COMMUNITY BENEFIT REPORT 2011

bringing hope and health to our community

1300 Broadway Ave NE #104 Salem, OR 97301

Phone: 503-990-8772 Fax: 503-990-8774

www.salemfreeclinics.org

August 21, 2012

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is to acknowledge that Andrea Bier is one of our new volunteers and started

her work with us spending 4 hours on July 26th in one of our triage nurse positions.

If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to call me at 503-399-0608.

Sincerely, Marie Howard

SFC Volunteer Coordinator/Administrator

From Todd Gould,

Executive Director of the Salem Free Clinics:

Salem Health and Salem Free

Clinics make a great team!

Salem Free Clinics exists to provide quality health care at no cost

to the poor, uninsured children and adults in our community as

an expression of Christ’s love. There are currently over 54,000

uninsured individuals in Marion County and an additional 17,000 in

Polk County. Salem Free Clinics has become the clinic home for over

600 patients per month, currently providing medical, dental, mental

health and counseling services.

The hallmark of our clinic is that volunteer doctors, nurses and

support personnel staff it. This investment, along with the support

of community partners like Salem Health, allows us to serve those

who come to us in need. In 2011, Salem Health donated $43,000 to

our main clinic in Salem as well as $5,000 toward our new satellite

clinic in Dallas. In addition to the fi nancial contributions, Salem

Health serves many of our patients with lab and imaging through

their charity-care program. The impact our partnership has on the

lives of thousands of uninsured individuals in our community is

truly remarkable. The result is improved health and better quality of

life for some of our community’s most underserved.

Building community partnerships to improve health for those most at need is at the center of our work.

Learn more about how Salem Hospital and West Valley Hospital supported our communities.

A letter from one of the many programs benefi ting from Salem Health’s community partnerships.

Salem Hospital critical care clinical nurse specialist Ann Alway volunteers regularly at the Salem Free Clinics.

Dr. Laura Metzger, allergy and immunology physician at Salem Clinic, has volunteered at the Salem Free Clinics for more than fi ve years.

Health care for people unable to payEvery year, Salem Health provides needed health care to people whose insurance, if any, does not cover the cost of providing services. Without Salem Health, many of these patients would go without treatment. In 2011, Salem Health provided $88.4 million in unreimbursed health care services. This community benefi t was distributed as follows:

• Charity care: The cost of treating uninsured or underinsured community members who could not afford health care totaled $23.2 million.

• Medicare: Government payments for Medicare patients fell $46.1 million short of the actual cost of caring for them.

• Medicaid: Government payments for Medicaid patients fell $19.1 million short of the actual cost of caring for them.

Community servicesAs the largest health care provider in the mid-Willamette Valley, Salem Health actively participates in community health-improvement services. In 2011, Salem Health gave $5.4 million for unfunded or underfunded health services that typically would not be available to the community if Salem Health did not provide them.

These services include improving access to care through physician recruiting, community health education and prevention programs. Salem Health has an active speakers bureau and provides health lectures to community groups, free of charge. Health screenings, support groups and education classes are offered on an ongoing basis. In 2011, people benefi tted more than 581,000 times from Salem Health-sponsored activities aimed at improving health and well-being.

Charity care and unmet cost of Medicaid$42,321,270

Unmet cost of Medicare and other public programs$54,265,459

Community health improvement, subsidized health services and community benefi t operations$8,262,864

Research$2,199,800

Health professional education and workforce development$1,589,556

Cash and in-kind donations$822,740

2 | C O M M U N I T Y B E N E F I T R E P O R T | 2 0 1 1

CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITYCaring for our community means understanding its needs and being actively involved. Salem Health collaborates with community partners to serve those who depend on us for health care. Our investments in talent, services and outreach benefi t the entire community.

