Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home residents face frequent turnover of medical providers – and that’s when they are even aware that services exist.
Those were among conclusions reached by COMP-Northwest medical students who have spent the past year gathering data about health in the Sweet Home community.
Their next step is to begin developing action plans to improve healthcare in the area.
Their work is the result of a partnership between the City of Sweet Home, Samaritan Health Services and the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest (COMP-Northwest) in Lebanon.
The effort grew out of the city’s community health committee, said Larry Horton, who has spearheaded the project on behalf of that committee. “They invited me to join the committee in January. What they wanted me to do is to facilitate a partnership between Samaritan Health, Western University (COMP-Northwest) and the City of Sweet Home.”
The committee wanted to come up with different projects to improve health services in Sweet Home, Horton said. Before Horton became involved, members of the group had decided to conduct focus groups in Sweet Home beginning in January.
“Once it was approved, a list of 20 people, I added 10 more,” Horton said, and about 30 individuals participated in five focus groups. One at a time during the summer, the focus groups met, while six second-year students from COMP-Northwest started collecting and analyzing the data.
The students also collected information from local service providers in the Sweet Home area, including Samaritan Health and Linn-Benton Community Health Centers.
Four of the students presented their findings at a meeting Thursday evening, Nov. 29.
Among their findings, a large number of people were not aware of what health resources are already in the area, said medical student Lauren Wolfe. Almost everyone was aware of Samaritan Sweet Home Family Medicine, and a couple of people were aware of the Linn-Benton Community Health Centers Sweet Home Health Clinic, which is located in the Linn County Mental Health Building at the intersection of Long Street and Oak Terrace.
The survey of local resources noted that Sweet Home has two dental practitioners, and Sweet Home has one psychologist who works four days a week and is not accepting new patients.
Concerns raised by the focus groups included a high turnover of physicians, the difficulty getting them established and a lack of private practitioners. Focus groups were also concerned about a lack of after hours and weekend care, transportation after hours and an aging population – 38 percent of the population is 45 to 74 years old.
The survey found that many in Sweet Home use the Fire and Ambulance District as a source of after-hours care and triage, Wolfe said.
Among solutions, Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital CEO Marty Cahill said that Samaritan is already looking at ways to change or extend hours at Sweet Home Family Medicine to provide service after hours and on weekends.
Continuing her discussion of concerns, Sweet Home has 237 students who do not have permanent homes and are considered homeless, Wolfe said, and the community has a shortage of affordable housing.
Poor nutrition is severe, along with the associated chronic diseases, she said, and the community lacks professional role models to serve as mentors in the community.
Medical student Bryan Greene reported that Sweet Home has high rates of harmful behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, that lead to chronic diseases and issues, such as obesity, chronic cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, dental problems, hypertension, diabetes and mental health issues.
Among ideas suggested by the students to address these issues were health fairs, free clinics at churches and provider locations and a school-based clinic, he said. Medical students could be plugged into ongoing health education programs, and providers could host diabetes education events.
Education efforts can be made in the schools where the School District has access to students, who are often effective at educating their parents, Greene suggested.
A medical professional, a nurse, nurse practitioner or physician could be stationed at the Fire Hall as well, and paramedics might be a resource for health education in the area.
While behavioral health can be a sticky subject, programs could focus on behavioral health education as well.
Among other ideas, Samaritan could partner with psychiatric and dental service providers.
Cahill said that Samaritan has a residency for psychiatric services in Corvallis, and Samaritan is looking for ways to get mental health services into Sweet Home.
COMP-Northwest students might provide youth mentorship and education, and the Community Health Centers and Samaritan might coordinate in a patient advisory committee.
“It will take a lot of effort from community leaders,” Greene said.
The second-year students introduced five first-year students who will take up the next phase of the project, all of whom are interested in working in rural areas, according to Di Lacey, COMP-Northwest assistant vice president.
Bryce Civic, one of the first-year students who will work on the health plan, said his group wants to work on something tangible that can be used by the community and students for years to come.
“We’re looking forward to putting you to work,” Horton told the group of students.
“We’re not going to give you a plan,” Lacey said. “We’ll work with you” to create the plan.
“Every year, first-year students are going to work on helping improve services here in Sweet Home,” Horton said. The next step is to develop an action plan, getting people together from the community and developing the plan based on the needs identified in the focus groups.
Cahill, City Manager Ray Towry, Horton and Lacey will get together in the next couple of weeks to begin setting meeting dates to begin developing the plan, most likely beginning in January, Horton said.
Horton said he was pleased to see Samaritan CEO Doug Boysen attending the meeting Thursday evening, noting that Samaritan has been highly supportive of the effort to improve healthcare in Sweet Home and, Lacey said, reached out and invited COMP-Northwest to participate.
Lacey thanked the crowd of about 30 people from various organizations and businesses who attended the meeting for involving COMP-Northwest.
While helping Sweet Home, those students will develop skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives, he said. “A big part of this is getting to know you.”
“We’re here to work with you as well,” Cahill said.
“I’m really excited,” Horton said. “I’m looking forward to the partnership between the city, Samaritan Health and Western. That’s critical to improving health services. I’m really looking forward to working with the first-year (students) on this plan.”