Community members in Rochelle and Ogle County may soon be receiving a Community Health Needs Assessment survey in their mailbox. This survey, which is being sent to a random sample of homes in August,is designed to help Rochelle Community Hospital identify the health services needed in the community. This information will be used for strategic planning, grant applications, new programs, and offered to community groups interested in addressing health issues.
The National Rural Health Resource Center of Duluth, Minnesota is assisting Rochelle Community Hospital in the analysis of local community healthcare needs, use of local health care services and overall community health. This process was developed to maintain quality health care to serve the continuing and future needs of the community.
The community healthcare assessment promotes health care as a local affair. Health care delivered in rural communities is affordable, high quality, and necessary to the good health of the entire community. Many communities face a large number of complex issues in providing high quality healthcare, but fortunately, Ogle County can engage in effective problem-solving, which is the most important factor in the survival of rural health services.
While the vast majority of health care can be provided locally, rural citizens often drive to large medical centers for care, spending money on health care and non-health care purchases that could be spent locally. This revenue could be retained in the local community with stronger community-health care provider linkages.
“These survey results will help us identify new services important to our residents, while at the same time continuing to provide those services that have proven to be necessary and important to the patients we serve,” stated Mark J. Batty, Chief Executive Officer at Rochelle Community Hospital.
“We are pleased to be able to bring some of the best community health resources in the country to Rochelle Community Hospital. The goal of this initiative is to assist forward-thinking rural hospitals and communities in aligning their resources, to address their present and future needs in the best way possible,” said Terry Hill, Executive Director of the National Rural Health Resource Center.
