Content area
Full text
While WomanKind founder Susan Hadley concedes that her approach to domestic violence may be an idealistic one that not all health systems can afford, her work has received national attention and serves as a strong benchmark for those wanting to establish a program to deal with domestic violence.
Hadley founded WomanKind in 1986 in Minneapolis with a vision to integrate the issue of domestic abuse into the "total health care of each patient, resulting in comprehensive system change." WomanKind's mission was to provide case management/advocacy services to victims of domestic abuse and to provide education/consultation to health professionals through the health care system, resulting in change in the system's response to victims of domestic abuse.
Hadley convinced Fairview Southdale Hospital to implement the program when it was first started. She ran the program for 18 months without hospital funding, finally selling the program in 1992 to the hospital for $1 and becoming leader of the hospital-funded internal staff, which also includes a part-time advocate/volunteer coordinator. Hadley has...