CLINTON, MD — Calling all Southern Maryland residents: it’s time for your voices to be heard. MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center invites every member of the community it serves to fill out the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment Survey. The results of this survey help MedStar Southern Maryland to shape its community outreach and community benefit priorities over the next three years.
“It’s a great way for the members of the community to have their voices be heard and have a say in the ways our hospital will be working to address the needs of the community,” said Chantal Tuell, MPH, the hospital’s community health outreach project coordinator.
The survey, which is available in English, Spanish, and Korean, is anonymous – no names needed. It is free to participate, easy to fill out, and it only takes about 10 minutes to complete. Community members can fill it out via a computer or on a mobile device. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday, October 23.
The hospital will also hold a free, virtual information-gathering session at the end of October, giving residents and community members the chance to share their perspectives and feedback directly. For updates about this information-gathering session, residents are encouraged to keep an eye on the hospital’s website and social media channels.
“This is an opportunity to make sure we hear from all of the relevant stakeholders and communities that surround MedStar Southern Maryland to make sure that as we are crafting the community needs assessment, and developing the strategies to address our community’s needs, that we’re taking our community’s perspective into account,” said Lori Werrell, regional director of population and community health for MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center and MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital.
The last needs assessment revealed important areas of community concern, including health and wellness, access to care, and social determinants of health. The resulting strategy incorporated expanded chronic disease management events and programs as well as community health workers to help strengthen linkages to care.
“Past surveys have helped guide our movement to evidence-based programming, as well as the addition of community health workers, which is an important part of building trust and removing barriers to care,” Werrell said. “This data also helps us achieve closer alignment with state and federal priorities so that we can realize economies of scale that can amplify our impact.”
After the survey is complete, the hospital will convene an advisory task force in December to sift through the data and develop priority areas. The completed strategy will be completed by June 30, 2021, and will go into effect on July 1, 2021.
Visit www.medstarhealth.org/communitysurvey to complete the survey for MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center by October 23.