JOPLIN, Mo. – Pulling a silver cover off a giant check, Freeman Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Paula F. Baker revealed a $225,000 donation to One Joplin, a collaborative that includes more than 200 community partners.

“Freeman’s mission is to improve the health of the communities we serve through contemporary, innovative quality healthcare solutions,” said Baker, “and One Joplin will enhance our efforts to do just that.” 

Freeman is pledging three yearly installments of $75,000 to One Joplin as it works to meet critical community needs, such as health and wellness, opioid education, smoking cessation, domestic violence response, homelessness prevention and many other endeavors that directly intersect with the services Freeman provides to the community. 

“Freeman’s investment allows One Joplin to focus its efforts on needed service areas that impact physical, emotional and social health,” said Nicole Brown, One Joplin Executive Director. “We are grateful for Freeman’s investment and believe it demonstrates their dedication to improving the health of our community.”

Brown said One Joplin members welcome Freeman to the group that exists to facilitate collaboration, cooperation and communication among organizations in the Joplin region who set aside personal agendas to share resources, ideas and perspectives. 

“How solutions differ between many organizations to fix the problems before our community are respectfully shared,” said Thomas Walters, Joplin Community Development Planner and member of One Joplin housing sub-team. “Our humility grows as we see that our philosophy and solutions to problems are only a small part of a whole and that if all are championed equally and united, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”  

Several One Joplin focus teams align with Freeman’s goals for the community. The One Joplin 
health team works to help citizens reach healthy weights, improve mental health and decrease 
substance abuse. The human services team works to reduce domestic violence, child abuse
and neglect, and in 2022, will focus on access to care.