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SGMC Berrien Campus Releases Findings from its Community Health Needs Assessment

Posted on: November 17th, 2014

Nashville, Ga. – The SGMC Berrien Campus has completed data collection and posted its implementation plan for its 2014 Community Health Needs Assessment. The full report is posted on the website at www.sgmc.org/berriencampus.Over the past five months, surveyors from the firm of Barlow McCarthy have contacted a sampling of area residents to ask their opinions about community health needs.  The process used is a systematic, data-driven approach to determine the health status, behaviors and needs of residents in the areas served by the SGMC Berrien Campus.  The information gathered became the basis for the SGMC Berrien Campus’s action plan which serves to guide efforts to improve community health and wellness. SGMC’s new tagline is Growing Healthy Together which reinforces SGMC’s relationship to improving health and wellness in the communities we serve. The CHNA is a federal requirement for all not-for-profit hospitals under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of March 2010.  According to Dick Dwozan, SGMC Berrien Campus Administrator, “It is our responsibility as a healthcare provider to listen and respond to the needs of our population. Information obtained in the CHNA will guide our decision making as we begin to plan and budget resources for the coming years.”Survey results indicate that residents in our region rank healthcare access, mental health care,   obesity and substance abuse/tobacco use as our major health concerns. Over the next three years, SGMC Berrien Campus will work with other community agencies including the SGMC Dogwood Senior Health Center, Greenleaf/Acadia, Anytime Fitness of Nashville, South Health District, the Berrien School Based Telecare Clinics and private physicians with telemedicine access to address these concerns.A committee made up of representatives from the hospital, South Health District, Berrien Campus Advisory Board and the Georgia Partnership for Telehealth reviewed, evaluated and prioritized the health risk indicators. The 3-year implementation plan will be monitored for overall effectiveness and improved community health.