COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Executive Summary (PDF format)
• Complete Porter Hospital's Act 53 Community Needs Assessment.

Current and Planned Initiatives to Meet Hospital Service Area Needs:

Physician Recruitment

Porter Hospital has initiated a more formal and proactive process for identifying and recruiting necessary new providers to meet the medical needs of our community. As we face the retirement of several long-term members of our medical staff, we have experienced some success in 2010 via recruiting a new Internist, OB/GYN specialist, Pediatrician to our region. We have ongoing efforts to recruit new Family Practice physicians to replace a number of physicians who plan to retire soon, and we are working with other area/independent specialist physicians on other longer range recruiting efforts. Ensuring an adequate number of physicians to meet the health care needs of our region is central to our strategic planning and is addressed via a regularly updated Medical Staff Manpower Plan with input from a variety of individuals.

Collaboration with Hannaford Career Center

Porter Hospital has established a new, formal relationship with the Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury to establish a Health Careers Curriculum for area high school students interested in learning more about a career in a hospital or nursing home setting. Meeting the growing demand for nurses and other health care professionals is a key component in our ability to provide high quality health care services here in Addison County. Maintaining a well-trained workforce is a key component of Porter’s strategic plan, and we are pleased to be working with representatives of the Hannaford Career Center and others on this initiative.

Facilities and Technology

Porter Hospital has opened a new Birthing Center and Surgical Care Center to meet the health care needs of our community with state-of-the-art facilities and technology. The new facilities replaced our previous surgical department and maternity department—both of which were opened in the 1970’s.

Porter is participating in the VITL initiative and exploring how we can introduce new electronic health record technology into our hospital and physician practices in concert with other Vermont hospitals. We also have upgraded our CT scanner with a new 64-slice CT scanner in keeping with current technological standards for imaging services.

COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Resource Priorities

"Priorities" identified by our Community Advisory Committee, within each of the sections set forth by the State of Vermont for this report, are defined in three (3) categories:

#1 Priorities - "short term/immediate priorities" which are either currently being pursued and/or where there are no significant barriers or financial considerations

#2 Priorities - priorities that are deemed important, but which require more study and/or resources that are not yet identified or available

#3 Priorities - priorities that are deemed important, but will require the
involvement of organizations/government entities outside the control of our community and/or require significant financial resources that are not available within our region

Following each of these priorities, we also have indicated whether it is a "Community Health Improvement Priority" (CHIP) or a "Health Care Resource Priority" (HCRP) per the guidelines for these Community Health Needs Assessment reports.

OVERALL MEASURES

Cancer

#1 Priority

• Continue and support Porter Hospital "Breast Health Resource Services" and the "Breast Cancer Screening and Education Project" (HCRP)
   
• Continue cancer prevention, detection, treatment and support programs now available through local healthcare providers (HCRP)

Maternal and Child Health

#1 Priority

• Construct a new "Birthing Center" at Porter Hospital and modernize the 30- year old facilities, to provide local families with appropriate birthing options here in our community (HCRP)
• Continue existing prenatal and postpartum exercise and educational programs (HCRP)
• Increase support for prenatal careservices for all women (HCRP)
• Promote awareness about the prevalence of domestic violence during pregnancy (CHIP)

#2 Priority

• Re-explore a hospital based nursemidwifery option for area women (HCRP)
• Support existing midwifery services and explore ways to better coordinate midwife care/services currently provided to area women (HCRP)
   
• Increase the availability of mental healthcare services for children and postpartum women (HCRP)
• Advocate for more children services and early childcare support (CHIP)
• Increase the availability of routing and specialized dental care for children (CHIP)

Mental Health and Substance Abuse

#1 Priority

• Support community efforts and programs to address substance abuse issues within the school setting and community (CHIP)
• Expand smoking cessation pro g r a ms ( H C R P )

#2 Priority

• Increase the capacity for adult and adolescent mental health and substance abuse services resulting from improved reimbursement in general for mental healthcare services-especially for uninsured patients. (CHIP)
• Increase treatment options for women with substance abuse issues (HCRP)
• Improve access to medical and mental healthcare services for developmentally disabled patients (CHIP)
• Increase the capacity for intensive home and community based child and family services (CHIP)

#3 Priority

• Explore delivery of short-term psychiatric inpatient care in the community (HCRP)

