Life and Health

Fifteen years ago, Grande Ronde Hospital (GRH) established our Community Benefit (CB) program as a crucial part of our social responsibility efforts in Union County. Headed by the Community Benefit Sub-Committee (Committee) that is under the oversight of GRH's Quality Committee, the program is led by GRH's Community Benefits Officer Wendy Roberts.

For 15 years, Roberts has worked to develop and maintain a strong Committee composed of community representatives as well as hospital staff and members of our Board of Trustees. This Committee distributes assistance to our community partners through various opportunities for support, including grants earmarked for improving community health and wellness. Over the years, this program has evolved into a significant piece of our community engagement as we reach beyond the doors of our hospital and clinics. We are proud to highlight our efforts for FY2023 here.

Every three years, we survey our community to better understand the biggest health and wellness concerns. We rely heavily on survey results to determine unmet needs, establish three-year goals, develop work plans and seek opportunities that align with these established goals.

GOAL 1. SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

The Oregon Health Authority defines SDOH as environmental conditions that affect overall health and quality of life. The GRH focus is Health Care Access and Quality. This first, and overarching, goal within our CB program is to improve the health and wellness of our community by identifying, understanding and addressing Union County's unique challenges in this area. One area that stood out is the transportation challenge within our community.

Traveling throughout our area can be a beautiful experience or an exhausting challenge. As wonderful as our rural lifestyle is, it can be a trial for many rural residents, particularly those living in communities surrounding La Grande with no access to public transportation. Health care appointments are missed, rescheduled or even canceled, thus putting off needed care. By developing sustainable partnerships and voucher systems with local transportation services, we helped 79 patients keep their appointments during FY2023.

A unique project for FY2023 was in support of the Northeast Oregon Housing Authority's new Timber Ridge 82-unit apartment complex for low-income, multigenerational housing in La Grande. Our grant financed the creation of a Community Garden for Timber Ridge residents. Having a large, dedicated garden space will allow residents to grow, harvest and enjoy fresh, healthy produce, while also providing activity, connectivity and the enjoyment of communal outdoor spaces.

Another benchmark we strive to improve is expanding access to primary care. Our commitment is to recruit additional primary care providers in the areas of family practice, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.

GRH has an impressive recruitment rate—adding more than 45 providers during the 2020–2023 period. Of those, seven started practicing at GRH in FY2023—two of which were much needed primary care providers.

GOAL 2. MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

The Committee developed our second goal around increasing access to mental and behavioral health resources. The first benchmark was supporting early intervention in mental and behavioral health programs, including substance abuse treatment.

GRH has been a sponsor of the Union County Safe Communities Coalition's Annual Drug Free Run since its inception and did so again in August 2023. The run had approximately 50 participants and raised nearly $6,500 for youth substance abuse prevention activities.

In FY2023 we were pleased to support Union County's Treatment Court Program. It offers preventive alternatives to traditional incarceration for nonviolent offenders. It provides early identification and intervention in the cycle of addiction. This program is an opportunity for Union County to help celebrate lives transformed rather than further punish lives destroyed by addiction. It guides participants through recovery and substance-free living by creating positive changes in behavior, health, attitudes and relationships.

Our final benchmark in addressing chronic diseases in Union County was continued support of community partnerships and programs focused on prevention and wellness initiatives.
In September 2022 (our FY2023) we were approached to support SoleKIDS, an eight-week running program geared toward elementary students and their parents uniquely designed to get kids ready for a final 5K race.

New to La Grande, SoleKIDS' first season was limited to Central Elementary School but still had an impressive 53 children registered to participate in the eight-week season. Forty-nine completed the 5K that year. This enthusiastic participation made SoleKIDS a self-sustaining program that was expanded in September 2023 to all three La Grande public elementary schools, with 115 kids participating.

GOAL 3. CHRONIC DISEASE

To address chronic disease, the Committee chose to focus on increasing wellness and prevention. One specific program was to increase the Adenoma Detection Rate (ADR), which measures the average rate of precancerous polyps identified and removed during a colonoscopy. It is the single-most important quality measure in colonoscopies.

At GRH, our general surgeons perform all colonoscopies. A benchmark was set for them to increase their ADR percentages by the end of the third year of our current CB program.

We are proud to report that we exceeded expectations and met the benchmark by the end of FY2023 with rates of 48.3% and 53.3%. To compare, the American Gastroenterological Association reports the minimum benchmarks for screening colonoscopy in men and women 50 and older are 30% and 20%, for an overall ADR benchmark of 25%.1

A second chronic issue we addressed in FY2023 was a common childhood disease: tooth decay. Poor oral health during childhood leads to missed school days, sleep issues, pain and the potential to spread infection throughout the body.

GRH implemented the First Tooth Program in the GRH Pediatric Clinic in FY2023 to help provide the needed resources for pediatric providers to assess child oral health, educate parents and provide preventive fluoride varnish application training for our providers, nurses and medical assistants. The varnish is now offered for children ages 1 to 5 as part of their well-child visit.

According to the most current baseline data available (2013–2016), 13.4% of children and adolescents ages 3 to 19 had active and untreated tooth decay in their primary or permanent teeth. The First Tooth Program's goal is to reduce that to 10.2% by 2030.

Additional efforts for FY2023 included ImPACT testing for local athletes. GRH Therapy & Sports Medicine partnered with school districts in La Grande, Union, Elgin, Imbler, Cove and North Powder and the Oregon School Activities Association to provide ImPACT neurocognitive tests to 361 athletes during the 2022–2023 school year. ImPACT has two components: baseline testing and post-injury testing to determine if an athlete can safely return to an activity.

Finally, we continue to support the Children and Recovering Mothers (CHARM) program at our Women's and Children's Clinic. Expectant mothers are screened at their first OB appointment using a behavioral health questionnaire to identify drug use, depression, anxiety and safety. Our obstetricians then explore the option of CHARM support if the patient meets criteria.

During FY2023, CHARM assisted 12 women, 10 of whom fully completed the program. Since the launch of the CHARM program at GRH in July 2017, we have served a total of 91 women with diverse needs from all socioeconomic strata. Of these, 63 have successfully completed CHARM—a 60% success rate.

We are proud of these accomplishments, but we could not have made them without the support and partnerships with agencies and individuals in Union County. Together we look at unmet needs and identify underserved populations, finding ways to improve health and well-being where needed most.

Categories: Health and wellness