Life and Health
Back to FY2022 Community Benefit Report
Healthy kids. Healthy families. Healthy communities.
Grande Ronde Hospital has been caring for our local communities since 1907. When your mission is providing health care in your hometown for your family, friends and neighbors, the choice to benefit your community has already been made.
The inception of the hospital by three local doctors in the early 1900s was driven by a desire to improve the delivery of medical care—particularly emergent care—in order to save lives and improve health outcomes for the people spread across Union County. History tells us that "lifesaving procedures were regularly performed on kitchen tables in Elgin, on couches in Summerville and on family beds in Cove."
In more recent times, the hospital has leveraged its ability to make local decisions for the best possible use of those resources we can share beyond the hospital's doors. We have implemented programs over the years like free blood screenings and fun runs for adults; free sports physicals for teens; doll clinics and free wellness checks for kids; and end-of-life support, like the No One Dies Alone volunteer program we oversaw for many years.
Our efforts—both past and present—have been driven by the compassionate belief that, beyond providing health care, we have a mission to improve our community by supporting initiatives that strengthen the health and wellness of the people who live here.
A look into the past
In 2010, the Affordable Care Act mandated hospitals and health systems build more structured Community Benefit Programs. The hospital's Community Benefit Officer, Wendy Roberts, has been instrumental in guiding GRH into the new realities of the broader financial opportunities we've been able to leverage.
"While our efforts lost some flexibility, in other ways the ACA expanded our reach through the ability to build partnerships with local organizations and support a wide variety of community health and wellness initiatives," Roberts recalls.
These efforts included new playgrounds and swimming lessons for children. GRH also brought in guest speakers to talk to students about tobacco use and drugs and donated to area high schools to support drug-free graduation celebration alternatives.
"We implemented—and continue to support—the Children and Recovering Mothers (CHARM) program to help expecting moms stay off drugs, deliver healthy babies and develop a support system after their babies are born," Roberts adds. "We have addressed food insecurity issues with donations to local food banks, supported our farmers market, and helped expand school lunches and provide healthy snacks to children."
In fact, over the past 13 years, the Hospital's Community
Benefit program has provided nearly $56 million for programs and partnerships here in Union County. Nearly $30 million of that has been in the form of direct charity care through our
Financial Assistance Program, developed to forgive debt or help patients pay for their health care needs at Grande Ronde.
We can do this, in part, because we remain one of the few independent, locally governed health systems in Oregon. Along with local partners and community organizations, we get to decide how to best leverage our not-for-profit status and use a portion of our assets to give back to our community.
We get to decide. Which means you get to decide too.
Help guide our decisions
These decisions are made based on a tri-annual survey mailed to Union County residents asking for input. It will ultimately help a large coalition of stakeholders decide where local services and support programs can best be strengthened by the Hospital's Community Benefit Program. Every three years, the Hospital brings together a wide coalition of community members to help us determine how best to support the unmet health and wellness needs in Union County. The coalition includes:
- Hospital staff
- Members of the hospital's Board of Trustees
- Community partners, like the Center for Human Development's Public Health Administration
- The tri-county (Union, Baker and Wallowa) Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (EOCCO)
- Northeast Oregon Network (NEON)
- Community Connection of Northeast Oregon (CCNO)
- Our local law enforcement and emergency responders
- School systems, churches, service clubs and other community groups
These decisions guide our efforts in planning where our resources should be focused. The most recent survey was used to define the greatest needs and determine our efforts on focusing to meet them over the next three years:
- Social Determinants of Health: transportation, housing, food insecurity
- Mental and Behavioral Health: substance abuse, educational success, counseling
- Community Wellness and Prevention: diabetes, heart failure, cancer
We hope this message will encourage everyone who receives the next Community Health Needs Assessment Survey to fill it out and mail it back. The impact that one person can make to improve the quality of life for all of us has never been greater.
The Children and Recovering Mothers (CHARM) program is a confidential, affordable program developed to help women deliver healthy babies. CHARM may have been born at the GRH Family Birthing Center, but it has expanded over the years to include many local partners such as Grande Ronde Recovery, the Center for Human Development, and the GRH Women's and Children's Clinic, to name just a few. To read Alicia's story, click here.
Categories: Healthy community