Total unreimbursed costs and community benefi ts: $109,461,689

Cash and in-kind donati ons by Salem HealthSalem Health provides cash and in-kind donations to community programs such as MedAssist, Salem Free Clinics and Northwest Human Services. In 2011, Salem Health gave almost $1 million in support of these and other health programs.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS, FISCAL YEAR 2011

More information: If you have questions about Salem Health’s contributions to the community, contact the Community Health Education Center at 503-814-CHEC (2432).

S A L E M H E A L T H | 3

This indicator shows the percentage of adults (aged 18 and up) who are obese according to the Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a ratio of your height to your weight. A BMI equal or greater than 30 is considered obese.

Why this is important: The percentage of obese adults is an indicator of the overall health and lifestyle of a community. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, hypertension, stroke, liver and gallbladder disease, respiratory problems, and osteoarthritis.

In 2011, the Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) launched its new web tool, the Marion and Polk County Needs Assessment Dashboard. With startup funding from the Salem Hospital Foundation, the dashboard helps to identify countywide health priorities and inspire collaborations between businesses and organizations to help address those priorities.

CHIP is coordinated by the Marion County Health Department and Polk County Public

Health. CHIP uses the dashboard tool as a unifying resource for collaborative work groups. One of the groups, a coalition of Salem-Keizer businesses, government and community organizations,

identifi ed adult obesity as a problem. To address this problem, they are working on a diabetes-prevention initiative called I Love ME.

In Polk County, 23 community partners—including West Valley Hospital, school district personnel and Public Health staff—encouraged community members to take part in the I Love ME and 5120 programs (see story on Page 4). Both the Marion and Polk County CHIPs are tackling the issue of adult obesity by inspiring healthy lifestyle changes.

COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP

Polk County

Marion County

By tracking the major problem areas in community health, CHIP can help community groups target the most pressing issues and create effi cient plans for health improvement.

The percentage of obese adults is an indicator of the overall health and lifestyle of a community.

identifi ed adult obesity as a

problem, they are working

Patient StoryPROJECT ACCESSWhen Scott was rushed to the Salem Hospital emergency department during a heart attack, he received a stent to open blocked arteries and was told that he needed bypass surgery. Having recently lost his business, he was no longer covered by health insurance and felt that he should wait for another emergency to occur before he received additional medical care.

Fortunately for Scott, a staff member at the Salem Heart Center suggested he contact Project Access to see if he was eligible for the program.

Project Access is a charity-care program that pairs uninsured, low-income patients with doctors and other clinical specialists who will provide high quality health care at no cost. Salem

Health supports these physicians by providing free laboratory, x-ray, and other hospital services to their patients.

Scott was referred to Dr. Thomas Winkler, cardiothoracic surgeon, who performed triple bypass surgery on Scott at Salem Hospital. Scott said that the surgery was very successful and he and his

wife were especially pleased to be able to have the surgery performed in Salem.

Project Access has helped to change the lives of many patients who might not have otherwise received the care that they needed for a healthy life.

In addition to many

donated services, Salem

Health supports Project

Access by providing

$22,880 in free offi ce

space in Salem.

5210PARTNERSHIPThe Salem Health Community Health Education Center (CHEC), in partnership with many local organizations, has been helping to improve community health by promoting the 5210 initiative in the Salem area.

The initiative is named for its practice. Each day, eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, reduce to 2 hours or less of leisure screen time, get 1 hour of cumulative exercise, and consume 0 servings of sweetened drinks.

One of the many events the CHEC has put on to promote 5210 was a family night at a local elementary school that included stations where children could practice putting 5210 into action. The “5” station had food demonstrations, the “2” station promoted no-screen-time play activities, the “1” station was an aerobic dance class, and the “0” station had tastings of different fruit-and vegetable-infused waters. Each station focused on the ease of incorporating 5210 into everyday life.

This report is produced by Salem Health, P.O. Box 14001, Salem, OR 97309-5014. Questions: Call 503-561-5269 or email cr@salemhealth.org.