At Blooming Day Ohio 2025, leaders from across healthcare, social care, and government gathered in Cleveland to forge stronger, more collaborative approaches to community care. Hosted by Blooming Health, the event was designed to bring together changemakers across sectors who are committed to tackling the most urgent needs in Ohio such as housing insecurity, poverty, racism, food access, and more with coordinated action.

One of the day’s most compelling sessions featured a candid interview between Commissioner Frances Mills, Health Commissioner of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, and Dr. Robert Eick, President and CEO of Better Health Partnership (BHP).

This conversation pulled back the curtain on what it takes to lead local public health efforts with integrity, courage, and humility, and why multisector partnerships are more essential than ever in a time of increasing political and funding uncertainty.

Improving Social Care Starts with Data

Commissioner Mills began by offering an inside look at the structure and mission of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, which includes five divisions: Health, Environment, Administration, Air Quality, and Health Equity and Social Justice. Across those divisions, she explained, the goal remains constant: “Public health is designed to prevent disease and prevent death and to improve care for people.”

And that work begins with data.

“In the middle of complexity and a lot of moving parts, data for us at the health department, everything starts with data. We need to learn and continue to understand the scope of the problem, the pervasiveness of the problem, who's experiencing the problem, what are the barriers related to the problem.”

But data alone isn’t enough. It must be used as a tool to engage community voice and co-design solutions, not impose them.

“We have to say… we know in public health we're about equity. Equity is at the center of all that we do. And so we make it our business to do what we can do not only to help all people, but to help people who need the help the most.”

Capturing Community Voices is Key

Throughout the session, both speakers emphasized that community-driven approaches aren’t just buzzwords, they’re essential to designing effective programs and maintaining trust.

“There’s a continuum of community engagement,” Commissioner Mills explained. “Typically what happens in communities is we go to communities and we say, ‘Hey, this is what we think is happening and this is what we’re going to do. What do you think?’ Versus taking the expertise of the lived experience.”

She continued, “It is imperative that we cocreate together. And that involves a lot of humility. That involves sometimes swallowing your best thinking in favor of someone else’s idea.”

During the pandemic, she recalled, community members didn’t want government agencies at the forefront of vaccine distribution. “We want to be the front people. You just give us the vaccine… This is how we want this to roll out in a way that we feel is going to be best for the community.”

Civic Engagement is Important

When asked to leave the audience with a call to action, Commissioner Mills didn’t hesitate: civic engagement.

“Don’t stop. Don’t stop. I always talk about whenever I’m out in the community, well, what can we do as individuals? This is almost like talking to the choir, but your sphere of influence extends to patients, to clients, to friends, to family members. Civic engagement is important.”

“If you don't like what's happening nationally, all politics is local. It starts there. And so civic engagement is where we need to do to see change happen.”

Keep the Momentum Going with Blooming Health

Blooming Health helps public health departments, healthcare systems and social service providers put these values into practice with tools that make it easy to engage community members across languages and channels, collect actionable data, and streamline follow-ups.

Automate surveys, referrals and communications to deliver care to more people. Learn how our platform supports connected, community-driven care.