You want to be sure that your health care team provides the highest level of care possible and that they genuinely care about you and your family. Our goal at Hennepin Healthcare is to provide patients with a truly exceptional experience every time, without exception. Below are stories from Hennepin Healthcare patients, sharing their interactions with our medical providers and staff across our hospital and clinics. We hope this gives you a sense of what you can expect when you receive your health care from us.

I brought him in specifically to work on his writing, but Sarah did so much more with him. After her initial assessment, we talked about his ability to scale problems, process his frustrations, and even coordination. All things I hadn't realized were challenging for him.

Hennepin Healthcare is releasing an updated educational module that will be made available to law enforcement agencies and shared online for public viewing. The new module explains advancements in understanding patient behavior and offers a clear and complete rejection of the diagnosis of excited delirium, instead providing information that supports a more accurate assessment of agitation in the prehospital setting.

The new module uses an anti-racist context and foundation and highlights findings in the Dec. 2021 Colorado Dept. of Public Health comprehensive report that says criteria for the assessment of excited delirium have been associated with racial bias against African American men and that the diagnosis lends itself to discriminatory practices that result in systemic bias against communities of color, its lack of a uniform definition and specific, validated medical criteria allows for the possibility of inaccurate assessments.

This module replaces the version that was shared with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in the fall of 2021 that was released without adequate internal review. The updated module EMS and Law Enforcement was created with input and review from multiple internal and community partners, including the Hennepin Healthcare Health Equity and Academic Affairs departments, Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services leadership, along with members of the Community Advisory Board and Minneapolis and MPD leadership.

This is intended to be a transitionary educational module to explain the change, understanding that Law Enforcement will seek additional education on symptoms and the need to engage EMS quickly when there is a medical emergency.

We recently notified the MPD that we are terminating our contract to provide medical direction services. Also, last week we announced that physicians will no longer be allowed to be dually employed by Hennepin Healthcare as a medical staff member and by a law enforcement agency. These steps clarify our relationship with law enforcement and other first responders to focus on the provision of care to the patients we serve. We will continue to collaborate with public safety agencies to ensure that we are able to provide the highest level of care to our patients.

The fall 2021 iteration of medical training provided to MPD failed to follow through on our promise to no longer teach excited delirium and to be intentional in addressing systemic racism. We are extremely sorry for the further harm this has caused to our community. Systemic racism is deeply imbedded in law enforcement and health care systems, including ours. We failed to address it here when we had the opportunity and, in doing so, have caused further pain and mistrust.

We worked hard on listening to the community, on acknowledging the pain caused, especially on Black and brown communities, and on making it clear to our internal teams that Hennepin Healthcare does not support the direction reflected in this training. We are disappointed that this training, and our internal vetting mechanisms, do not appear to reflect this commitment. This was a breakdown in our oversight. We thought we had alignment and we clearly did not.

The one-hour medical training provided bytheHennepin EMS physician covers a full range of conditions police officers encounter, including carbon monoxide poisoning, traumatic brain injury, and many others. The intent of the training is to provide medical awareness so police officers know -This may be a medical emergency- Call EMS.EMS intervention and appropriate supportive careshould be provided to anyone having a medical emergency to provide the best outcomes for patients.There are patients who have severe agitation and need our help in the community. These patients can be seriously hurt by themselves or by others, like the police, who may not know how to recognize a medical need and call for help.

As the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Health Equity Officer, and Chief Medical Officer, we are committed to working with every member of our team to make sure we get back on track and in alignment, and this message reaches every member of our team, so we can better address the resulting and continued distrust from our community.

Hennepin Healthcare is an integrated system of care that includes a nationally recognized Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center, an acute care hospital, as well as a clinic system with primary care clinics located in Minneapolis and across Hennepin County. The healthcare system includes a 484-bed academic medical center, a large outpatient Clinic & Specialty Center, and a network of clinics downtown, in the North Loop, Whittier, East Lake Street neighborhoods of Minneapolis, and in suburban communities of Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley, Richfield, and St. Anthony Village. Hennepin Healthcare has a large psychiatric program, home care, and hospice, and operates a research institute, and philanthropic foundation. Hennepin Healthcare includes Emergency Medical Services, which operates a large fleet of ambulances serving 14 cities in Hennepin County. The system is operated by Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc., a subsidiary corporation of Hennepin County.

We partner with our community, our patients, and their families to ensure access to outstanding care for everyone while improving health and wellness through teaching, patient and community education, and research.