The Avalon Medical Development Corporation Board and Catalina Island Medical Center CEO Bryan Ballard invited Rochelle Schultz Spinarski of Rural Health Solutions to meet with various segments of the community from Sept. 20-24 to begin a community needs assessment process.
The Avalon Medical Development Corporation Board and Catalina Island Medical Center CEO Bryan Ballard invited Rochelle Schultz Spinarski of Rural Health Solutions to meet with various segments of the community from Sept. 20-24 to begin a community needs assessment process.
Focus groups were asked questions such as, “What is your vision for a healthy community?” The participants shared their perceptions of the hospital, the services that are available and the care that is provided. Important questions were asked regarding the Medical Center facility itself, which needs to be compliant with State of California seismic requirements no later than 2030.
Most importantly, Spinarski spoke to small groups of community members about what changes they would like to have implemented to improve the overall health and quality of life on Catalina Island.
“Thanks to everyone who came to one of the 11 different focus groups and were willing to share their opinions and insights in this process. The ideas suggested and the input provided was most helpful and will be useful to the Board as the hospital looks to the future,” said Ballard.
The next step will be to survey patients as well as staff. Questionnaires will be provided during the patient registration process and distributed to employees with their paychecks during October. Surveys will ask about the services available at the hospital, service needs, and other health and wellness needs. The overall goal is for CIMC to better understand community health needs so changes can be made and integrated into the overall planning process. “We need as much community input and feedback as possible,” Spinarski said. To contribute to this study, email comments to Rochelle at rspinarski@rhsnow.com or contact/send comments to Debbie Phelps, CIMC Administrative Assistant; email dphelps@cimedicalcenter.org, telephone at 310-510-0700 or mail to CIMC, Attn: Debbie Phelps, P.O. Box 1563 Avalon, CA 90704. All written comments can be in English or Spanish.
The final report of the survey is due to the Board in late November.