title: The hospital staff and community benefit. An Iowa facility works to involve busy employees in community benefit reporting.
abstract: Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa (MMC), Mason City, IA, has done much over the years to support the poor and underserved of its community. However, in recent years, the facilities leaders came to see that much of its community benefit activity went unreported. They decided to launch an initiative to improve this reporting. They began, in the summer of 2002, with a campaign to educate staff members about the facility's sponsor, the Sisters of Mercy, and that congregation's foundress, Mother Catherine McAuley. In December, MMC adopted a biannual reporting cycle for community benefit activities. Such reporting was facilitated by putting it online. More recently, MMC has begun publicizing its community benefit activities. As a result, both the facility's staff and the community have gained a clearer idea of the services that MMC provides in north Iowa.
authors.affiliation: Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, Mason City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Self
mesh_terms: D002410:Catholicism; D003142:Communication; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D016519:Hospitals, Religious / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D035862:Vulnerable Populations