By Misty Cryer
Artesia General Hospital hosted a Community Health Summit on March 20 at Pecos River Village Conference Center. With a focus on the communities of Eddy County, the presentation included a review of the agenda and objectives, initiatives, and progress of Artesia General Hospital since the last Community Health Needs Assessment, a community analysis, a survey analysis, and a review of prioritized health needs and voting.
After lunch, top health needs were addressed in guided brainstorming sessions in small groups, with group spokespersons giving reports. Formal action plans are expected to be formulated in the next few months based on the data acquired through this process.
The purpose of the summit, as stated on the agenda, “is to build a common database of knowledge about the health issues in the community and have everyone operating off the same assumptions.” The agenda further stated, “gaining community input into the community health priorities and brainstorming around solutions or community assets is invaluable to improving the health of the communities.”
Jose Gurrola, Chief Operating Officer of Artesia General Hospital, opened the summit by explaining that as a non-profit hospital, a community health needs assessment is required every three years by the IRS; however, the needs assessment provides valuable feedback from community stakeholders and helps with strategic planning and innovation.
Molly Garcia, Consultant with Strata, was introduced and went over the agenda and objectives as well as revealing primary and secondary data to be considered in the community health needs assessment and ultimately in strategic planning for the hospital. Maddie Thompson assisted with teams from Artesia General Hospital present to answer questions. The topics discussed in the small groups included Women’s Health and Access to Convenient Healthcare.
Gurrola discussed the initiatives and progress since the last Community Health Needs Assessment, where the top priorities included behavioral health and mental health, diabetic treatment, nutrition, healthy lifestyle choices, and changes. “In the past two years, we opened up a behavioral health clinic in Artesia,” he said, mentioning remodeling and adding providers for a total of five providers in the behavioral health clinic to serve adults, adolescents, and children in both Artesia and Carlsbad. “That was a high need, something the community had requested, so that was our answer,” he said, acknowledging that much more behavioral health is needed in the communities and mentioning opportunities for innovation using telehealth as an example.
To address nutrition services, Gurrola said a dietician was recently hired to complement the nutritionist who is currently employed. He said the provider out of Artesia travels to Carlsbad every other week to provide services. For diabetic treatment, Gurrola said Artesia General Hospital has an endocrinologist who sees patients in Carlsbad every other Thursday at the multi-specialty clinic.
Gurrola said they are currently working on recruitment to complement primary care and specialty services. Currently, Artesia General Hospital provides multiple services to the Carlsbad area, he said. These include a family practice clinic, behavioral health, diagnostics and imaging, speech therapy, and specialties such as Orthopedics, Endocrinology, Pain Management, and Podiatry.
Artesia General Hospital’s presence in Carlsbad is evident with three locations, including Carlsbad Family Practice (105 E. Hagerman St.), Carlsbad Open MRI, Behavioral Health, and Multi-Specialty (1410 N. 8th St.), and Orthopedic Specialists (2411 Osbourne Rd.).
Once finalized, the Community Health Needs Assessment results will be published on the website for Artesia General Hospital (https://artesiageneral.com).
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