Baptist Health Hardin President Rob Ramey said during the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s February membership luncheon Wednesday that in recent years the focus of his comments has been the hospital, but he said more focus is needed on community health and wellness.
“As a hospital president, you may not expect to hear me say this, but I want to keep more patients out of the hospital,” Ramey said. “We need to start focusing a little bit more of our resources on not caring for the sick, but keeping people healthy, and community health and community wellness is more than what happens inside the four walls of the hospital.”
Ramey said Baptist Health Hardin is working to reduce healthcare deserts by providing more access to care, including the new Cecilia Mediplex facility set to open this spring and the new ER and urgent care center set to open in Radcliff this fall. Beyond new facilities and improvements within existing facilities, the organization looks to community partnerships to address other disparities in care.
“Ideas like partnering with Feeding America to address patients who might be experiencing food insecurities,” Ramey said. “It’s working with other organizations, like we recently announced a new Community Health and Wellness Fund with support from the Cecilian Bank. It’s working collaboratively around our community with our leaders to ensure that we’re continuing to address the unmet needs within our community.”
Baptist Health Hardin partnered with the Lincoln Trail District Health Department on a Community Health Assessment. Ramey said the top three identified needs in the most recent survey are mental health, substance use, and access to care. Ramey also said the organization partners with area schools each year on a Youth Risk Behavior Survey to identify stressors impacting area students.
“It’s something that we use to help really target the efforts that we’re taking,” Ramey said. “It’s part of why, then, we continue to have anti-vaping education within the school systems because that is a huge need that we continue to see on the risk behavior surveys.”
Visit the Baptist Health Hardin website for more information on community health initiatives, and find the Community Health Assessment dashboard on the Lincoln Trail District Health Department’s website.
