Published December 8th, 2011 in The Del Norte Prospector, Page 7
At the invitation of Rio Grande Hospital (RGH), Colorado STRIDES, a program of the Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC), facilitated the first of four meetings designed to assess community health needs in the Rio Grande Hospital service area on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Referring to the 35 attendees present at the initial meeting, Clint Cresawn, Program Manager for Colorado STRIDES said, “The strong turnout shows the commitment local residents have to supporting health and healthcare access to care in these two counties!”
The second public meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 595 Pine Street in Del Norte. A light dinner will be served and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.
At this meeting, demographic and economic data, as well as the economic impact of the hospital, will be discussed. The overall goal of this series of meetings is to forge collaboration between the hospital and the community, assuring that the hospital is responsive to the community’s needs with regard to health, healthcare, and healthy living.
The public was invited to attend the kick-off of this series of meetings, designed to provide feedback to hospital about healthcare needs in the area.
The first meeting took place at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Nov. 15 and discussed the services and benefits the hospital provides to Mineral and Rio Grande Counties, as well as health and health outcomes data for the two counties. After Hospital CEO Arlene Harms welcomed the attendees and discussed the services and benefi ts the hospital provides to the service area, Cresawn went over a Health Indicators and Health Outcomes Report that compares local data to state or peer county data.
This report, designed to spur community conversation, highlighted a number of healthcare disparities that the Rio Grande Hospital faces, including shortages of medical, dental, and mental health providers; high rates of breast cancer, stroke, and suicide; and high rates of unintentional injury.
The report also indicated that residents of the service area also indicated behaviors that may contribute to some of these health statistics: Relatively fewer residents of the area eat adequate services of fruits and vegetables while relatively more residents of the area are overweight or are smokers. On a more positive note, rates of self-reported binge drinking are lower in the service area than in the state as a whole, and life expectancy in Mineral and Rio Grande Counties is on par or above the U.S. median.
During discussion of the data, residents indicated that they believed rates of teen pregnancy, cardiac disease, and lung disease might well be worse that the statistics indicted.
However, the primary focus of the meeting was to unveil a community survey, designed to provide RGH with additional information about what the county wants and needs as far as medical services are concerned. Mineral and Rio Grande County residents, and people who utilize health services in these two counties, are asked to complete the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZPSRV3R.
Using a model based on the work of the National Center for Rural Health Works in Oklahoma, Colorado STRIDES works with communities on issues associated with community development, economic development, and local leadership development.
Cresawn says, “Communities with vibrant economies, well-developed amenities and engaged leaders are the very communities best able to provide the best quality care, as well as to recruit and retain healthcare providers, an issue that hampers access to care in many parts of rural America.”
The Community Health Needs Assessments are a new IRS requirement for 501c3 nonprofi t hospitals such as SPRHC. This change comes from national healthcare reform the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and was spearheaded by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R, Iowa, in an effort to hold nonprofi t hospitals accountable to their communities in earning their nonprofit status.
This Community Health Needs Assessment is made possible by funding from RGH and The Colorado Health Foundation.
The Colorado Rural Health Center was established in 1991 as Colorado’s State Office of Rural Health. As a 501(c)( 3) nonprofi t corporation, CRHC’s serves dual roles as the State Office of Rural Health with the mission of assisting rural communities in addressing healthcare issues; and as the State Rural Health Association, advocating for policy change to ensure that rural Coloradoans have access to comprehensive, affordable healthcare services of the highest quality.
The Colorado Rural Health Center has a diverse and inclusive statewide constituency of over 3,500 people and organizations. CRHC collaborates with a variety of partner organizations, such as public and private sector corporations, government agencies, foundations, hospitals, and other health facilities.
For more information visit www.coruralhealth.org, call 303-832-7493 , or call toll free 800-851-6782 from rural Colorado.
Read more in the Del Norte Prospector online.
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