Nearly 200 involved home and telehealth visits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was no playbook; the goal was to keep patients connected to care and save lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Communities were scared and we needed to do something,” said Munira Maalimisaq, nurse practitioner and founder of Inspire Change Clinic.<\/p>\n
Volunteers drew blood in patients’ homes and rushed samples back to the lab. They delivered medications, conducted telehealth visits and staffed a rapid response line monitored by medical professionals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those home visits also revealed serious consequences of delayed care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maalimisaq met patients struggling with malnutrition, a mother experiencing postpartum psychosis who was too afraid to seek help and families dealing with pregnancy loss.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to bring the care to you and listen when you say that you need care, you just can’t come in,” Maalimisaq said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During one visit, she said they connected with a grandmother with a severe wound that required treatment because her high blood sugar was preventing that wound from healing.<\/p>\n
Dr. Jennifer Needle-Suarez worked alongside Maalimisaq caring for the youngest among us. She said the crisis also exposed a bigger problem in healthcare systems.<\/p>\n
“I think healthcare organizations have been making more efforts toward investing in community needs and taking a more proactive approach in including community in programming, planning, the way things are done. I think there’s a lot more work that can be done. I think as a structure, it is becoming less and less responsive to the needs of people,” Needle-Suarez said.<\/p>\n
Needle-Suarez and Maalimisaq believe communities should have a front-row seat and a role in determining how healthcare reaches them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The clinic’s experience and findings have since been published in a medical journal and have drawn interest from healthcare professionals around the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Inspire Change Clinic, the lesson they want to get out there is that healthcare systems need to be prepared to meet patients where they are and not wait for a crisis to begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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