Health library

By April 2020, the end of Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics' (GRH) fiscal year, the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted a number of community programs and events we traditionally sponsor. For example, we made the hard decision in March to cancel our free blood screenings, traditionally offered throughout our county every spring.

However, despite the disruption of a pandemic, the GRH "can do" attitude compelled us to look outside the box to determine what we could do. As we look back at FY2020, we are proud of our community benefit efforts.

Financial assistance

In fact, in FY2020 GRH provided more than $5.5 million in community benefits to the region we serve. More than $2.5 million was in the form of direct debt reconciliation through our robust and generous financial assistance program, an option for those challenged with paying GRH medical bills. We were also able to fund health education events and provide cash or in-kind donations to help our community.

In June 2019, our Therapy and Sports Medicine Department started a new community wellness class designed for older adults called "Golden and Grande." The free one-hour classes focused on safe cardio, strengthening, coordination and balance exercises. It was open to anyone who wanted to join. Approximately 20 people signed up, with a consistent average class attendance of 12 each week. It was started in June 2019, but came to an end in March 2020, due to COVID-19.

For several years, we have provided free sports physicals for our young athletes. Primary care providers in our Women's and Children's Clinic in La Grande, as well as the Union Clinic and Elgin Clinic, provide these free physicals. In July and August 2019, we were able to provide these to 124 local athletes free of charge.

Educational opportunities

In addition to providing many free services like these for improving the health of our community, many of our staff seek opportunities to educate the public in their areas of expertise.

For example, registered nurses from our Emergency Department co-hosted eight separate classes between June of 2019 and March of 2020, with our community partners, the La Grande Fire Department and Life Flight, to offer STOP THE BLEED® and hands-only CPR training to the public. This national program was initiated after the 2012 tragedy in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, to provide first responders and civilian bystanders the skills and basic tools to stop uncontrolled bleeding in an emergency situation and save lives. A total of 260 people received this lifesaving instruction free of charge.

Before COVID-19 hit Oregon, we were still offering education and mentoring opportunities for the next generation of health care providers and for the benefit of the community.

In January, GRH hosted two sessions of the Mental Health First Aid USA course. Presented by the National Council for Behavioral Health, this eight-hour training introduced participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, helped build understanding of their impact, and provided overviews of appropriate support options. These sessions were open to the community and saw a wide variety of attendees, including a local high school student with an interest in a future in psychology and employees from the Center for Human Development, the local library and our police department.

In fact, before we had to impose mandated visitor restrictions, GRH had collectively given more than 9,600 hours to mentor students from degree programs in higher education with hands-on training and mentoring.

Grants for local programs

Right before the pandemic hit, in December 2019, GRH was honored once again to donate $1,000 worth of much-needed items for the annual Elkhorn Media Group and Goss Motors Food Drive. We participate in this worthwhile event each year to address food insecurities in our community.

That December we also contributed to the Mountain Valleys Reading Council to help purchase 450 books in collaboration with the La Grande Literary Alliance. At the Santa Mall, 250 of them were given to children, and the rest were used to stock the little libraries at the local elementary schools during the pandemic.

Our projects range from small cash and in-kind donations like these to larger projects requiring grant funding. One example is the funding we provided in July 2019 to the Northeast Oregon Network (NEON) in support of the Union County Parenting Collaborative. We are also an annual supporter of the Union County Safe Communities Coalition Drug-Free Run. In August 2019, we again supported the event, which brought in a net of more than $9,600 to support their efforts toward alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention programs for Union County youth.

We also provided funding in support of the administration of the ImPACT program in collaboration with six area school districts. This neurocognitive testing for local high school athletes establishes much-needed benchmarks for baseline and post-injury testing to help determine when a patient can safely return to normal activity after an impact to the head.

A collaborative approach

Two of the newest efforts from our Community Benefit Subcommittee (CBSC) grant funding program seek to establish and support long-term efforts in collaboration with other community partners. We believe a connected community of resources can better strengthen individual and community resilience to adversity.

For example, the Eastern Oregon Community Resource Network (EOCRN) is a new collaborative platform that connects members of the community, both virtually and in person, while focusing on social determinants of health for all community residents. In fact, the devastation to our community under COVID-19 proves the need for a collaborative approach to fulfilling unmet needs by sharing resources and addressing gaps in services and opportunities in Union County.

In addition, we provided funding for a three-year commitment in collaboration with Eastern Oregon University's Health and Human Performance Department to establish and sustain the Get Outside-After School Activity Program (GO-ASAP) for middle-school students not involved in sports or other extracurricular activities. Chosen by school counselors and principals, these at-risk students may have experienced a number of challenging behaviors, such as difficulties with social interactions, inability to focus during school, low attendance or lack of participation, bullying, or an inability to manage emotions.

Assessing the community's needs

How do we determine what to fund and support? We ask our community. In 2018 GRH conducted its most recent Community Health Needs Assessment. The CBSC used this broad-based assessment tool to gain direct input on health needs, community assets and a range of related topics. In short, we want to determine the gaps and how we can best fill them.

In 2018, the assessment tool covered a broad spectrum of physical, mental and behavioral health, as well as quality of life issues. We employ an independent third party to take the data from the survey tool and provide a final report that is then shared with community partners, stakeholders and the broader community to provide feedback on the results. Our goal is to ensure that we have reached the broadest and most diverse section of the people of Union County to understand where our help should be focused for the next three years.

We also consider secondary data from other agencies and organizations, such as demographics, chronic disease and morbidity/mortality information, health status indicators, health behaviors, family planning and births, access to care providers, insurance status, and general community information.

From all of this information, the GRH CBSC determines what broader goals to pursue and the benchmarks needed to reach them in a three-year plan. For FY2020 and through FY2022, our broad goals for the grant funding opportunities we offer are to improve the health of our community by identifying, understanding and addressing social determinants of health and to increase access to behavioral health services. Despite the pandemic of 2020, we accomplished much and are off to a good start for the next two years under the current established goals.

What's next? Visit our website, grh.org, to learn about classes, events and service opportunities!