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Medical center health benefits pervade communityNew Ulm residents might not even realize it, but beyond the walls of the New Ulm Medical Center facility, medical personnel are serving them in ways large and small. From the medical center booth at the Home Show, to free CPR classes and involvement with the New Ulm business community, thousands of residents benefit from nontraditional health care delivery. “When we think about our community hospital and clinic, we think about our mission as reaching far beyond these four walls,” said Diane Rasmussen, director of human resources. “Part of our strategic plan and our mission is to impact the total health of the community and we do that every day at the medical center. But, many people don’t realize how many other things we do in our work to improve health.” Rasmussen explained that like all not-for-profit organizations, the medical center performs beneficial services for the community instead of paying taxes. “Being able to provide these services is part of why we exist,” Rasmussen said. Each year, the medical center tracks all of the services provided to the community for which there are no payments and develops an annual Community Benefits report. “It’s important that we do that report and tell people about it so the community at large understands the various ways the medical center ‘gives back’ to the community,” Rasmussen said. In 2004, the medical center provided $180,112 worth of manpower, supplies or other resources to community healthcare activities for which there was no payment. Close to 50 activities comprised this list. Those were community programs, including dinners for shut-ins and childbirth education classes; medical education, such as the health education radio program and high school and college career shadowing experiences; services, such as substance abuse after-care support group; and research activities, which include allowing high school science fair contestants use of laboratories. Another component of the community benefits provided by the medical center is the millions of dollars of health care services provided to patients that are only partially paid for by Medicare and Medicaid. In 2004, the medical center provided $ 7 million in services to patients that were not reimbursed by these governmental agencies or were made available as charity care. The medical center board of trustees has designated a Community Focus Committee to oversee the community benefits program. “Allina Health Systems has done a lot of research to identify the top 4 or 5 things that can lead to a truly healthy community,” Rasmussen said. “The community focus committee has been given the task of monitoring the community benefits, reviewing our community health assessment materials and determining where New Ulm Medical Center should focus to improve the health of our residents.” For example, the focus of the medical center booth at the spring home show was providing educating on the dozens of automatic external defibrillators the New Ulm Medical Center Foundation has helped place throughout the community. “We reached hundreds of people in the community in just four days, so now when people sitting in the bleachers at a basketball game see an AED on the wall they will have some understanding of what it is,” Rasmussen said. “This community benefits activity spoke to our goal of impacting the health care of a large number of people.”  Back to Health Edition |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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