Columbus Community Hospital
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CHIP Implementation Plan 2021

By resolution of the CCH board of directors at a meeting held on September 13, 2021 the 2021 CHNA was adopted and approved by the board members, and directed to be posted on CCH's website and attached to its Form 990.

The Platte & Colfax counties CHIP planning was held November 3, 2021.

By resolution of the CCH board of directors at a meeting held on February 6, 2023 the 2021 CHIP Implementation Plan was adopted and approved by the board members, and directed to be posted on CCH's website and attached to its Form 990.

In 2021, Columbus Community Hospital conducted — in collaboration with the East Central District Health Department (ECDHD) and other hospital facilities — a comprehensive, joint CHNA for the participants’ shared communities of Boone, Colfax, Nance, and Platte counties. The CHNA identified the five areas of greatest concern for residents in these areas:

  • Mental health.
  • Drug abuse and misuse.
  • Ongoing diseases such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and respiratory problems.
  • Finding housing that is safe and affordable.
  • Bullying.

Columbus Community Hospital (CCH) has chosen to focus on addressing four of the five areas of concern. For housing that is safe and affordable, the City of Columbus, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and Habitat for Humanity are already working on that need, so CCH is focusing its resources elsewhere.

The hospital will work hand in hand with the ECDHD and other health- and business-related agencies to address these community needs. Specifically, CCH will take the lead in addressing the identified needs of access to mental health care, treatment for drug abuse and misuse, and treatment for ongoing diseases.

Mental health care

Platte County and the surrounding areas continue to experience an increase in mental health care needs — both inpatient and outpatient. Columbus Community Hospital has taken the lead in the following:
  • Objective: Enhance and expand mental health resources in our community.
    • Action step: Will lead a community health inventory of what exists for mental health care in our area, commissioning a third-party consultant survey of access behavioral health in the general area. This survey will quantify the manpower in the area and look at lead time to appointments.
  • Objective: Recruit top-level mental health physicians and other providers to the area.
    • Action step: Will continue to expand Columbus Psychiatry Clinic, which opened in 2019. The goal is to have multiple psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and licensed independent mental health providers. 
    • Work with specific entities, including Bryan Telehealth, to offer telehealth options to create access to a wide variety of mental health experts.
  • Objective: Create an option for top-level mental health care for the geriatric population.
    • Action step: Will open a 10-bed senior behavioral health inpatient unit, which will exclusively serve older adults.

Drug abuse and misuse

Reduce substance abuse to protect the health, safety and quality of life for all.
  • Objective: Create awareness about antibiotics use and abuse.
    • Action step: Will embark on a public education campaign to teach our community about proper antibiotics use. While antibiotics are important health care tools, they should only be used for treating certain infections caused by bacteria.
  • Objective: Offer non-addictive options for pain relief.
    • Action step: Continue to expand our use of non-opioid pain management. The hospital’s anesthesia department was one of the first in the state to offer the iovera° treatment. This clinically proven, non-opioid pain management solution uses the body's natural response to cold to relieve pain.
    • Will continue to deliver materials and provide presentations for providers across the area related to opioid intervention.
    • Will continue to offer telemedicine options for opioid intervention.

Treatment for ongoing diseases

Diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes continue to take lives and reduce quality of life. CCH has embarked on many community partnerships to tackle these diseases head-on.
  • Objective: Prevent diabetes and improve advanced care for those with the disease.
    • Action step: Provide comprehensive diabetes education for members of the community. Offer specialized classes and host diabetes events for the public at least twice a year.
  • Objective: Decrease incidences of heart disease in the community.
    • Action step: Open a cardiac catheterization lab at the hospital that allows doctors to perform lifesaving cardiac procedures. Concurrently, we will open Columbus Cardiology Clinic, which will educate the community about signs of heart disease and steps people can take to improve their heart health.
    • Work with local employers to offer free heart-health screenings on site so that employees can learn whether they are at risk for a heart event.
  • Objective: Decrease obesity and provide options for physical activity in the community.
    • Action step: The hospital is in the process of building a 240,000-square-foot fieldhouse, which will offer the community a plethora of indoor recreational options. In an area of the country where people spend much of their time indoors for half the year, the Columbus Fieldhouse will encourage physical activity no matter the weather, which will decrease community members’ risk for heart disease, stroke and other chronic diseases.
    • Offer Walk with a Doc on a monthly basis. It is a walking program that will take place at various locations around the community. Local health care providers will present a health-based topic to the group, followed by a 45-50-minute walk with the provider. The purpose of the walk is to encourage physical activity and meet new and established physicians and health care providers from around the Columbus area.
    • Work with local restaurants, encouraging them to add healthy foods to their menus so members of the community have options when they go out to eat.
    • Work with local churches to offer the Walk to Bethlehem and the Walk to Jerusalem, walking programs that will encourage participants to walk virtually the distance from Columbus to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, respectively.
  • Objective: Provide comprehensive care for cancer patients.
    • Action step: The hospital recently acquired Columbus Cancer Care, an outpatient clinic that provides radiation oncology services. This is the first step toward creating a Cancer Center concept — a facility where community members can receive all the cancer services they need in one location.

Bullying

Bullying — both in-person and online — is an ongoing problem for children of all ages. CCH plans to partner with Smart Gen Society to specifically address challenges facing children in the digital landscape.

  • Objective: Decrease social media bullying.
    • Action step: Will bring in experts from Smart Gen Society, an organization that offers preventive workshops and resources for parents, teachers, sports teams and businesses. These experts will provide educational programming that focuses on decreasing bullying in the digital landscape.