Chronic Disease

#2 Priority

• Improve coordination among healthcare providers in managing patients with chronic disease(s), through increased capacity and better integration of services, as well as better community planning for the provision of chronic disease services (CHIP)
• Encourage Assisted Living opportunities/projects that fit appropriately within our community (HRCP)

#3 Priority

• Continue to explore local dialysis services in concert with FAHC (CHIP)
• Advocate for a better system to qualify disabled individuals for services (CHIP)

Prevention

#1 Priority

• Outreach to out-of-school youth through peer counseling programs. (CHIP)
• Increased use of smoke, carbon monoxide and radon detectors in homes. (CHIP)
• Increase in the percentage of children who receive well childcare throughout their school years. (CHIP)
• Decrease in exposure to environmentaltobacco smoke. (CHIP)
• Maintaining preventive and educational services we currently offer throughout the community. (CHIP)

#2 Priority

• Increase in community grants that invest in effective prevention programs. (HCRP)
• Establish local STD and HIV prevention programs. (HCRP)
• Assure early detection and screening programs that are available and accessible to all populations. (CHIP)

#3 Priority

• Expand adult immunization program.(HCRP)
• Insurance coverage of preventive services. (HCRP)
• Advocate for safe and affordable housing in Addison County. (HCRP)
• Advocate for more affordable high quality childcare.

Access

#1 Priority

• Support the work of Community Health Services of Addison County to facilitate access to medical care for the uninsured/underinsured, including a third clinic on Saturday mornings in Middlebury (CHIP)
• Complete the Porter Hospital "North Project" to modernize medical facilities and provide the appropriate level of quality care (HCRP)
• Continue operation of Helen Porter Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center as a resource for institutional long-term care in our community, as well as shortterm rehabilitation, respite and hospice services (HCRP)
• Support ESI and increase capacity for elderly daycare, family respite care and eldercare counseling (CHIP)
• Recruit geriatric trained physicians (HCRP)

#2 Priority

• Increase access to preventive healthcare services for children and adults (CHIP)
• Support CSAC and improved access to mental healthcare services for all, especially for Medicaid and uninsured individuals (CHIP)
• Increase education and support Complementary/Alternative Medicine options, in collaboration with other providers at the local and statewide level (HCRP)
• Advocate for more consistent ambulance coverage for emergencies and patient transport from hospital to hospital (CHIP)
• Improve transportation to medical services for those in need (HCRP)

#3 Priority

• Explore ways to improve transportation to medical care and other vital services for people with chronic illness, including dialysis services (CHIP)
• Ensure continued access to home healthcare services regardless of patient's location, clinical condition or ability to pay (CHIP)

Lifestyles and Behavior

#1 Priority

• Support community efforts and programs to address smoking issues within the school setting and community (CHIP)
• Expand smoking cessation programs (HCRP)
• Place increased emphasis on nutrition education and physical activity within our community and school system, and promote healthy food/beverage choices in general and, specifically, within our school meal programs and vending machines (CHIP)
• Increase exercise opportunities for area youth (HCRP)

#2 Priority

• Increase opportunities for youth activities in a constructive/supervised environment (teen centers) (HCRP)

Injury and Violence

#1 Priority

• Support schools in addressing violence/bullying issues (CHIP) #2 Priority
• Increase counseling/mental health services for victims of abuse/sexual assault (HCRP)

#3 Priority

• Recruit women dentists to serve victims of abuse/sexual assault (HCRP)

Community Input

In December of 2005, Porter Hospital hosted a community meeting at Kirk Alumni Center on the campus of Middlebury College to solicit input regarding health care issues, priorities and concerns of our local citizens. This meeting covered and addressed many of the topics contained in the Porter Hospital Act 53 Reports and was open to the entire community, legislators and members of our medical staff.

PLAN TO UPDATE THE COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Porter Hospital plans to update the Community Health Needs Assessment biennially, to continue to project a four year vision through:

• Ongoing meetings with our "Community Health Needs Assessment Advisory Committee"
• Participation in other local organizations to update the Community Health Needs Assessment
• Continued posting of the community survey on our web site (portermedical.org)

For more information about this Needs Assessment, or to obtain a copy of this report, please call the Porter Hospital Public Relations office at 388-4744 or click here.