WHAT DO YOU WANT? The Grief Services Project is seeking survey responses from the Chippewa Valley to inform what will be done with $4.8 million originally affiliated with Eau Claire's HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital.

Whether it’s the death of a spouse or another loved one, the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, or a serious medical diagnosis, grief is – or will be – a fact of life for all of us. A new research project will help shape how millions of dollars in philanthropic donations are used to help heal the grief of Chippewa Valley residents.

The Grief Services Research Project is a just-launched effort that is expected to be completed by 2025. “The purpose of the study in a nutshell is to find out what grief services exist, what’s missing, and what might be good delivery models for what’s missing,” explained Ann Kaiser, an Eau Claire-based consultant overseeing the project. 

The $4.8 million in question comes from three funds – the Monsignor Klimek Healing Presence Endowment, the Healing Place Endowment, and Healing Place Fund – that were affiliated with Eau Claire’s HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital. When Illinois-based Hospital Sisters Health System announced early this year they were closing Sacred Heart, many locals wondered what would happen to such funds, which came from local donors. These questions were partly answered in June when HSHS announced that it intends to distribute the money locally. However, Kaiser explained, “If they’re going to continue to honor that donor intent, they felt like they needed more information about what exists, who’s doing what, what the gaps are.”

Ann Kaiser.

“The purpose of the study in a nutshell is to find out what grief services exist, what’s missing, and what might be good delivery models for what’s missing.” –Ann Kaiser, Grief Services Research Project

Kaiser, who worked at the Sacred Heart Foundation for more than 13 years, helped establish and did the bulk of the fundraising for the Klimek Fund, which honors the Catholic priest who ministered to the sick at Sacred Heart for 40 years. This and the other two funds were affiliated with the Healing Place, a hospital department that offered grief counseling, support groups, and other programs. “I still hear from folks that say, ‘That support group literally saved my dad’s life after my mom passed,’ or ‘It literally helped me get out of really unhealthy choices,’ ” Kaiser said of the Healing Place. 

Kaiser explained that the project is seeking input from four different groups of locals. First, there are the past, current, or future recipients of grief services. What services are they aware of? Do they see gaps in these services? Next, there are those who provide grief services, whether on a professional or volunteer basis. These providers will be asked about what services they offer, who their clients are, what their capacity is, and what they think is missing locally. The survey is also aimed at those who Kaiser terms “advocate and experts” – people who have an interest in these services (human resources departments, employee assistance programs, schools, etc.) but don’t provide them directly. Finally, the survey is seeking input from community supporters: Regular people who want to make sure that grief services are available in the Chippewa Valley.

Kaiser said the survey will go out via email in mid-to-late October and will be available for two weeks. To receive the survey, residents are asked to fill in a form at griefservicesproject.com.

Once Kaiser is able to sift through the survey results, there may be a need for a second round of questions, perhaps in the form of focus groups or one-on-one interviews. Her final report will go to HSHS, specifically to its charitable arm, the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis Foundation, for final determination of what the funds will be used for. Ultimately, those funds will be placed in an endowment at the Eau Claire Community Foundation.

So far, Kaiser said, she’s received positive feedback from the community about the project, despite the feelings of grief left in the wake of Sacred Heart’s closure.

“People are still working through the process of the loss of the institution in our community,” she said. “I think there is a lot of heart and soul and emotion with these funds because of what Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s meant to the communities, and because of people’s experiences that went beyond health care.”

Learn more about the project at griefservicesproject.com.